Telegram Group Chat Setup

Automate the configuration needed for a MoltBot agent to work in a Telegram group.

What this skill does

1. Adds a Telegram group to the gateway allowlist with requireMention: true
2. Configures groupAllowFrom with specified user IDs / @usernames
3. Auto-detects the bot's name and @username via the Telegram Bot API
4. Sets mentionPatterns so the bot responds to its name and @username
5. Applies the config patch and restarts the gateway

Prerequisites (manual steps)

Before running this skill, the user must:

1. Create the Telegram group and add the bot to it
2. Disable privacy mode in @BotFather: /mybots → select bot → Bot Settings → Group Privacy → Turn off (See references/telegram-privacy-mode.md for details)
3. Know the group ID (negative number for Telegram groups)
4. Know the user IDs or @usernames of people allowed to trigger the bot

Usage

The user provides:

• group_id: Telegram group ID (e.g., -1001234567890)
• allowed_users: List of Telegram user IDs or @usernames who can trigger the bot

Example prompt:

"Set up my bot in Telegram group -1001234567890. Allow users 123456789 and @some_user to ping me."

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Detect bot info

Run the detection script to get the bot's name and username:

bash skills/groupchat-setup/scripts/detect_bot_info.sh

This reads the bot token from the gateway config and returns the bot's name and username. If the script is unavailable, extract the bot token from channels.telegram.botToken in the gateway config and call https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getMe.

Step 2: Build mention patterns

From the detected bot info, construct mention patterns:

• @<username> (e.g., @my_awesome_bot)
• <name> lowercase (e.g., mybot)
• @<name> lowercase (e.g., @mybot)

Remove duplicates. Patterns are case-insensitive regexes.

Step 3: Apply config patch

Use the gateway tool with action: "config.patch" to apply:

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "groups": {
        "<group_id>": {
          "requireMention": true
        }
      },
      "groupAllowFrom": ["<user1>", "<user2>"]
    }
  },
  "messages": {
    "groupChat": {
      "mentionPatterns": ["@bot_username", "bot_name", "@bot_name"]
    }
  }
}

Important: If groupAllowFrom or mentionPatterns already have values, merge them (do not overwrite). Read the current config first with gateway action: "config.get", merge arrays, then patch.

Step 4: Confirm

After the gateway restarts, send a test message to the group confirming the setup:

"✅ Bot configured for this group! I'll respond when someone mentions my name. Allowed users: [list]."

Notes

• requireMention: true means the bot only responds when explicitly mentioned — it won't spam every message.
• groupAllowFrom restricts which senders can trigger the bot. Without it, messages from unknown senders may be dropped.
• groupPolicy: "allowlist" is the Telegram default — only explicitly listed groups are active.
• Privacy mode is a Telegram-side setting that cannot be changed via API. The user must do this in @BotFather.
• For multi-bot groups (e.g., two MoltBot agents), each bot must run this setup independently on its own gateway.