6 Telegram Groups That Finally Organized My OpenClaw Agent: Here's How

TLDR

Create a Telegram group for each project or topic. Get the group ID using @GetIDsBot. Tell your OpenClaw agent (previously known as Clawdbot and Moltbot) to add it. Now you can check any project's status by opening that group and reading the last message.

Introduction

Once you have OpenClaw Telegram Setup in 5 Minutes: Here's Exactly How, DMs work great. But everything ends up in one long conversation. Finding the status of a specific project means scrolling back through messages.

The solution: Telegram groups.

Not for chatting with other people. For organizing your agent's work. One group per project, topic, or workflow.

Each group becomes a dedicated channel. Want to know what's happening with your blog pipeline? Open that group. Last message shows the current status. No digging through a single massive chat history.

This is how I run things. Six active groups, each with its own context. The agent treats them as separate workspaces. No cross-contamination.

If you need to set up OpenClaw on a VPS first, see [How I Finally Got OpenClaw Running 24/7: $6/Month on DigitalOcean](/blog/openclaw-digitalocean-vps-setup). Use [this referral link](https://m.do.co/c/0acfc78dffba) for$200 in free credit.

What You Will Need

Before starting, confirm these work:

1. OpenClaw installed and gateway running
2. Telegram bot created and connected (DMs working)
3. Access to create Telegram groups

If DMs do not work yet, check OpenClaw Telegram Setup in 5 Minutes: Here's Exactly How first.

Step 1: Create a Telegram Group

1. Open Telegram
2. Tap the compose/new message button
3. Select "New Group"
4. Add your OpenClaw bot as a member
5. Name it something useful (e.g., "Blog Pipeline", "Second Brain", "Project X")

That's it. You now have a dedicated space for this project.

Step 2: Get the Group ID

Your agent needs the numeric chat ID to configure access. Group IDs are always negative numbers (like -1001234567890).

The Easy Way: @GetIDsBot

1. Send any message in your new group
2. Forward that message to @GetIDsBot
3. The bot replies with the chat ID

This method works consistently. Other ID bots exist but some do not handle supergroups correctly.

Step 3: Tell Your Agent to Add the Group

With the group ID in hand, message your OpenClaw agent:

"Add this Telegram group: -1001234567890"

Your agent will:

1. Update the config to allow this group
2. Restart the gateway to apply changes
3. Confirm when ready

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "groups": {
        "-1001234567890": {
          "requireMention": true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 4: Choose Your Activation Mode

Tell your agent which mode you want:

Option A: Require @mentions (default, recommended)

"Only respond when someone @mentions you in the group"

The agent stays quiet unless directly addressed. Good for groups where you want to review messages before the agent acts.

Option B: Always respond

"Respond to all messages in the group"

The agent participates in every message. Use this for dedicated project channels where you want immediate responses.

How Groups Keep Projects Separate

Each Telegram group gets its own conversation context. The agent in your "Blog Pipeline" group has no memory of what happened in "Second Brain."

Your agent tracks this using session keys:

agent:main:telegram:group:-1001234567890

Different group ID = different session = different memory.

This is why the screenshot shows different status messages in each group. Each one is its own workspace.

Forum Topics (Advanced)

Telegram forum supergroups have multiple topics (threads). OpenClaw treats each topic as a separate session.

If you use forum groups, each topic gets its own context:

agent:main:telegram:group:-1001234567890:topic:14

You can even set different system prompts per topic. Tell your agent:

"For topic 14 in group -1001234567890, act as a coding assistant"

Security Considerations

Restrict Who Can Trigger the Bot

Even within an allowed group, you can limit which users can interact:

"Only respond to messages from user ID 123456789 in that group"

Your agent adds this to groupAllowFrom. Everyone else is ignored.

Keep the Allowlist Approach

OpenClaw defaults to groupPolicy: "allowlist" for a reason. With an open policy, anyone could add your bot to any group. Stick with the allowlist.

FAQ

Q: Why use groups instead of just DMs?

Organization. Each group is a separate context. Check project status by opening that group. No scrolling through one giant conversation.

Q: My bot does not respond in the group at all.

Check with your agent: "Is group -1001234567890 in my config?" If not, repeat Step 3.

Q: The bot only responds to @mentions even though I asked for always-respond.

Ask your agent to check the Telegram privacy mode setting and re-add the bot to the group if needed.

Q: Can I use the same bot in multiple groups?

Yes. Each group ID you give your agent gets added to the allowlist with its own settings.

Sources

1. OpenClaw Telegram Documentation
2. OpenClaw Groups Documentation
3. OpenClaw Telegram Bot Setup: Commands, Routing, and Multi-Agent Sessions - Macaron Blog
4. OpenClaw Tutorial: Installation to First Chat Setup - AI/ML API

Conclusion

Telegram groups turn OpenClaw from one long conversation into organized project workspaces.

1. Create a group for each project
2. Get the group ID using @GetIDsBot
3. Tell your agent to add it
4. Choose mention-only or always-respond

Each group maintains isolated context. Open a group, read the last message, know the status. That simple.