Connect a Telegram Bot

What you will end up with

A Telegram bot that receives messages from customers in the same Orqestra inbox as WhatsApp and Instagram, and that your Journeys and AI Agents can answer.

Before you start

• A Telegram account, to talk to @BotFather.
• Permission to manage channels in Orqestra (owner, or a role with settings access).
• Your Orqestra instance must have TELEGRAM_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY configured. If the Telegram option is missing from Add Channel, this is why — ask whoever runs your deployment.

Steps

1. Create the bot in Telegram

1. Open Telegram and start a chat with @BotFather.
2. Send /newbot.
3. Give it a display name — this is what customers see.
4. Give it a username ending in bot, for example tokobaju_cs_bot.
5. BotFather replies with a token that looks like 8123456789:AAF…. Copy it.

That token is full control of the bot.
Anyone holding it can read every message your bot receives and send messages as your business. Do not paste it into a chat, a ticket, or a screenshot. Orqestra encrypts it at rest, but it is only as safe as the copy on your clipboard.

2. Connect it to Orqestra

1. Open Settings → Channel Setup.
2. Select Add Channel, then Telegram.
3. Paste the token and save.

Orqestra validates the token against Telegram, stores it encrypted, and registers a webhook so messages start arriving. If the token is wrong or already in use elsewhere, you will be told immediately rather than after the first message goes missing.

3. Send a test message

1. In Telegram, search for your bot by its username and open it.
2. Press Start, then send any message.
3. In Orqestra, open Conversations. The message appears within a few seconds.

How to check it worked

The channel shows as active in Channel Setup, and your test message is in the inbox with the Telegram badge on it. Reply from Orqestra and confirm it arrives in Telegram.

What is different about Telegram

• No 24-hour window. Unlike WhatsApp, you can message a customer at any time after they have started a conversation. There are no templates to get approved.
• Private chats only. Group and channel messages are ignored on purpose.
• Buttons are inline keyboards. Journey button ids travel as Telegram callback data, which is capped at 64 bytes — a longer id is dropped rather than truncated, so keep button ids short.
• Broadcasts are not supported on Telegram yet.

When it does not work

• Messages never arrive. The webhook could not be registered. Your Orqestra URL must be public HTTPS — Telegram refuses to deliver to anything else. Reconnect the channel from Channel Setup to retry.
• “Telegram” is not in the Add Channel list. The encryption key is not configured on the server.
• It worked, then stopped. Someone may have called /revoke in BotFather, or connected the same bot somewhere else — a bot can only have one webhook. Issue a fresh token and reconnect.