telegram-bot-messaging

name	telegram-bot-messaging
description	Send Telegram messages, files, and alerts via bot API; ask questions with inline buttons and wait for the answer. Supports multiple bots, named chat targets, and CI/cron/hook notifications.
category	productivity
risk	critical
source	https://github.com/sanjay3290/ai-skills/tree/main/skills/telegram
source_repo	sanjay3290/ai-skills
source_type	community
date_added	2026-07-09
author	sanjay3290
tags	["telegram","notifications","bots","approvals"]
tools	["claude","cursor","gemini"]
license	Apache-2.0
license_source	https://github.com/sanjay3290/ai-skills/blob/main/LICENSE

Telegram

When to Use

• Use when you need to send a Telegram message, file, or alert from a workflow, hook, cron job, or CI pipeline
• Use when a long-running task should notify you or ask for approval on your phone (inline-button questions that wait for the answer)
• Use when wiring "notify me when done" or "ask me before proceeding" behavior into automated sessions

Send updates, alerts, and files to Telegram; read replies; run ask-and-wait approval flows. Pure bash + curl + jq — no install beyond a bot token.

First run: scripts/telegram.sh setup (guided BotFather walkthrough).

Safety Gate

Before setup, sending a message or file, reading replies, or enabling a hook, obtain the user's explicit approval for the target chat, bot account, and exact content or file. Never send workspace, customer, credential, or secret data automatically. Treat a token as a secret: do not echo it, commit it, or place it in shell history.

Commands

scripts/telegram.sh send "Deploy finished ✅"                    # basic alert
scripts/telegram.sh send "low priority" --silent                # no notification sound
scripts/telegram.sh send "*bold* alert" --format md             # MarkdownV2 (falls back to plain)
scripts/telegram.sh send "hi" --to alerts --bot work            # named target + named bot
scripts/telegram.sh file report.pdf "Q3 report"                 # document (photos auto-detected)
scripts/telegram.sh read                                        # new incoming messages since last read
ANSWER=$(scripts/telegram.sh ask "Deploy to prod?" --options "Yes,No" --timeout 300)
# exit 0 = answered (stdout = answer), 2 = timeout

Config

Env vars win, then ~/.config/telegram/config (mode 600):

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123:ABC...     # default bot
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=987654321        # default target
BOT_ALERTS_TOKEN=456:DEF...       # --bot alerts   (add via: setup --bot alerts)
TARGET_FAMILY=-100987...          # --to family    (any chat/group/channel id)

Replies and answers are only accepted from configured chat IDs.