Telegram Bridge

Chat with Claude through a Telegram Bot. Supports streaming message preview, permission confirmation buttons, and rich Markdown rendering.

Create a Telegram Bot

Search for @BotFather in Telegram
Send /newbot
Follow the prompts to enter a display name and a username (must end with _bot)
BotFather will return a Bot Token in a format like 123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11
Copy the Token for later use

Configure in CodePilot

Click Bridge in the sidebar, then switch to the Telegram tab
Paste the Bot Token in the Bot Credentials section
Click Test Connection to verify the Token is valid
Once verified, click Auto-detect Chat ID:
- First, send any message to your Bot in Telegram
- Then click the detect button; CodePilot will automatically retrieve your Chat ID
(Optional) In Allowed Users, enter the Telegram user IDs permitted to use the Bot, separated by commas. Leave empty for no restrictions.
Click Save

Enable the Bridge

Go back to the Bridge overview page
Make sure the Telegram channel toggle is on
Make sure the Bridge master switch is on
Click Start

Send a message to the Bot in Telegram and you should receive a reply from Claude.

The Telegram bridge supports streaming message preview — as Claude generates a reply, the Bot updates the message content in real time so you can follow the progress without waiting for the full response.

Streaming preview parameters can be adjusted in the advanced settings:

Minimum update characters — Minimum number of new characters accumulated before updating the message (default 20)
Minimum update interval — Shortest interval between two updates (default 700 ms)
Maximum message length — Maximum length of the preview message (default 3900 characters)

Message Format

The Telegram bridge converts Claude's Markdown replies into Telegram HTML format:

Code blocks → <pre> with language annotation
Bold, italic → HTML tags
Links → clickable links
Overly long messages are automatically split into chunks (max 4096 characters each)

If HTML rendering fails, the message is automatically sent as plain text.

Permission Handling

When Claude needs to perform a sensitive operation, the Bot sends a message with inline buttons:

Allow — Allow this operation
Allow for session — Automatically allow similar operations for the rest of this session
Deny — Deny the operation

Troubleshooting

Bot not responding

Confirm the CodePilot bridge service is running (Bridge page shows "Connected")
Confirm the Telegram channel toggle is on
Confirm the Bot Token is correct (re-test the connection)
If you configured an allowed users list, confirm your user ID is in the list

Receiving error messages

Insufficient API quota — Check the API key balance
Model unavailable — Check the bridge default provider and model configuration
Permission timeout — Claude timed out waiting for permission confirmation; resend the message

Telegram