You are helping your user connect a Telegram bot to the Vellum Assistant gateway. Walk through each step below.

Value Classification

Value	Type	Storage method	Secret?
Bot Token	Credential	assistant credentials prompt	Yes
Bot Username	Config	assistant config set telegram.botUsername	No
Webhook Secret	Credential	assistant credentials set	Yes

• Bot Token is a secret. Always collect via assistant credentials prompt - never accept it pasted in plaintext chat.
• Bot Username is derived from the token via the Telegram API and stored as config.

Setup Steps

Step 1: Collect Bot Token Securely

Tell the user: "You'll need a Telegram bot token from @BotFather. Open Telegram, message @BotFather, and use /newbot to create one."

Collect the token through the secure credential prompt:

• Run (via the bash tool):

  assistant credentials prompt --service telegram --field bot_token \
    --label "Telegram Bot Token" \
    --placeholder "123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11" \
    --description "Enter the bot token you received from @BotFather"
  

Step 2: Validate Token and Configure Bot

BOT_TOKEN=$(assistant credentials reveal --service telegram --field bot_token)
GETME_RESPONSE=$(curl -sf "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/getMe")
BOT_USERNAME=$(echo "$GETME_RESPONSE" | jq -r '.result.username')
assistant config set telegram.botUsername "$BOT_USERNAME"

If the curl call fails, the token is invalid - ask the user to re-enter (repeat Step 1).

Step 3: Set Up Webhook Routing

Use the unified webhooks CLI to get a callback URL. This handles both platform-managed and self-hosted assistants automatically:

CALLBACK_URL=$(assistant webhooks register telegram --source "$BOT_USERNAME")

If the command fails because no public base URL is configured (self-hosted only), load the public-ingress skill to walk the user through setting one up, then retry the command.

Generate Webhook Secret

Check to see if one already exists:

assistant credentials inspect --service telegram --field webhook_secret

If not, generate and set one:

assistant credentials set --service telegram --field webhook_secret "$(uuidgen)"

Register Webhook with Telegram

After registering the platform route (or obtaining a public ingress URL), you must also tell Telegram to send updates to that URL. The gateway may do this automatically on restart, but its safest to also register explicitly:

BOT_TOKEN=$(assistant credentials reveal --service telegram --field bot_token)
WEBHOOK_SECRET=$(assistant credentials reveal --service telegram --field webhook_secret)
curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/setWebhook?url=${CALLBACK_URL}&secret_token=${WEBHOOK_SECRET}"

Verify Webhook

Confirm Telegram has the correct URL registered:

WEBHOOK_INFO=$(curl -sf "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/getWebhookInfo")
echo "$WEBHOOK_INFO" | jq .
REGISTERED_URL=$(echo "$WEBHOOK_INFO" | jq -r '.result.url')

Compare REGISTERED_URL to CALLBACK_URL. If they don't match, the webhook was not set correctly. Retry the setWebhook call. Do not report success until getWebhookInfo confirms the correct URL and shows no last_error_message.

Step 4: Register Bot Commands

BOT_TOKEN=$(assistant credentials reveal --service telegram --field bot_token)
curl -sf -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/setMyCommands" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"commands":[{"command":"new","description":"Start a new conversation"},{"command":"help","description":"Show available commands"}]}'

Non-critical - warn on failure but don't block setup.

Step 5: Test Your Connection

Now let's test the connection by verifying the user can receive your messages. This confirms everything works and links the user's Telegram identity for future message delivery.

Load the guardian-verify-setup skill:

• Call skill_load with skill: "guardian-verify-setup".

If the user explicitly wants to skip this step, proceed to Step 6, but let them know they can always verify later by saying "verify me on Telegram".

Step 6: Report Success

Summarize:

• Bot verified and credentials stored
• Webhook registered and verified with Telegram (show the confirmed URL)
• Bot commands registered: /new, /help
• Guardian identity: {verified | skipped}

Clearing Credentials

To disconnect Telegram:

assistant credentials delete --service telegram --field bot_token
assistant credentials delete --service telegram --field webhook_secret
assistant config set telegram.botUsername ""