Telegram

5.2. Telegram — The Most Popular Personal Platform

How to get the correct User ID

This is the most common configuration mistake mentioned in 6.1: the User ID is a number, not a username. The fastest way — message @userinfobot and it replies immediately with the exact User ID.

Reactions as a visual processing signal

The bot can add an emoji reaction as a visual response while processing — unlike Discord (where reactions accumulate), the Telegram Bot API replaces the entire reaction set in a single call, so the transition from 👀 to ✅/❌ happens instantly, with no intermediate state showing both at once.

Ephemeral system prompt per group/topic

You can assign a dedicated system prompt to a specific group or forum topic — this prompt is injected at runtime each turn and is not stored in the transcript history, so changes take effect immediately without a restart.

Notes

• Always use @userinfobot to get the correct User ID before configuring TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS — confusing the ID with the username is the common mistake that makes the allowlist not work.
• If reactions do not appear in a group, check the bot’s reaction permission — the call fails silently, and messages still process normally with no clear error sign.
• For groups/forums with many different topics, take advantage of the per-topic ephemeral prompt — turn one Telegram bot into many different “roles” per topic without needing separate profiles (a different approach to multiple profiles in 19.4).