Build a Telegram AI Bot in 5 Minutes

Telegram bots are useful for quick access to an AI assistant from your phone. But most Telegram bot tutorials wire up a basic GPT wrapper with no memory, no tools, and no real capabilities.

This guide sets up a Telegram bot backed by PocketPaw, a full AI agent that can search the web, manage files, generate images, remember past conversations, and run 50+ tools. All self-hosted on your machine.

What You’ll Build

A Telegram bot that:

  • Responds to text messages with AI-powered answers
  • Handles voice messages (speech-to-text, then responds)
  • Accepts file uploads and can read/analyze them
  • Remembers conversations across sessions
  • Can search the web, generate images, manage your calendar, and more
  • Runs on your machine with your choice of AI model

Prerequisites

Creating Your Bot

Get a bot token from BotFather

  1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
  2. Send /newbot
  3. Choose a name (e.g., “My AI Assistant”)
  4. Choose a username (e.g., my_ai_paw_bot)
  5. BotFather will give you a token like 7123456789:AAF...

Copy that token. You’ll need it next.

Tip

Send /setdescription to BotFather to add a description that appears when users open your bot for the first time.

Install the Telegram extra

Terminal window
pip install pocketpaw[telegram]

Configure the bot token

Terminal window
export POCKETPAW_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="7123456789:AAF..."
export POCKETPAW_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."  # or use Ollama

To restrict who can use the bot (recommended):

Terminal window
# Your Telegram user ID (get it from @userinfobot)
export POCKETPAW_ALLOWED_USER_ID="123456789"

Start PocketPaw

Option A: With web dashboard (recommended)

Terminal window
pocketpaw

This starts the dashboard at localhost:8888 AND your Telegram bot simultaneously. Manage both from the dashboard.

Option B: Telegram-only (headless)

Terminal window
pocketpaw --telegram

Test your bot

Open Telegram, find your bot, and send a message. Try:

  • “What’s the weather like?” (triggers web search)
  • Send a voice message (auto-transcribed and answered)
  • Send a photo (analyzed with vision)
  • “Remember that my favorite color is blue” (stored in memory)
  • “What’s my favorite color?” (recalled from memory)

Features That Work Out of the Box

FeatureHow it works
Text messagesProcessed through the full agent pipeline with tool access
Voice messagesAuto-transcribed via speech-to-text, then processed as text
Photos & filesAnalyzed with vision models or read as documents
StreamingResponses appear progressively via edit-in-place
Topic supportEach forum topic gets its own conversation thread
MemoryConversations persist. Your bot remembers across sessions
Inline keyboardsConfirmation prompts for sensitive actions

Securing Your Bot

By default, anyone who finds your bot can message it. Lock it down:

Terminal window
# Only allow a specific Telegram user ID
export POCKETPAW_ALLOWED_USER_ID="123456789"

Get your user ID by messaging @userinfobot on Telegram.

PocketPaw also has built-in security features:

  • Injection scanning: blocks prompt injection attempts
  • Guardian AI: secondary LLM checks for dangerous requests
  • Audit logging: every tool execution is logged

Running Your Bot 24/7

Your bot only works when PocketPaw is running. For always-on access:

Option 1: systemd (Linux servers)

Terminal window
sudo systemctl enable pocketpaw
sudo systemctl start pocketpaw

Option 2: Docker

Terminal window
docker compose up -d

Option 3: Keep your laptop open (works for personal use)

See the deployment guide for production setups.

Next Steps

Add Discord Too

Same agent, now on Discord. One PocketPaw instance handles both.

Telegram Channel Docs

Full reference for Telegram-specific features and configuration.

Tools Overview

Browse all 50+ tools available to your Telegram bot.

Last updated: April 29, 2026
2 min read
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