Skip to content

Telegram Setup Guide for ravenbot

This guide explains how to set up the Telegram integration for ravenbot. To use ravenbot with Telegram, you need to create a bot via BotFather and configure the necessary environment variables.

1. Create a New Bot

  1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.
  2. Start a chat with BotFather and send the command /newbot.
  3. Follow the prompts:
    • Name: Choose a display name for your bot (e.g., "ravenbot").
    • Username: Choose a unique username ending in bot (e.g., Myravenbot).
  4. Once created, BotFather will send you a message with your HTTP API Token.

2. Configure the Bot Token

Copy the token provided by BotFather and add it to your .env file as TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN.

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrSTUvwxyz

3. Get Your Chat ID

ravenbot requires a specific Chat ID to send messages to (and to accept commands from). This ensures the bot doesn't respond to unauthorized users.

  1. Open a chat with your new bot in Telegram (search for its username).
  2. Send a message (e.g., "Hello") to the bot.

  3. Visit the following URL in your browser (replace <YOUR_BOT_TOKEN> with your actual token):

    https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates

  4. Look for the JSON response. Find the chat object inside the result array.

  5. Copy the id value. It is usually a large integer (positive for private chats, negative for groups).

    • Example: "chat":{"id": 123456789, ...}

  6. Add this ID to your .env file as TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID.

TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=123456789

4. Final Configuration

Ensure your .env file has both variables set:

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=your_telegram_chat_id

Once configured, restart ravenbot. The bot will send daily briefings to this chat and accept commands from it.

Available commands: /research, /status, /remind, /watch, /jules, /uptime, /export, /reset, /help

Web UI

The web interface is also available at http://localhost:8080 — no additional setup required. It provides the same chat functionality plus research reports browsing, agent management, and a missions dashboard.