Introduction: A Telegram channel lets your RapidPro.app workspace send and receive messages through a Telegram Bot. To connect Telegram, you’ll create a bot in Telegram (via BotFather), copy the bot token, and paste it into RapidPro.app when adding a new channel. This guide walks you through setup, testing, and the key Telegram rule to keep in mind: contacts must message your bot first (usually with /start) before you can message them.
Quick setup checklist
Follow these steps to connect Telegram and validate sending + receiving:
- Install Telegram and sign in (you’ll need a Telegram account).
- Search for BotFather and start a chat.
- Send the command /newbot.
- Follow the prompts to set:
- a bot name, and
- a username (it typically ends with bot).
- Copy the authentication token BotFather gives you (you’ll paste it into RapidPro.app).
[CAPTURE: Telegram chat with BotFather showing /newbot flow and the generated token (blurred).]
- Open Workspace Settings (gear icon).
- Click + New channel.
- Select Telegram.
- Paste the bot token you copied from BotFather.
- Submit/save.
[CAPTURE: Add Channel page with Telegram selected and token field filled (blurred).]
Result: Your Telegram bot is now connected to your workspace.
- In Telegram, message your bot with /start.
- In RapidPro.app, confirm the inbound message appears in Messages / contact history.
- Run a simple flow that replies to the contact and confirm the reply is delivered in Telegram.
[CAPTURE: Messages view showing a Telegram inbound message and an outbound reply.]
If you want an automatic onboarding experience, you can start a flow as soon as someone messages your bot with /start.
- Create (or open) the onboarding flow you want to run.
- Create a keyword trigger for start.
- Make sure the trigger applies to the correct Telegram bot/channel you connected.
- Test again by sending /start from Telegram.
[CAPTURE: Trigger setup showing keyword “start” mapped to an onboarding flow.]
Common Issues
The bot connects, but inbound messages don’t show up
Fixes:
- Verify you pasted the correct token (copy it again from BotFather if unsure).
- Confirm the Telegram channel is enabled in Workspace Settings → Channels.
- Send a fresh /start message to the bot and check message logs.
I can’t message people who never chatted with the bot
Fix: This is expected. A contact must message the bot first (usually via /start) before you can message them.
My onboarding flow doesn’t start when contacts type /start
Fixes:
- Ensure you created a keyword trigger for start on the correct flow.
- Make sure the trigger applies to the Telegram channel/bot you connected.
- Re-test with a contact that has just sent /start.