# Telegram Channel

Connect an AI employee to its own Telegram bot so you can message it from your phone the same way you message a person. It answers direct messages instantly, and joins group chats where it replies only when mentioned or replied to. Memory, tasks, and tools are shared with the web app, so a conversation started on Telegram picks up right where it left off on the desktop, and back again.

Telegram is where a lot of work already happens on the phone: fast, informal, always in your pocket. Connect a bot and your AI employee lives right there. Send it a direct message or mention it in a group, and it answers in the same chat, in seconds.

It is the same employee you work with in the web app, not a stripped-down phone version. Memory, training, skills, and guardrails all carry over, so a question you ask on Telegram lands with full context and the answer is as capable as anything you would get at your desk.

Each employee runs as its own named Telegram bot, so your sales rep, your assistant, and your researcher stay separate and recognizable. Setup takes a couple of minutes with a token from Telegram, with no developer, no marketplace app, and no setup call.

## Can an AI Employee Reply on Telegram?

Yes. A Sistava employee joins Telegram as a real bot you message like a person. Open a direct chat and it always replies. Add it to a group and it waits politely until you mention it or reply to one of its messages, then answers right in the thread.

Because the bot is backed by a full AI employee, the reply is not a canned response. It reads what you asked, decides what to do, and writes back like a colleague who knows your business.

## Direct Messages, Groups, and Staying Out of the Way

In a one-on-one chat the employee is always listening, so a quick question never waits. In a shared group it is deliberately quiet, speaking only when you bring it in by name or by replying to it, so it never buries the conversation in noise.

That balance makes it safe to add an employee to a busy team group. It is there when you need a summary or a draft, and invisible the rest of the time.

## Real Work From Your Phone, Not Just Chat

An employee on Telegram carries its full toolset into the conversation. Ask it to pull a number, draft a message, or research something, and it does the actual work and sends back a finished result, not a suggestion that you go do it yourself.

Longer tasks keep running after you put your phone away. Delegate something heavy and the employee works in the background, then messages you when it is done, with anything it produced saved to its Drive.

## One Memory Across Telegram and Everywhere Else

Telegram is a window into the same employee you use in the web app, by email, or by voice. A thread you start on your commute continues at your desk with nothing repeated, because every channel feeds one shared memory.

What the employee learns on Telegram enriches that memory too, so the help it gives on every other channel gets sharper with each conversation.

## A Telegram Bot vs an AI Employee on Telegram

Telegram is full of bots that answer a command with a fixed reply. An AI employee is a different thing entirely: it understands natural conversation, chooses the right tools, and remembers your history, so its hundredth answer is sharper than its first.

The practical difference is that you talk to it like a teammate, not a command line. There is no slash-command syntax to memorize, just a message in plain language.

## How It Works

**Connect a bot once, then message your employee from anywhere on Telegram.**

Create a bot in Telegram, paste its token into the Communications page, and pick the employee behind it. The connection is checked on the spot and the channel turns on right away.

Messages flow through the same pipeline as every other channel, with the same memory, guardrails, and tools. A direct message always gets a reply, and in a group the employee answers when you mention it or reply to it. Delegated work continues in the background and the result is sent back to the chat.

## Use Cases

### Run your day from your phone

Check status, ask for a draft, or kick off a task from Telegram while you are away from your desk, and the answer lands in seconds.

### Bring an employee into a team group

Add your assistant to a project group and mention it for a summary, a draft, or an answer the whole team can see.

### Pick up a thread on the move

Start in the web app, continue on Telegram on your commute, and the employee remembers the whole conversation.

### Quick answers without switching apps

Stay in the chat app you already use all day instead of opening another tab, and the employee meets you there.

## Comparison

| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Quick questions wait until you are back at your desk. | The employee answers on your phone in seconds. |
| Telegram bots run fixed commands. | A full agent with tools, memory, and judgment replies. |
| Context from your phone is lost to other tools. | Telegram threads feed the same memory as chat, email, and voice. |
| A group bot replies to everything and adds noise. | It stays quiet until you mention it, then answers precisely. |

## FAQ

### How do I connect an AI employee to Telegram?

Create a bot inside Telegram, copy the token it gives you, open the Communications page in Sistava, pick the employee who should answer, and paste the token. It connects in a couple of minutes with no developer needed.

### Does the employee reply to every message in a group?

No. In a group it only responds when you mention it or reply to one of its messages. In a direct chat it always replies. Unrelated group messages are left alone.

### Can several teammates use the same Telegram bot?

Yes. Anyone who can message the bot can talk to the employee, and it keeps shared memory of those conversations alongside every other channel.

### Does context carry between Telegram and other channels?

Yes. Telegram conversations feed the same memory as web chat, email, and voice, so you can start on your phone and finish at your desk without repeating yourself.

### Can the employee run tasks from Telegram, not just answer questions?

Yes. It has its full toolset on Telegram, so it can search, pull data, draft content, and complete delegated work, then report back in the chat with anything it produced saved to its Drive.

### How is this different from a normal Telegram bot?

Ordinary bots answer commands with fixed outputs. An AI employee understands plain conversation, carries memory and training, uses real tools, and works under your guardrails, on Telegram and on every other channel.

### Do guardrails and content policies apply on Telegram?

Yes. Input safety, output safety, PII protection, and your topic rules run on Telegram messages exactly as they do on chat, email, and voice.

