Connecting a Telegram Bot

A Telegram bot for one-to-one chats is available on every plan, including Free, where it can run alongside the web chat widget.

Create a Telegram bot

1. Open Telegram and message @BotFather
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to create your bot
3. Copy the bot token that BotFather gives you

Connect to Chatonio

1. Go to Projects → your project → Channels
2. Click Add channel, choose Telegram as the channel type, give it a name and press Create

The new channel appears in the list below the form. Open its Settings, paste your bot token into the Telegram bot card, and click Connect — this registers the webhook with Telegram.

The card then shows your bot's @username and Connected. That's it — messages sent to your Telegram bot now appear in your Chatonio inbox, and the AI responds automatically.

Important notes

• One bot can be shared within a single project — the same token can simultaneously power a 1:1 Telegram channel, a Telegram Group (multi-thread) channel, and helpdesk ticket notifications. Only one 1:1 Telegram channel can use a given bot, though
• A bot can belong to only one project at a time. To move it to a different project, first disconnect it from every surface that uses it in the current project (the 1:1 channel, any Telegram group channel, and helpdesk notifications) — until you do, setting it up elsewhere will fail with an error saying the bot is already configured for another project
• Your bot token is stored encrypted