telegram by different-ai/openwork-hub

Environment Setup

IMPORTANT: Before using any Telegram commands, source the local .env file:

source .skill.config

Credentials are stored in .skill.config (gitignored):

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=...
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=...  # Default chat (legacy, still works)

Multi-Chat Configuration

Chat aliases are stored in telegram-chats.json (gitignored):

{
  "chats": {
    "default": { "id": "123456789", "name": "Personal", "description": "Default notifications" },
    "alerts": { "id": "-100987654321", "name": "Alerts", "description": "Critical alerts" },
    "house": { "id": "-4972420459", "name": "House Common", "description": "House group" }
  }
}

Get chat ID by alias

jq -r '.chats.house.id' skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json

List all configured chats

jq -r '.chats | to_entries[] | "\(.key): \(.value.name) (\(.value.id))"' skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json

Quick Usage

Send to default chat

source .skill.config && curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  -d "text=Hello from OpenCode!"

Send to named chat (using jq)

source .skill.config && CHAT_ID=$(jq -r '.chats.house.id' skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json) && \
curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$CHAT_ID" \
  -d "text=Hello House!"

Send to multiple chats

source .skill.config && for chat in default house; do
  CHAT_ID=$(jq -r ".chats.$chat.id" skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json)
  curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
    -d "chat_id=$CHAT_ID" \
    -d "text=Broadcast message!" &
done
wait

Send with Markdown formatting

source .skill.config && curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  -d "parse_mode=Markdown" \
  -d "text=*Bold* and _italic_ and \`code\`"

Send with HTML formatting

source .skill.config && curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  -d "parse_mode=HTML" \
  -d "text=<b>Bold</b> and <i>italic</i> and <code>code</code>"

Send with links

source .skill.config && curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  -d "parse_mode=Markdown" \
  -d "text=Check out [this deal](https://facebook.com/marketplace/item/123)"

Send multi-line message

source .skill.config && curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  -d "parse_mode=Markdown" \
  --data-urlencode "text=*New Deals Found*

1. \$50 - Vintage Poster [View](link1)
2. \$30 - Movie Poster [View](link2)"

Verify Setup

Check bot is working

source .skill.config && curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/getMe" | jq

Check credentials are set

source .skill.config && echo "Token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN:0:10}... Chat: $TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID"

List all chats from config

jq '.chats' skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json

Common Gotchas

Markdown escaping: Use \ before _, *, `, [ if they're literal
URL encoding: Use --data-urlencode for messages with special chars
Chat ID: Must be a number (personal) or starts with - (group/channel)
Bot must be added to group: For group chats, add bot as member first
Group chat IDs are negative: They typically start with -100 for supergroups

First-Time Setup (If Not Configured)

1. Create a bot

Open Telegram and message @BotFather
Send /newbot
Choose a name (e.g., "My OpenCode Bot")
Choose a username (must end in bot, e.g., "myopencode_bot")
Copy the token BotFather gives you

2. Get your chat ID

Message your new bot (just say "hi")
Run:

curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_TOKEN>/getUpdates" | jq '.result[0].message.chat.id'

3. Get group chat IDs

Add the bot to each group
Send a message in the group
Run:

curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_TOKEN>/getUpdates" | jq '.result[] | select(.message.chat.type != "private") | {title: .message.chat.title, id: .message.chat.id}'

4. Store bot token in .skill.config

Add to .skill.config:

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_token_here
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=your_default_chat_id_here

5. Initialize multi-chat config

cp skills/telegram/telegram-chats.example.json skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json

Then edit telegram-chats.json to add your chats:

{
  "chats": {
    "default": {
      "id": "YOUR_PERSONAL_CHAT_ID",
      "name": "Personal",
      "description": "My personal notifications"
    },
    "alerts": {
      "id": "GROUP_CHAT_ID",
      "name": "Alerts Group",
      "description": "System alerts"
    }
  }
}

6. Test it

# Test default
source .skill.config && curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  -d "text=OpenCode connected!"

# Test named chat
source .skill.config && CHAT_ID=$(jq -r '.chats.house.id' skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json) && \
curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=$CHAT_ID" \
  -d "text=House chat connected!"

Adding New Chats

Via getUpdates (recommended)

Add bot to the new group or message it privately
Send a message in that chat
Run:

source .skill.config && curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/getUpdates" | jq '.result[-1].message.chat'

Add the chat to telegram-chats.json

Discover all recent chats

source .skill.config && curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/getUpdates" | \
  jq '[.result[].message.chat] | unique_by(.id) | .[] | {id, title: (.title // .first_name), type}'

Helper: Send Function

For complex scripts, define a helper:

telegram_send() {
  local chat_alias="${1:-default}"
  local message="$2"
  local parse_mode="${3:-Markdown}"
  
  source .skill.config
  local chat_id=$(jq -r ".chats.$chat_alias.id" skills/telegram/telegram-chats.json)
  
  curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
    -d "chat_id=$chat_id" \
    -d "parse_mode=$parse_mode" \
    --data-urlencode "text=$message"
}

# Usage:
telegram_send "house" "Hello from the house chat!"
telegram_send "bargains" "*New deal found!*" "Markdown"