Building Your Personal AI Assistant with OpenClaw on Telegram

1Create Telegram Bot

Use BotFather to create your bot:

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot command
3. Choose a name (e.g., "Personal Assistant")
4. Choose a username (must end in 'bot', e.g., "my_assistant_bot")
5. Copy the bot token provided by BotFather

BotFather will respond with:

Done! Congratulations on your new bot.
You will find it at t.me/my_assistant_bot
Use this token to access the HTTP API:
1234567890:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz

2Configure Bot Settings

Customize your bot with BotFather commands:

/setdescription - Set bot description
/setabouttext - Set about text
/setuserpic - Upload bot profile picture
/setcommands - Set command list

Example command list:

start - Start the bot
help - Show help message
status - Check bot status
settings - Configure preferences

3Initialize OpenClaw for Telegram

Create a new OpenClaw project for Telegram:

openclaw init telegram-bot --platform telegram
cd telegram-bot

Project structure:

telegram-bot/
├── openclaw.config.js
├── .env.example
├── commands/
│   ├── start.js
│   ├── help.js
│   └── settings.js
├── handlers/
│   ├── message.js
│   └── callback.js
└── package.json

4Configure Environment Variables

Create .env file with your bot token:

# Telegram Configuration
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_bot_token_here

# OpenClaw Settings
OPENCLAW_API_KEY=your_openclaw_api_key
OPENCLAW_MODE=production
OPENCLAW_LANGUAGE=en

# Optional Features
ENABLE_INLINE_MODE=true
ENABLE_WEBHOOKS=false
LOG_LEVEL=info

5Customize Bot Configuration

Edit openclaw.config.js:

module.exports = {
  name: 'Personal Assistant',
  
  // AI Configuration
  ai: {
    model: 'openclaw-v2',
    temperature: 0.7,
    maxTokens: 500,
    contextWindow: 20
  },
  
  // Telegram-specific settings
  telegram: {
    polling: true,
    parseMode: 'Markdown',
    webPreview: false
  },
  
  // Feature toggles
  features: {
    inlineMode: true,
    callbackQueries: true,
    fileHandling: true,
    voiceMessages: false
  },
  
  // Response templates
  responses: {
    start: 'Welcome! 👋 I\'m your personal AI assistant.',
    help: 'I can help you with:\n• Answering questions\n• Managing tasks\n• Providing information',
    error: '❌ Something went wrong. Please try again.',
    processing: '⏳ Processing your request...'
  }
};

6Create Bot Commands

Implement the /start command in commands/start.js:

module.exports = {
  command: 'start',
  description: 'Start the bot',
  
  async execute(ctx) {
    const keyboard = {
      inline_keyboard: [
        [
          { text: '❓ Help', callback_data: 'help' },
          { text: '⚙️ Settings', callback_data: 'settings' }
        ],
        [
          { text: '📊 Status', callback_data: 'status' }
        ]
      ]
    };
    
    await ctx.reply(
      `*Welcome to OpenClaw!* 🎉\n\n` +
      `I'm your personal AI assistant. Ask me anything!\n\n` +
      `Try these commands:\n` +
      `/help - Show available commands\n` +
      `/status - Check bot status\n` +
      `/settings - Configure preferences`,
      {
        parse_mode: 'Markdown',
        reply_markup: keyboard
      }
    );
  }
};

7Handle Messages

Process user messages in handlers/message.js:

module.exports = async (ctx, openclaw) => {
  const message = ctx.message.text;
  const userId = ctx.from.id;
  
  // Show typing indicator
  await ctx.sendChatAction('typing');
  
  try {
    // Generate AI response
    const response = await openclaw.generateResponse(
      message,
      userId,
      {
        platform: 'telegram',
        chatId: ctx.chat.id
      }
    );
    
    // Send response
    await ctx.reply(response, {
      parse_mode: 'Markdown',
      disable_web_page_preview: true
    });
  } catch (error) {
    await ctx.reply('Sorry, I encountered an error. Please try again.');
  }
};

8Start Your Bot

Launch OpenClaw in development mode:

openclaw dev

Expected output:

🚀 OpenClaw Telegram Bot Starting...
✓ Configuration loaded
✓ Commands registered: 4
✓ Handlers loaded: 2
✓ Connected to Telegram
✓ Bot online: @my_assistant_bot
✓ Polling for updates
→ Ready to receive messages!