Connect a Telegram bot
Create a bot with BotFather, paste its API token into Settings, and client messages start arriving in the Messages section within seconds.
Telegram connects directly through a bot: clients write to your bot, the messages land in the Messages section, and replies flow back through the same bot. No intermediary services and no platform review — the whole setup takes a couple of minutes.
What you need
- A Telegram account to talk to BotFather (Telegram's official bot for creating bots).
- Permission to configure integrations in your workspace — otherwise the page shows "You don't have permission to configure integrations."
Step by step
- Open @BotFather in Telegram and run the command
/newbot(or/mybotsif you already have a bot). Give the bot a name and a username. - Copy the API token BotFather gives you — it looks like
123456789:AABBccDD.... - In Ikigai, go to Settings → Integrations → Telegram bots and click Connect a bot.
- Paste the token into the Bot API token field. Optionally set a Display name — it defaults to the bot's name in Telegram.
- Click Connect bot. Ikigai validates the token, stores it encrypted, and registers its webhook with Telegram automatically.
After a successful connection the page shows Connected @username.
Verify it works
Send a message to your bot from any Telegram client — it should appear in the Messages section within a couple of seconds as a new conversation. Replies you send from the inbox are delivered back through the same channel.
A nice bonus of the Telegram channel: client profile photos are pulled automatically, so conversations and contact cards show real avatars.
Managing bots
- You can connect several bots — each appears under the Connected heading; use Connect another bot for the next one.
- Disconnect removes the bot from the workspace; incoming messages stop until you connect it again.
- Incoming chats can be routed to managers automatically — set that up in Chat distribution.
Tip: the token is a secret. Anyone holding it can control the bot, so share it only through this settings form — Ikigai stores it encrypted.
Read next: The Messages section for the daily workflow, or the whole Chat channels category.
Was this article helpful?