Connect a Telegram bot

In Telegram your bot is a separate account with its own name, and you create it yourself. Scriptera runs it, but it belongs to you: take the key back and the bot stays yours.

Step 1. Create the bot in Telegram

Open a chat with @BotFather in Telegram:

• a new bot — the /newbot command, then it asks for a title and a username;
• an existing bot — the /token command.

@BotFather replies with a long string — that is the access key to your bot.

Step 2. Connect it in your account

1. “Settings” → “Connections” → “Connect”.
2. Choose Telegram.
3. Paste the key into the “Access Token” field and press “Connect”.

The hint on the form says the same: the token comes from @BotFather.

What happens right after

We arrange with Telegram to receive your bot’s messages — without that neither “Chats” nor the bots themselves work. Usually this happens instantly.

If it did not, you will see: “The bot is connected, but Telegram hasn’t agreed to send us its messages yet.” What to do: open this connection a minute later and save it again. If that does not help, check the key with @BotFather — it may have been reissued.

Important: one bot, one service

Telegram lets a bot be connected to only one service at a time. If the same bot is connected somewhere else, the two services will pull it back and forth and some messages will be lost. We notice that and write to you — see When a connection breaks.

One account, one workspace

Same as with Instagram: one bot cannot stay connected in two Scriptera workspaces. If you try, you will see a warning and decide yourself.