Telegram Bot: Advanced Features
Unlock inline buttons, polls, reactions, and file sharing in your Telegram bot to create interactive and engaging conversations.
What You Will Get
After completing this guide, your OpenClaw Telegram bot will support advanced interactive features that go well beyond simple text replies. You will have inline keyboards with clickable buttons, polls for gathering feedback, emoji reactions, and robust file sharing capabilities.
Telegram's bot API is one of the most feature-rich among all messaging platforms. By tapping into these capabilities, your agent can guide users through multi-step workflows, collect structured input through polls and button menus, and share documents, images, and other media seamlessly.
These advanced features transform your bot from a basic question-and-answer tool into a fully interactive assistant that feels native to the Telegram experience.
Step-by-Step Configuration
Enable and configure advanced Telegram features for your OpenClaw agent.
Open Your Telegram Channel Settings
Go to your agent's Channels tab and click on your existing Telegram integration. If you have not connected Telegram yet, add it first using your bot token from BotFather. The settings panel shows all available feature toggles.
Enable Inline Keyboards
Toggle on inline keyboards in the Telegram channel settings. This allows your agent to attach clickable button rows beneath any message. Define button layouts in your agent's response configuration, specifying labels and callback data for each button. When a user taps a button, the callback data is sent back to your agent for processing.
Configure Polls and Surveys
Enable the polls feature to let your agent create Telegram-native polls. Set up poll templates with predefined questions and answer options. You can configure polls as regular multiple-choice or quiz mode where one answer is correct. Poll results are collected automatically and available in your agent's context.
Set Up Reactions
Turn on reaction support so your agent can add emoji reactions to user messages. This provides quick, lightweight acknowledgments without sending a full reply. Configure which reactions to use for different message types, such as a thumbs-up for confirmations or a checkmark for completed tasks.
Enable File Sharing
Activate file sharing to allow your agent to send and receive documents, images, audio files, and videos. Configure maximum file sizes and allowed MIME types. Telegram supports files up to 50 MB through the bot API, so set your limits accordingly.
Set Up Command Menus
Register a command menu that appears when users type a forward slash in the chat. Define commands like /help, /status, or /settings with descriptions. This gives users a discoverable way to interact with your bot and reduces the learning curve for new users.
Test All Features
Open Telegram and send a variety of messages to your bot. Test each feature: tap inline buttons, respond to a poll, check that reactions appear, and send files back and forth. Review the logs on your RunTheAgent dashboard to confirm all interactions are being processed correctly.
Tips and Best Practices
Keep Button Rows Short
Limit inline keyboard rows to 2-3 buttons for readability. Too many buttons per row makes them hard to tap on mobile devices. Use multiple rows if you need more options.
Use Callback Data Wisely
Callback data from inline buttons is limited to 64 bytes. Use short codes or identifiers rather than full descriptions, and map them to actions in your agent logic.
Acknowledge Button Presses
Always respond to button callbacks with an answer callback query to dismiss the loading indicator. This provides immediate feedback to users and prevents them from tapping the button repeatedly.
Example Use Cases
Customer Feedback Collection
Send a poll after each interaction to collect satisfaction ratings. Use inline buttons for quick follow-up questions based on the rating received.
Document Delivery
Generate and send PDF reports, invoices, or summaries directly in the chat. Users can request documents by command and receive them as file attachments.
Interactive Menus
Build multi-level navigation menus using inline keyboards. Users can browse categories, select options, and confirm choices all through button taps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Pages
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