Telegram Business co-pilot
Let your AI agent reply to DMs on a Telegram Premium user’s personal account. Their contacts see what looks like the Premium user’s own replies — perfect for founders, creators, solopreneurs, and small teams whose customers DM them directly on their personal Telegram.
Overview
Telegram Business co-pilot provides:
- AI replies sent through the Premium user’s
business_connection, so the response appears to come from them - Per-Premium-user linking — one bot can support several Premium users in the same org
- Automatic manual takeover — when the Premium user types a reply themselves, the bot pauses on that chat for a sliding window so it doesn’t talk over a live conversation
- Connection-level kill switch to silence the bot across every linked user without disconnecting
- Voice-note transcription and live-streaming replies, same as the regular Telegram channel
“Premium” here refers to the Telegram user’s account tier (Telegram Premium subscription, required to enable Business Mode). It’s not your Cuneiform Chat plan — most Cuneiform Chat plans support this integration based on your plan.
How it differs from regular Telegram
The regular Telegram integration connects an agent to a bot’s own inbox — your end users DM the bot directly at t.me/<bot>. Telegram Business co-pilot is the opposite: the bot replies on a person’s personal Telegram account, intercepting DMs that come into that person’s normal chat list.
| Telegram | Telegram Business co-pilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Who do contacts message? | The bot (t.me/<bot>) | The Premium user’s personal account |
| What do contacts see? | Replies from the bot | Replies that look like they come from the Premium user |
| One bot supports… | Unlimited end users | N Premium users in your org (one row each) |
| Group chats? | Yes | No — DMs only |
| Manual takeover? | N/A | Auto-pauses when the Premium user types |
Prerequisites
- A Telegram account with Telegram Premium for each user who wants the bot to reply for them
- A fresh BotFather bot — dedicated to Business mode (cannot be reused by another integration)
- A Cuneiform Chat agent that’s already configured and tested in the Playground
Setup Steps
1. Create a dedicated bot in BotFather
- Open Telegram, search for @BotFather, and send
/newbot - Pick a name and username
- Copy the Bot Token
2. Enable Business Mode on the bot
This step is what makes the bot eligible to reply on a Premium user’s account. Without it, Premium users see “this bot doesn’t support Telegram Business yet” when adding it.
- In BotFather, send
/mybotsand select your new bot - Pick Bot Settings → Business Mode
- Toggle it ON
Business Mode is per-bot. If you forget to enable it, every Premium-user link attempt fails silently with the message above. Re-toggle it and the link works on the next try.
3. Connect the bot in Cuneiform Chat
- In Cuneiform Chat, open Integrations in the sidebar
- Find the Telegram Business co-pilot card
- Click Add Telegram Business bot
- Pick the Agent that should answer DMs (you can change this later)
- Paste the bot token and submit
4. Premium users link their personal accounts
Each Premium user who wants the bot to reply for them does this once:
- On the Telegram Business card, click Link a Premium user — a 10-minute code appears (with a QR shortcut)
- The Premium user opens Telegram → Settings → Business → Chatbots
- Adds your bot’s username and enables it
- Opens a regular DM with the bot and sends
/start <code> - The bot replies with a confirmation
Once the link is in place, every contact who DMs the Premium user gets AI replies — except when the Premium user types a reply themselves (see Manual takeover below).
Features
Replies on the Premium user’s account
When a contact DMs the Premium user, Telegram delivers a business_message event to the bot via the Premium user’s business_connection. The bot calls the agent, then sends the reply back through the same connection — so the contact sees the message in the existing thread, attributed to the Premium user. No new bot conversation is created on the contact’s side.
Automatic manual takeover
The moment the Premium user types and sends a reply themselves in any chat, the bot pauses on that chat for a sliding window. The window resets every time the Premium user types again, so the bot stays silent for as long as the live conversation continues. After the silence period, the bot resumes auto-replying.
This means the Premium user doesn’t have to explicitly toggle the bot off when jumping into a conversation — the bot just steps aside.
Connection-level kill switch
If the Premium user wants to disable AI replies across every chat without unlinking:
- Open the Telegram Business card in Cuneiform Chat
- Toggle Disable auto-reply on
The integration stays connected (no need to re-link) but the bot replies to nothing. Toggle it back on to resume.
Voice notes and rich formatting
Voice notes from contacts are transcribed via Whisper and answered like typed messages. Replies render in MarkdownV2 with bold, italics, code blocks, and links — same toolkit as the regular Telegram channel.
Configuration Options
Per-integration settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Agent | Which agent answers DMs across all linked Premium users for this bot |
| Auto-reply enabled | Connection-level kill switch (toggle on the card) |
Per-link controls
Each Premium-user row on the card shows:
- The linked user’s display name
- Last activity timestamp
- A delete control to unlink that user (the bot stops replying for them; their contacts go back to seeing nothing from the bot)
Tips
One bot, one agent. If you want different agents for different Premium users, create separate bots — one per agent. The Business Mode toggle and link flow have to be repeated per bot.
Group chats are out of scope. Telegram’s Business connections only cover private DMs. The bot ignores group messages even when added to one.
Test the link flow yourself first with your own Premium account before rolling it out to teammates. The BotFather Business Mode toggle is the most common stumbling block — confirming it works once saves a round of confused DMs later.
Troubleshooting
Premium user sees “this bot doesn’t support Telegram Business yet”
Business Mode isn’t enabled on the bot. Go to BotFather → /mybots → your bot → Bot Settings → Business Mode → toggle ON, then have the Premium user retry the Settings → Business → Chatbots step.
Link code expired
Codes are valid for 10 minutes. Click Link a Premium user again to generate a fresh one.
Bot stays silent for everyone
Check the Disable auto-reply toggle on the integration card — when off, the bot ignores every linked user. Toggle it back on.
Bot stays silent for one specific contact
The Premium user typed a reply in that chat recently and the manual-takeover pause is still active. Wait for the sliding window to clear, or have the Premium user stop typing in the chat.
Bot replies look wrong
The Premium user’s contacts see exactly what the agent generates. If something off-brand or off-policy slips through, fix it in the agent’s prompt and tools — it’s the same agent the Telegram channel uses, with the same Playground for testing.
Disconnecting
To remove a Telegram Business integration:
- From Cuneiform Chat: Integrations → Telegram Business co-pilot card → three-dot menu → Delete
This removes every Premium-user link and stops the bot from replying. The bot itself stays in BotFather unless you delete it there.
Related
- Telegram — the regular customer-facing Telegram channel (for your agent’s own bot inbox)
- Saba on Telegram — operator-facing platform assistant (different feature, also Telegram-based)
- Telegram Storefront — in-bot storefront for the regular Telegram channel