Telegram Chat ID and Bot token retrieval

April 12, 2026

So, I’ve been trying to wire up some Telegram bot integrations lately, and let me tell you, wrapping my head around how Telegram handles permissions was a bit of a trip. I expected some crazy OAuth2 flow with 15 different redirect URIs. Turns out? You literally just text a bot.

But while getting the token is easy, making sure your bot actually has the right access depending on what you want it to do (Direct Messages vs. Groups vs. Channels) is where I kept stumbling.

Here are instructions on how to retrieve your Telegram Bot Token and how I set it up for different features in my service.

Step 1: The Almighty BotFather

To get your Bot Token, you have to talk to the @BotFather on Telegram.

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.
2. Send the /newbot command.
3. It’ll ask for a display name and a username (must end in bot).
4. Bam! It spits out an HTTP API Token (looks something like 123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11).

Pro tip: Keep this token safe. I almost hardcoded it and pushed it to a public GitHub repo last week. Don’t be like me. Use environment variables!

Step 2: Wait, How Do I Get the Chat ID?

Okay, so you have the bot token, but if you want your backend to proactively send a message to a user or a group, you need their chat_id. I spent way too much time trying to find this in the Telegram app UI. Spoiler: it’s not there.

Here is the easiest hacky way I found to get it:

1. Send a random message to your new bot (or add it to your group and say hi).
2. Open your browser and go to this URL (replace <YourBOTToken> with your actual token): https://api.telegram.org/bot<YourBOTToken>/getUpdates
3. You’ll get a giant wall of JSON text back. Don’t panic.
4. Look for the "chat" object. Inside it, you’ll see an "id" field with a big number (like 123456789 for DMs or -987654321 for groups). That’s your chat_id!

Alternatively, you can just forward a message to a bot like @RawDataBot on Telegram, and it will instantly reply with the raw JSON dump containing the chat_id. Super handy.

Step 3: Functions and “Scopes”

Telegram doesn’t really have traditional OAuth “scopes”. That single Bot Token is your master key. But, the context where the bot operates changes what it can see and what config data your backend needs to ask for.

Here are the different functions I built out, and how the requirements shift for each one.

1. New Message with Key Phrase (Direct Message)

• Plugin Service Provider: Telegram
• Function: New message with key phrase to @Sequels (or your bot)
• Auth: Bot Token
• Required Config Data: Key phrase
• Output: Text, SenderName, Username, Date
• My take: This is the easiest one. Users DM the bot directly. Your backend just listens for the webhook or polls the API, checks if the text matches the required key phrase config, and processes it. No special permissions needed in BotFather.

2. New Photo (Direct Message)

• Plugin Service Provider: Telegram
• Function: New photo to @Sequels (or your bot)
• Auth: Bot Token
• Required Config Data: None
• Output: PhotoUrl, Caption, SenderName, Date
• My take: Similar to the text message, but dealing with Telegram’s file API. You get a file_id which you have to resolve to an actual URL. No extra config needed from the user besides having the bot token.

3. New Message with Key Phrase in a Group

• Plugin Service Provider: Telegram
• Function: New message with key phrase in a group
• Auth: Bot Token
• Required Config Data: Key phrase
• Output: Text, SenderName, GroupTitle, Date
• My take: Okay, this is where it gets tricky! By default, Telegram bots have “Group Privacy” ENABLED. This means they only see messages that start with a slash (like /help). If you want your backend to catch a normal text key phrase in a group, you must go back to @BotFather, select your bot, go to Bot Settings -> Group Privacy, and turn it OFF.

4. New Message in a Group

• Plugin Service Provider: Telegram
• Function: New message in a group
• Auth: Bot Token
• Required Config Data: None
• Output: Text, SenderName, GroupTitle, Date
• My take: Just like the one above, but it fires on literally every message sent in the group. You definitely need Group Privacy turned off for this. Beware, if you put this in a busy group, your poor backend is going to get absolutely slammed with webhook requests. Ask me how I know. 😅

5. New Post in Your Channel

• Plugin Service Provider: Telegram
• Function: New post in your channel
• Auth: Bot Token
• Required Config Data: None
• Output: Text, ChannelName, Date, PostHtml
• My take: Channels are one-way broadcasts. For your bot to read or post here, users have to add the bot to their channel and explicitly promote it to an Administrator. Once it’s an admin, it can catch channel post events.

6. New Photo in Your Channel

• Plugin Service Provider: Telegram
• Function: New photo in your channel
• Auth: Bot Token
• Required Config Data: None
• Output: PhotoUrl, Caption, ChannelName, Date
• My take: Same rules as the channel post function. Bot needs to be a channel Admin. The output gives you the photo details so your backend can save it or forward it somewhere else.

Wrapping Up

Building Telegram integrations is honestly super fun once you get past the initial confusion of what BotFather does. Just remember: the token is your global password, but Group Privacy and Admin rights are your actual “scopes”.

Until next time, happy coding (and don’t forget to .gitignore your .env files)!