How to Use Telegram with Pokee AI

Pokee AI's Telegram integration lets you spin up a Telegram bot that auto-replies to your messages with full access to every Pokee skill — Gmail, Slack, Notion, Shopify, and the rest. Instead of opening the Pokee web app, just message your bot. The bot keeps conversation history, supports group chats, and stays online so you can chat from anywhere.

What You Can Do with Telegram + Pokee

• Chat-first agent: message your bot from anywhere — phone, desktop, web — and Pokee replies inline
• Full skill access: the bot can use every connected integration (Gmail, Slack, Calendar, Shopify, Notion, etc.) without leaving Telegram
• Group bots: drop the bot into a team or family group and let it answer questions, summarise threads, or run scheduled tasks
• Persistent memory: conversation history is preserved across restarts so the bot remembers context
• Owner gating: by default only you (the registered owner) can interact — add trusted user IDs to extend access

Getting Started

Step 1: Create a Telegram bot with BotFather

1. Open Telegram and message @BotFather
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to name your bot and pick a username
3. BotFather will hand you an HTTP API token that looks like 7123456789:AAH...
4. Copy the token — you'll paste it into Pokee in the next step

Step 2: Ask Pokee to set up the bot

In a Pokee chat, just say:

"Set up a Telegram bot for me"

Paste the token when Pokee asks. Pokee will:

1. Save the token securely
2. Deploy the bot script
3. Start a watchdog so the bot stays online
4. Confirm with Bot connected: @your_bot_username

That's it — your bot is live.

Step 3: Test it

Open Telegram, find your bot by its username, and send "Hi". Pokee replies right back, with full access to all your connected skills.

Example Commands

Chat-driven workflows

"Summarise the last 10 emails in my Gmail and send me the digest"

"What's on my calendar tomorrow? Move my 3pm to Friday"

"Post the Q3 metrics from Google Sheets to #leadership in Slack"

Group chats

Add the bot to a group, then mention it (@your_bot what did I miss?) to summarise the thread, draft a reply, or run a skill on the group's behalf.

Tip: Telegram bots ignore group messages by default. Send /setprivacy to BotFather, pick your bot, and choose Disable so it can read group messages.

Recurring tasks

"Every weekday at 9am, send me a brief of overnight Slack DMs"

"When a new HubSpot deal closes, message me the details"

Combining Telegram with Other Integrations

Tips for Best Results

1. Pin your bot in Telegram so it's always one tap away
2. Owner gate by default — only you can DM the bot until you add other user IDs to the .owner file
3. Use group chats for shared workflows (team standups, family planning)
4. Combine with scheduled tasks for recurring digests and reminders
5. Keep token secret — anyone with it can impersonate the bot. Regenerate via BotFather if it leaks

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to keep the Pokee tab open?

No. The bot runs as a background process inside your Pokee sandbox with a built-in supervisor that auto-restarts it if it crashes.

Will the bot answer in groups?

Yes, but Telegram's default privacy mode hides group messages from bots. Send /setprivacy to @BotFather, select your bot, and pick Disable. After that, the bot sees and replies to messages where it's mentioned.

Can other people DM my bot?

Only owners can DM by default. To grant access, add trusted Telegram user IDs (one per line) to the bot's .owner file.

What happens to my conversation history?

History is stored on disk inside your sandbox under telegram-bot/history/ and survives restarts. If your sandbox pod is restarted (rare — usually only on deploys), ask Pokee to set the bot up again.

Is the Telegram integration secure?

Yes. Tokens are stored with chmod 600 permissions inside your isolated Pokee sandbox. The bot polls Telegram's official Bot API over HTTPS — no inbound port is opened, no public webhook needed.

What if the token is invalid?

Pokee will show a FATAL: Token invalid error in the bot log. Get a fresh token from @BotFather and ask Pokee to retry the setup.