Telegram

Connect Telegram with the Telegram adapter.


Connect Telegram with the Telegram adapter. All you need is a bot token from BotFather.

Install#

npm install @copilotkit/channels @copilotkit/runtime @tanstack/ai @tanstack/ai-openai

Credentials#

Create a bot with BotFather and copy its token:

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=...

# The runtime runs every channel, so a CopilotKit Intelligence key is required
# even for a direct adapter (free tier available).
COPILOTKIT_INTELLIGENCE_URL=https://your-intelligence-url
COPILOTKIT_API_KEY=cpk-...

Connect#

import { createChannel } from "@copilotkit/channels";
import { telegram } from "@copilotkit/channels/telegram";
import { CopilotRuntime, CopilotKitIntelligence } from "@copilotkit/runtime/v2";
import { createCopilotNodeListener } from "@copilotkit/runtime/v2/node";
import { agent } from "./agent"; // your TanStack AI agent, see the Quickstart

const channel = createChannel({
  name: "support-bot",
  agent,
  adapters: [
    telegram({ token: process.env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN! }),
  ],
});

channel.onMessage(async ({ thread, message }) => {
  await thread.runAgent({ prompt: message.text });
});

// The runtime drives the channel — it starts the Telegram adapter, you don't
// call channel.start() yourself. `ready()` activates it.
const apiUrl = process.env.COPILOTKIT_INTELLIGENCE_URL!;
const runtime = new CopilotRuntime({
  agents: {},
  intelligence: new CopilotKitIntelligence({
    apiUrl,
    wsUrl: apiUrl.replace(/^http/, "ws"),
    apiKey: process.env.COPILOTKIT_API_KEY!,
  }),
  identifyUser: () => ({ id: "demo-user", name: "Demo User" }),
  channels: [channel],
});

const listener = createCopilotNodeListener({ runtime });
await listener.channels?.ready();

That is the whole connection. Add commands, interactive flows, and file handling the same way as any other channel.

Built-in tools and context#

The Telegram adapter ships helpers you can spread into your channel: a set of tools (including a Telegram user-lookup tool) and Telegram formatting context.

import { telegram, defaultTelegramTools, defaultTelegramContext } from "@copilotkit/channels/telegram";

createChannel({
  agent,
  tools: [...defaultTelegramTools],
  context: [...defaultTelegramContext],
  adapters: [telegram({ token: process.env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN! })],
});