### Is my Telegram connection secure?

Yes. Every incoming message is verified as genuinely from Telegram before any work runs, your connection details are stored encrypted, and you can switch the channel off at any time from the Communications page.

## Where Telegram Channel fits

Telegram Channel is part of Ways you talk to them.

Chat in the app with live reasoning, speak to your AI voice agent over a call, message on Slack or WhatsApp, send an email, or embed a widget on your website. Every channel connects to the same AI agent with the same memory and capabilities. Switch channels mid-conversation and your employee picks up right where you left off.

- [Ways you talk to them](/en/features/channels): Every channel. One conversation.

## Read the guide

- [Guide: Telegram Channel](/en/guide/channels/telegram)

## More in Channels

- [Web Chat](/en/features/channels/channel_web_chat): Chat with any AI employee directly in the workspace, with a streaming reply, a live execution timeline showing what it is reading, thinking, and doing, and inline approve/reject buttons when it needs a sensitive action confirmed. It is the default channel: nothing to configure, works on desktop or mobile, and every conversation persists so you can pick it back up later.
- [Voice Calls](/en/features/channels/voice_channel): Voice Calls is a planned channel for speaking to an AI employee out loud and hearing it reply in real time, instead of typing. It is not available yet: there is no voice button in the workspace today, and the feature is paused while the underlying voice flow is redesigned. When it ships, a voice call will run through the same skills, tools, and memory as a typed conversation.
- [Connect an Email Provider](/en/features/channels/channel_email): Point your own SendGrid, Mailgun, or Postmark inbound-parse webhook at a tenant-scoped endpoint and every email that lands there gets turned into work for an employee. Forward support requests, sales inquiries, or internal approval emails and the employee reads the sender, subject, and body, then acts on it in the background. You get a 202 response immediately; there's no waiting on the request.
- [Personal Mailbox](/en/features/channels/channel_mailbox): Every employee gets its own email address on the shared Sistava domain the moment you hire it, no setup. Email it directly, CC it on a thread with other people, or forward something over, and it reads and replies within seconds. Free to send from, with a monthly cap by plan. Control the shared employee signature in Company Profile, or connect your own Gmail or Outlook when you want it sending as you, with no cap.
- [Send from Gmail or Outlook](/en/features/channels/connected_mailbox): The built-in employee address is free and always on, but it sends as the employee, not as you. Connect your own Gmail or Outlook instead and an employee sends and replies from your real address, in your name, with no monthly sending cap on any plan.
- [Talk to Your Employee on Video](/en/features/channels/channel_in_app_video): In-App Video is a planned channel for live, face to face video calls with an AI employee, camera and microphone, directly inside the workspace. It has no working implementation today: it appears in Settings > Technical > Channels as a Coming soon placeholder only. Once it ships, it is meant to run on the same execution pipeline as every other channel, so the employee keeps its skills, tools, training, and conversation memory on a video call. If you need an employee in a live call today, it can already join a Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams meeting as a participant, which is a different capability and available now.
- [Chat Widget](/en/features/channels/channel_chat_widget): The Chat Widget will let you embed an AI employee directly on your public website so visitors can ask questions and get answers without leaving the page. It is on the roadmap and is not available to configure yet: today it appears in Settings > Technical > Channels as a Coming soon placeholder with no setup, embed snippet, or Manage action.
- [SMS](/en/features/channels/channel_sms): SMS is a planned channel for reaching an AI employee by ordinary text message, with no app to install. It is on the roadmap and not available today: there is no SMS number, no inbound texting, and no way to turn it on yet. Until it ships, use web chat or Telegram for mobile access from any phone.
- [WhatsApp](/en/features/channels/channel_whatsapp): WhatsApp is a planned messaging channel for talking with an AI employee from your phone. It is not connected yet: the card shows as coming soon and cannot be set up today. When it ships, it will carry the same employee memory, skills, and guardrails as web chat, Telegram, Slack, and the mailbox. Telegram and Slack are live now and give you the same access from a phone, so nothing you set up today has to be rebuilt when WhatsApp arrives.
- [Discord](/en/features/channels/channel_discord): Discord is a planned channel for bringing an AI employee into the servers and direct messages your community already uses. It will connect the same way Slack does today: authorize a bot through OAuth, then map it to one employee. It is not available to connect yet, so no Discord traffic reaches an employee until it ships. Slack, Telegram, each employee's own email address, and web chat cover the same job in the meantime.
- [Calendar Invites](/en/features/channels/channel_calendar): Add your employee's personal address as a guest on any Google, Outlook, or Apple calendar event and they show up for the meeting automatically, no RSVP or extra app on your side. Once the meeting starts, the employee joins the Meet, Zoom, or Teams call, listens, speaks when addressed, and writes a summary afterward. There is nothing to switch on for the invite itself, just turn on the Meeting Attender tool for that employee once.
- [Slack Channel](/en/features/channels/channel_slack): Bring your AI employee into Slack as a real bot user your team can mention, DM, or trigger with a slash command. Every reply lands in the same thread, and memory, tasks, skills, and tools stay shared with web chat, so a conversation started on Slack continues anywhere else. You approve or reject requests right from Slack, and the bot only speaks when mentioned, DM'd, or already in a thread.

## Explore

- [Every feature](/en/features)
- [Hire an AI employee](/en/market)
- [Pricing](/en/pricing)