Telegram

Connect your Triggerfish agent to Telegram so you can interact with it from any device where you use Telegram. The adapter uses the grammY framework to communicate with the Telegram Bot API.

Setup

Step 1: Create a Bot

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot
3. Choose a display name for your bot (e.g., "My Triggerfish")
4. Choose a username for your bot (must end in bot, e.g., my_triggerfish_bot)
5. BotFather will reply with your bot token -- copy it

Keep Your Token Secret Your bot token grants full control of your

bot. Never commit it to source control or share it publicly. Triggerfish stores it in your OS keychain. :::

Step 2: Get Your Telegram User ID

Triggerfish needs your numeric user ID to verify that messages are from you. Telegram usernames can be changed and are not reliable for identity -- the numeric ID is permanent and assigned by Telegram's servers, so it cannot be spoofed.

1. Search for @getmyid_bot on Telegram
2. Send it any message
3. It replies with your user ID (a number like 8019881968)

Step 3: Add the Channel

Run the interactive setup:

triggerfish config add-channel telegram

This prompts for your bot token, user ID, and classification level, then writes the config to triggerfish.yaml and offers to restart the daemon.

You can also add it manually:

channels:
  telegram:
    # botToken stored in OS keychain
    ownerId: 8019881968
    classification: INTERNAL

Option	Type	Required	Description
botToken	string	Yes	Bot API token from @BotFather
ownerId	number	Yes	Your numeric Telegram user ID
classification	string	No	Classification ceiling (default: INTERNAL)

Step 4: Start Chatting

After the daemon restarts, open your bot in Telegram and send /start. The bot will greet you to confirm the connection is live. You can then chat with your agent directly.

Classification Behavior

The classification setting is a ceiling -- it controls the maximum sensitivity of data that can flow through this channel for owner conversations. It does not apply uniformly to all users.

How it works per message:

• You message the bot (your user ID matches ownerId): The session uses the channel ceiling. With the default INTERNAL, your agent can share internal-level data with you.
• Someone else messages the bot: Their session is automatically tainted PUBLIC regardless of the channel classification. The no-write-down rule prevents any internal data from reaching their session.

This means a single Telegram bot safely handles both owner and non-owner conversations. The identity check happens in code before the LLM sees the message -- the LLM cannot influence it.

Channel Classification	Owner Messages	Non-Owner Messages
PUBLIC	PUBLIC	PUBLIC
INTERNAL (default)	Up to INTERNAL	PUBLIC
CONFIDENTIAL	Up to CONFIDENTIAL	PUBLIC
RESTRICTED	Up to RESTRICTED	PUBLIC

See Classification System for the full model and Sessions & Taint for how taint escalation works.

Owner Identity

Triggerfish determines owner status by comparing the sender's numeric Telegram user ID against the configured ownerId. This check happens in code before the LLM sees the message:

• Match -- The message is tagged as owner and can access data up to the channel's classification ceiling
• No match -- The message is tagged with PUBLIC taint, and the no-write-down rule prevents any classified data from flowing to that session

Always Set Your Owner ID Without ownerId, Triggerfish treats

all senders as the owner. Anyone who finds your bot can access your data up to the channel's classification level. This field is required during setup for this reason. :::

Message Chunking

Telegram has a 4,096-character message limit. When your agent generates a response longer than this, Triggerfish automatically splits it into multiple messages. The chunker splits on newlines or spaces for readability -- it avoids cutting words or sentences in half.

Supported Message Types

The Telegram adapter currently handles:

• Text messages -- Full send and receive support
• Long responses -- Automatically chunked to fit Telegram's limits

Typing Indicators

When your agent is processing a request, the bot shows "typing..." in the Telegram chat. The indicator runs while the LLM is generating a response and clears when the reply is sent.

Changing Classification

To raise or lower the classification ceiling:

triggerfish config add-channel telegram
# Select to overwrite existing config when prompted

Or edit triggerfish.yaml directly:

channels:
  telegram:
    # botToken stored in OS keychain
    ownerId: 8019881968
    classification: CONFIDENTIAL

Valid levels: PUBLIC, INTERNAL, CONFIDENTIAL, RESTRICTED.

Restart the daemon after changing: triggerfish stop && triggerfish start