What you will get
A Telegram bot with its own name, photo, description and commands, ready to connect to Agent8Ai and look after your customers. You do it in Telegram, with the official bot @BotFather; it is free, needs no coding and takes about 10 minutes.
What you need: a Telegram account (the mobile app or web.telegram.org) and a clear idea of how you want your business to appear to your customers.
What a Telegram bot is (explained for people who do not use Telegram)
If you have never used a bot, this clears up the most common doubts.
- A bot is a separate account, not your Telegram. It has its own name, photo and link (
t.me/your_bot). When someone writes to it, the message does not reach the owner’s phone: it goes to a service that picks it up. In our case, that service is Agent8Ai. - A bot cannot be “read” from your phone like a normal chat. If it is not connected to a service, the messages it receives stay unread and it replies to nothing. That is why you have to connect it (connection guide).
- A business without automation usually uses its personal or business Telegram account, with its phone number: messages reach its phone and it replies. A bot works differently: it is the official way to automate customer service, and it does not replace that account.
- The bot does not see the customer’s phone number or the rest of their Telegram; only their name, their username (if any) and what they write to it.
How messages reach you and how you reply with Agent8Ai
- The customer opens your bot, taps “Start” and writes to you.
- The message appears in your Agent8Ai inbox and, if you have an AI agent assigned, it can reply.
- If something needs a person, and you have Telegram alerts connected, an alert reaches your personal Telegram, from a different bot (the alerts bot), with what the customer wrote.
- Tap “Reply” on that message and type: your answer reaches the customer from your bot, and the AI pauses in that conversation. You can also reply from the panel inbox.
1. Create the bot
- In Telegram, search for @BotFather. It is the one with the blue verified tick. Open it and tap “Start”.
- Send
/newbot. - It asks for the bot’s name: this is what your customers will see, and it can contain spaces. For example,
Your Business. - Then it asks for the username. It must be unique across Telegram, end in “bot”, be 5 to 32 characters long and use only letters, numbers and underscores. For example,
your_business_bot. If it is taken, @BotFather tells you: try another one. - @BotFather confirms the bot is created and gives you the token: a long text with numbers, a colon and letters, like
123456789:AAH…. It also gives you your bot’s link,t.me/your_business_bot.
2. Make it look good
Send /mybots to @BotFather, choose your bot and, if it offers it, tap “Edit Bot”. You will see these buttons:
| Button | What it is for | Limit and tip |
|---|---|---|
| Edit Name | The name your customers see. | Your business name. |
| Edit About | The short line on the bot’s profile, also shown when it is found or shared. | Up to 120 characters. One sentence: who you are and what it is for. |
| Edit Description | The large text customers see before tapping “Start”. | Up to 512 characters. What the bot does, which languages it speaks, that an AI replies and that it can hand over to a person. |
| Edit Description Picture | The large image above the description. | Optional. Size 640×360 pixels. |
| Edit Botpic | The bot’s profile photo (shown round). | A square image, for example your logo. Send it as a photo, not as a file. |
| Edit Commands | The bot’s command menu. | One line per command: command - description, with the command in lowercase and without the slash. |
| Edit Privacy Policy | The link to your privacy policy. | The full address, starting with https://. |
Example texts
About:
Your Business assistant: information, requests and customer service. We reply right away.
Description:
Hi! I’m the assistant of Your Business. I can help you with your questions or take care of requests. I reply using artificial intelligence and, if you prefer, I can pass you to someone on the team. Privacy: https://your-website.com/privacy
Commands:
start - Start help - How I can help you info - Business information contact - Contact details human - Talk to a person
In Agent8Ai, commands reach your AI agent as text. “/start” (what Telegram sends when someone taps “Start”) is already treated as a welcome greeting; for the other commands, explain in the agent’s instructions what to do with each one.
3. What is worth knowing about Telegram bots
- A bot cannot write first. The customer has to open it (through your link or by searching for it) and tap “Start”.
- It cannot see the phone number of whoever writes to it: Telegram does not show it to bots.
- It only handles private chats. If it is added to a group, it ignores the group’s messages.
- One token, one service. A bot can only send its messages to one service at a time: do not connect it to Agent8Ai and to another tool at once.
- How people find it: with the link
https://t.me/your_bot(put it on your website, social media, email signature or business card), with a QR code of that link, or by searching for its username.
Change or revoke the token
If you have lost the token or think someone has seen it: in @BotFather send /mybots, choose the bot, tap “API Token” and then “Revoke current token” (the /token command also works). The old token stops working and you get a new one. Then paste it into the channel page in Agent8Ai.
Checklist
- ☐ Bot created and token saved somewhere safe.
- ☐ Name, About and Description written.
- ☐ Bot photo set (your logo).
- ☐ Commands added (optional).
- ☐ Link to your privacy policy (recommended).
Next step
With the bot ready, connect it to Agent8Ai step by step. To see everything the channel can do, read Telegram channel: connect your bot and reply with AI.