--- title: "How to set up Telegram (bot) with Unified.to" img: https://unified.to/images/logo.svg date: 2026-06-30T23:39:00.000Z tag: Guides description: "Telegram's Bot API lets you send and receive messages through a bot account you control. This guide walks you through creating a Telegram bot, connecting it to..." url: "https://docs.unified.to/guides/how_to_set_up_telegram_bot_with_unified" --- # How to set up Telegram (bot) with Unified.to ------ _June 30, 2026_ Telegram's **Bot API** lets you send and receive messages through a bot account you control. This guide walks you through creating a Telegram bot, connecting it to Unified.to with its bot token, and (optionally) turning on webhooks so you receive incoming messages and button clicks in real time. **Estimated time:** 10 minutes --- **Prerequisites** - A Telegram account (any mobile or desktop client). - A Unified.to account with a workspace. [Sign up here](https://unified.to/) if you don't have one. - For receiving messages via webhooks: nothing extra — Unified.to hosts the HTTPS endpoint for you. > **Bot API vs. personal account:** This integration uses the Telegram **Bot API**, so all messages are sent and received as your **bot**, not as your personal Telegram user. People interact with your bot by starting a chat with it or by adding it to a group/channel. --- **Step 1 — Create a bot and get your bot token** 1. In any Telegram client, open a chat with [**@BotFather**](https://t.me/BotFather) (the official bot for creating bots). 2. Send the command **`/newbot`**. 3. When prompted, enter a **name** for your bot (the display name, e.g. _Acme Support_). 4. Then enter a **username** for your bot. It must end in `bot` (e.g. `acme_support_bot`). 5. BotFather replies with a confirmation that includes your **HTTP API token**. It looks like this: ```plain text 123456789:AAEhBP0...M_zv1u123ew11 ``` 6. **Copy this token** and keep it safe — it grants full control of your bot. You'll paste it into Unified.to in Step 3. > Lost the token later? Send **`/token`** to BotFather and pick your bot, or **`/revoke`** to roll it. --- **Step 2 — (Optional) Let your bot read group messages** By default a bot in **privacy mode** only receives messages that mention it or reply to it. If you want your bot to receive **all** messages in a group: 1. Open [**@BotFather**](https://t.me/BotFather) and send **`/setprivacy`**. 2. Select your bot. 3. Choose **Disable**. You can skip this step for one-to-one (direct) chats — bots always receive direct messages sent to them. --- **Step 3 — Connect Telegram in Unified.to** 1. In the Unified.to dashboard, go to **Integrations** and search for **Telegram (bot)**. 2. Click **Connect** (or **Authorize**) to start a new connection. 3. When prompted for credentials, paste the value from Step 1 into the **Bot Token** field. 4. Submit. Unified.to validates the token by calling the Telegram `getMe` endpoint and, on success, creates the connection. The bot's name is shown on the connection. You can also create the connection programmatically by storing the bot token as the connection's token credential — see the [Authorization API](https://docs.unified.to/unified/unified/authorization). That's it for sending messages. To **receive** messages, continue to the webhook setup below. --- **Step 4 — Find a chat ID to send to** The Bot API can't list chats, so you need the **chat ID** of whoever you want to message. A chat ID is a number (e.g. `123456789` for a person, or a negative number like `-1001234567890` for a group/channel). The easiest way to discover one: 1. From the recipient's Telegram account, **start a chat with your bot** (search its `@username` and press **Start**), or **add the bot to your group/channel**. 2. Have them send any message to the bot / group. 3. That inbound message arrives through your Unified.to webhook (Step 5) and includes the `channel_id` (the Telegram chat ID). Use that value as the destination for future messages. **Sending a message** Once you have a `channel_id`, send a message through the unified `messaging_message` endpoint: ```plain text curl -X POST 'https://api.unified.to/messaging//message' \ -H 'Authorization: Bearer ' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d '{ "channels": [{ "id": "123456789" }], "message": "Hello from Unified.to 👋" }' ``` You can also include inline buttons (mapped to Telegram inline keyboards) and reply to a message via `parent_id`. The response contains the new message `id`, which is required to **edit** (`editMessageText`) or **delete** (`deleteMessage`) it later. --- **Step 5 — Set up a webhook to receive messages** Unified.to registers the Telegram webhook for you — you don't call `setWebhook` yourself. When you create a webhook subscription, Unified.to points your bot at a secure HTTPS endpoint and verifies every delivery with a secret token. 1. In the Unified.to dashboard, open your **Telegram (bot)** connection and go to **Webhooks** (or use the [Webhook API](https://docs.unified.to/unified/unified/createunifiedwebhook)). 2. Create a webhook and choose what you want to receive: - **`messaging_message`**, event **`created`** — each new incoming message (and **`updated`** for edited messages). - **`messaging_event`**, event **`created`** — incoming messages **and** inline-button clicks, delivered as unified events (`MESSAGE_RECEIVED`, `BUTTON_CLICK`). 3. Provide your destination URL — the place Unified.to should forward normalized events to. 4. Save. Unified.to calls Telegram's `setWebhook` behind the scenes and begins forwarding events. Example webhook creation via the API: ```plain text curl -X POST 'https://api.unified.to/unified/webhook' \ -H 'Authorization: Bearer ' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d '{ "connection_id": "", "object_type": "messaging_message", "event": "created", "hook_url": "https://your-app.example.com/telegram/incoming" }' ``` To stop receiving events, delete the webhook. Unified.to removes the bot's Telegram webhook automatically once the last subscription on the connection is gone. --- **Notes & troubleshooting** - **One webhook per bot.** Telegram allows a single webhook URL per bot, so all of a connection's webhook subscriptions share the same registration — that's expected and handled automatically. - **HTTPS is required.** Telegram only delivers updates to HTTPS endpoints. Webhooks therefore work on Unified.to's hosted environment but not against a plain-HTTP localhost listener during local development. - **No history.** The Bot API cannot list or fetch past messages or chats — a bot only sees messages sent **after** it joined a chat, delivered via webhooks. There is no "list messages" or "list channels" operation. - **Not seeing group messages?** Make sure you disabled privacy mode (Step 2) and re-added the bot to the group if needed. - **`getMe`** **/ connection fails?** Double-check the bot token was pasted exactly, with no extra spaces, and that the bot hasn't been revoked in BotFather. --- **What you can do next** - Send, edit, and delete messages (`sendMessage`, `editMessageText`, `deleteMessage`). - Look up a single chat's details with `messaging_channel` (`getChat`). - Receive incoming messages and inline-button clicks via `messaging_message` and `messaging_event` webhooks. Need help? [Contact Unified.to support](https://unified.to/) or browse the [other guides](https://docs.unified.to/guides).