Telegram

Connect a Telegram bot to NexaDesk to handle Telegram conversations with your AI chatbot. Messages appear in your unified inbox alongside other channels.

Prerequisites

• A Telegram account
• A Telegram bot (created via @BotFather)
• Your NexaDesk chatbot configured and trained

Creating a Telegram Bot

If you do not already have a Telegram bot:

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot
3. Follow the prompts to set a name and username for your bot
4. BotFather will give you a bot token — copy it

Connecting to NexaDesk

1. In NexaDesk, go to Settings > Integrations > Telegram
2. Click Connect Telegram
3. Paste your bot token from BotFather
4. Select which chatbot should handle Telegram messages
5. Click Save

NexaDesk registers a webhook with Telegram to receive messages in real time.

Features

• AI responses — Your trained chatbot answers Telegram messages automatically
• Agent handoff — Escalate to a human agent when needed
• Rich messages — Text, images, and documents
• Conversation history — Full message history in NexaDesk
• Contact linking — Telegram users are linked to NexaDesk contacts

Testing

1. Open Telegram and search for your bot by username
2. Send a message
3. Check your NexaDesk inbox — the conversation should appear with a Telegram badge
4. The AI chatbot should respond automatically

Bot Commands

You can configure custom bot commands in BotFather that map to actions in NexaDesk:

• /start — Triggers the welcome message
• /help — Returns a help text configured in your chatbot settings
• /agent — Requests escalation to a human agent

Limitations

• Telegram bots cannot initiate conversations — the user must message the bot first
• Group chat support is limited to mentions of the bot
• Voice messages are received but not transcribed