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 β 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 β
" # 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.
Claude Code hooks (settings.json)
Ping your phone when Claude needs input, and when it finishes:
{
"hooks": {
"Notification": [{"hooks": [{"type": "command",
"command": "~/.claude/skills/telegram/scripts/telegram.sh send \"π Claude needs input in $(basename \\\"$PWD\\\")\""}]}],
"Stop": [{"hooks": [{"type": "command",
"command": "~/.claude/skills/telegram/scripts/telegram.sh send \"β
Claude finished in $(basename \\\"$PWD\\\")\" --silent"}]}]
}
}
Approval gate in any script/automation:
if [ "$(scripts/telegram.sh ask 'Deploy to prod?' --options 'Yes,No')" = "Yes" ]; then
./deploy.sh
fi
Limitations
- Telegram is a third-party service: message and file contents leave the local machine and may be retained under Telegram's policies.
- This skill cannot verify that a chat ID belongs to the intended recipient; confirm the target before every new destination or automation.
- Bot tokens grant control of the bot. Store them only in a protected local secret store or mode-600 configuration file, and rotate a token if exposure is suspected.
- Do not use the examples to create unattended notifications or approval flows without the user's explicit, current authorization.