Setting Up Telegram

Updated Dec 15, 2025

Connect your Telegram Bot to receive and respond to customer messages through Helplane.

Prerequisites

Before setting up Telegram, you'll need:

A Telegram account
A Telegram Bot created via @BotFather

Creating a Telegram Bot

If you don't have a bot yet, follow these steps:

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
Start a conversation and send /newbot
Follow the prompts to choose a name and username for your bot
BotFather will provide a Bot Token — copy this token

Your bot token looks like: 1234567890:ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghij

Configuring Telegram in Helplane

Go to Settings in the left sidebar
Select Integrations
Find the Telegram card and click Connect

Required Settings

Bot Token Paste the bot token you received from BotFather. This token authenticates Helplane with the Telegram Bot API.

Automatic Webhook Configuration

When you save your bot token, Helplane automatically configures the Telegram webhook. No manual setup is required — your bot will immediately start receiving messages.

You'll see a success message confirming the webhook was configured.

Testing the Connection

After configuration:

Open Telegram and find your bot by its username
Send a message to your bot
Check your Helplane inbox for the incoming conversation
Reply to verify two-way messaging works

Supported Message Types

Telegram integration supports receiving:

Text messages — Standard text conversations
Photos — Images sent by customers
Documents — Files of any type
Videos — Video files
Audio — Audio files with metadata
Voice messages — Recorded voice notes
Video notes — Circular video messages
Stickers — Telegram stickers (displayed with emoji reference)

All media attachments are captured and displayed in the conversation thread.

How It Works

Inbound Messages When a customer messages your bot, the message appears in your Helplane inbox as a new conversation. The customer's Telegram name and username are captured for identification.

Outbound Replies When you reply from Helplane, the message is sent through the Telegram Bot API. Messages support basic HTML formatting.

Conversation Threading All messages from the same Telegram user are grouped into a single conversation thread, maintaining full conversation history.

Best Practices

Set a bot description Use BotFather's /setdescription command to explain what your bot does. This helps customers understand they're contacting support.

Add a profile picture Use /setuserpic in BotFather to give your bot a recognizable avatar.

Configure bot commands Use /setcommands to add helpful commands like /start or /help for customers.

Troubleshooting

Messages not appearing

Verify your bot token is correct
Check that the webhook was configured successfully (look for the success message)
Ensure your bot hasn't been blocked or deleted

Cannot send replies

Verify your bot token is still valid
Check if the customer has blocked your bot
Ensure the conversation is still active

Webhook configuration failed

Double-check that your bot token is correct
Make sure the token hasn't been regenerated in BotFather
Try disconnecting and reconnecting the integration