Channels
Telegram
Connect a Telegram bot to Sela, use Telegram Business accounts, and learn how edits, formatting, media, call requests and operator alerts behave.
Last updated: 2026-09-29
Telegram lets customers message your business through a bot. Sela receives those messages in the inbox, where your team or the AI assistant replies. This page covers connecting a bot, Telegram Business accounts, message behavior, calls from Telegram, and the separate operator alerts.
Telegram is not a Meta channel, so there is no 24-hour reply window.
Two different Telegram features#
| Feature | Who uses it | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Customer bot | Your customers message a bot that belongs to your organization | Integrations, Telegram card |
| Operator alerts | Your staff get pinged by Sela's own bot when a conversation needs a human | Integrations, Advanced settings, Escalation Alert Preferences |
A workspace has one active customer bot.
Connect a bot#
Open Settings, Workspace setup, Integrations. The Telegram card offers two ways to connect.
Create with Telegram (managed bot)#
- Choose Create with Telegram, then Open Telegram.
- Finish creating the bot in Telegram. The request expires after 15 minutes and is tied to your organization.
- Return to Sela. The status reads "Finish creating the bot in Telegram. This status will update automatically." Once done, Sela stores the bot's token encrypted and installs the webhook itself.
Use an existing bot#
- In Telegram, create a bot with BotFather and copy its token.
- In Sela, paste the BotFather token. The token is used once and stored encrypted. Sela never shows it again after connection.
- Sela checks the token and inspects the bot's existing webhook. If another service already uses the bot's webhook, you are asked to confirm with Replace webhook and connect. Replacing it stops the other service from receiving messages.
Manage the connection#
- Check connection confirms the bot answers and the webhook matches.
- Reconnect and Disconnect are available on the card. Delete Connection removes it.
- Status messages: "Telegram connection is healthy", "Telegram needs attention" and "Telegram bot disconnected".
- A bot added with a pasted token cannot reconnect without that token. Paste it again.
- Old conversations stay attached to the bot that received them. When you switch bots, Sela removes the old webhook first.
Bot behaviour settings#
Under Bot behaviour you can set:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Welcome message | English and Arabic, up to 1,500 characters each. If empty, the assistant answers /start itself. |
| Ask for the phone number | Asks the customer to share their number with one tap, which links their Telegram chat to their WhatsApp history. |
| Telegram Business | Lets your business's own Telegram account use the bot as a chatbot. Connected accounts are listed. |
| Call requests | Lets a customer request a call with /call. See below. |
| Rich formatting | Converts the assistant's Markdown to Telegram formatting. On by default. |
/help and /privacy return fixed text.
Telegram Business connections#
Telegram Business lets an account (for example a shop's own Telegram profile) route chats to a bot. Sela supports this: business messages arrive in the inbox like normal chats and replies go out through the business connection. The setting is on by default and you can turn it off under Telegram Business. Your team members enable the bot from Telegram's own Business settings.
What Sela accepts and sends#
Accepted from customers. Private messages from people (not bots), Business messages, and edits to those messages. Edits update the message in the inbox.
Ignored. Group and channel chats, stickers, locations and contacts.
Media from customers up to 20 MB (or a lower shared limit): photos, video, voice notes and audio, and allowlisted documents. Audio is transcribed for the AI. Images, video and documents are saved for your team and are not treated as understood by the AI unless Media Understanding is on (see How the AI works).
Replies.
- Text can be split at about 4,000 characters, up to 4 messages.
- Rich formatting follows Telegram's HTML style. Links can be sent as link buttons. Telegram has no option lists.
- Operators and the AI can send photos, video, voice, audio and documents.
- Operators can edit and delete a message they sent, and reactions from the inbox are mirrored using Telegram's allowed emoji list. Other emoji are rejected.
Calls from Telegram#
When Call requests is on, a customer can send /call or press the call button. Sela creates a call request and the customer sees "Got it. A member of our team will call you here on Telegram shortly." with a Wait on the line button that opens Telegram's Mini App.
Your operators get an incoming-call notification and use Call customer on Telegram in the inbox. The Mini App joins the customer automatically when an operator answers.
Calling needs a network relay (set up by Sela) and a plan that includes Calls (Enterprise). Routing, transfer and requirements are in Calls. The Mini App also needs the widget app address to be configured for the platform, which Sela sets up.
Operator alerts#
Open Integrations, Advanced settings, Escalation Alert Preferences. The preference is stored per operator, not per organization.
- Choose Connect next to Telegram. It opens Sela's bot in Telegram.
- Start the bot. The status changes to "Connected. You should receive immediate escalation alerts."
- Telegram is the primary route for handoff alerts. Email is used as a fallback when Telegram is not linked.
Privacy note#
Sela stores the Telegram user ID, username, name, language, message IDs, captions and the connection used. Mention this in your privacy notice. See Security and privacy.
Limits#
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Welcome message | 1,500 characters per language |
| Reply length | About 4,000 characters, up to 4 messages |
| Inbound media | 20 MB, or lower shared limit |
| Bots per workspace | One active customer bot |
| Reply window | None |
Troubleshooting#
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Card shows "Telegram needs attention" | Token revoked or webhook changed | Run Check connection, then Reconnect (paste the token again for a pasted-token bot). |
| Messages stop after connecting | Another service replaced the webhook | Reconnect and confirm Replace webhook and connect. |
| One conversation is read-only | Telegram refused sends to that chat (the customer blocked the bot or deleted the chat) | Nothing to fix. Other conversations are unaffected. |
| Customer's message not answered | AI gate failed or human assigned | See How the AI works. |
| "Wait on the line" never connects | No network relay or call plan | See Calls. |
| Reaction rejected | Emoji not in Telegram's allowed list | Pick a different emoji. |
Temporary network errors are retried once after Telegram's requested wait; an unclear outcome is not retried automatically, to avoid duplicates. Failed inbound events are retried in the background. For send failures with a reference number, see Delivery troubleshooting.
Can't find what you need? Contact support.