Telegram

At a glance

Set these per environment. See Connect an integration.

Variable	Required	Description
`TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN`	Yes	Telegram bot token issued by @BotFather, in the form 123456789:ABC-DEF… Docs.

Create a bot with @BotFather: In any Telegram client (a regular free Telegram account works), open a chat with @BotFather, send /newbot, and follow the prompts to pick a display name and a unique username ending in ‘bot’. BotFather replies with the bot token.
Store the token: Set the token from BotFather as TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN. You can regenerate it at any time with /revoke in @BotFather, which invalidates the old token.
Open a chat with the bot: Bots cannot message users first. Start a direct chat with your bot (or add it to a group) and send it a message; the chat then appears in getUpdates, where you can read the numeric chat_id used to address messages.

The Telegram Bot API authenticates by embedding the bot token in the request URL path (https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/<method>); it does not accept the token in an HTTP header.
Keep the token secret: anyone who has it fully controls the bot.

Tool	Access	Description
Send Message	Write	Send a text message to a chat, group, or channel the bot has access to
Get Updates	Read	Receive incoming updates (messages sent to the bot) via long polling; use it to discover chat ids
Get Me	Read	Return basic information about the bot itself; useful for verifying the token works
Send Photo	Write	Send a photo to a chat by passing a publicly reachable HTTP URL or an existing Telegram file_id
Edit Message Text	Write	Edit the text of a message previously sent by the bot