Telegram
Telegram
Connect a Telegram bot so your AI agent answers customers in Telegram direct messages.
The Telegram channel connects a bot you own to your workspace. Customers message the bot in a direct chat; your AI agent answers, and every conversation lands in the inbox where your team can step in at any time.
Availability — this channel is rolling out and may not be enabled for your workspace yet. It will appear under Channels in your dashboard as soon as it's available.
Prerequisites
- A Telegram account.
- A bot created with @BotFather — you create it during setup below. Asks only needs the bot's HTTP API token.
Connect Telegram
Open t.me/BotFather in Telegram and send /newbot. BotFather asks for a display name, then a username ending in bot. When it finishes, it replies with the bot's HTTP API token — a string like 123456789:AA....
Copy the full token from BotFather's message. If you lose it later, send /token to BotFather to reveal it again.
Go to app.asks.app/channels/telegram, paste the token, and connect. Asks validates the token with Telegram and registers the bot's webhook automatically — there is nothing to host or configure on your side.
Once connected, the channel appears as @yourbotname with a Connected badge. The channel page shows the bot's name, a t.me link, and conversation counts.
Verify it works — open the t.me bot link from the channel page, tap Start, and send a message. It appears as a new conversation in your inbox, and the AI agent replies in the Telegram chat.
How messaging works
- Direct messages only. The bot answers private chats. Messages in groups, supergroups, and broadcast channels are ignored.
- Customers start the conversation. Telegram bots can't message a person first — a customer must open the bot and tap Start before it can reply. Put the
t.melink where customers can find it. - No messaging window. Unlike WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook, Telegram has no reply deadline. You and the AI agent can reply to any conversation at any time.
- Media works both ways. Photos, video, audio, voice notes, documents, and stickers arrive in the inbox (up to about 20 MB per file), and you can send images, video, audio, and documents back.
- The thread stays in sync. Messages edited in Telegram update in the inbox, the bot shows a typing indicator while the AI composes, and if a customer blocks the bot the conversation is flagged so your team knows replies won't arrive.
- Messages from other bots are ignored.
You can connect more than one bot; each becomes its own channel. Asks also monitors each bot in the background and flags the channel if its token is revoked or the webhook drifts.
Troubleshooting
The token is rejected
Copy the entire token from BotFather, including the numeric prefix and the colon. Send /token to BotFather to see it again. If you regenerated the token with /revoke, the old one no longer works — reconnect with the new token.
The bot doesn't reply in a group
Expected. The Telegram channel handles direct messages only.
Can I message a customer who never wrote in?
No. Telegram doesn't allow it — bots can only reply to people who have started a chat with them.
What happens when I disconnect?
Asks removes the bot's webhook and marks the channel disconnected. Existing conversations stay in your inbox. Reconnecting re-registers the webhook with the same bot.