Connect Telegram to Hermes Agent: BotFather Setup Checklist
Connect Telegram to Hermes Agent with a short BotFather, token, allowed-user, gateway restart, and verification checklist.
Quick answer
Create a BotFather bot, copy the token into the Hermes profile that runs the Telegram gateway, allowlist your Telegram user ID, restart Hermes, then send one private test message before enabling groups or voice notes. If the bot must stay online for a team or customer workflow, compare FlyHermes before maintaining your own VPS and gateway process.
Use this page as the short implementation checklist for Telegram. For why Telegram is useful, start with the Telegram integration overview; for deeper debugging and hosting trade-offs, use the full Telegram setup article.
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Before you start:
- ☑Hermes Agent installed and running
- ☑A Telegram account
- ☑Your Telegram user ID (get it from @userinfobot on Telegram)
Steps
- 1
Create a Telegram bot
Message @BotFather, run /newbot, name the bot, and copy the full token exactly once.
- 2
Find and allowlist your user ID
Get your numeric Telegram user ID from @userinfobot and add it to the allowed-user list before starting the bot.
- 3
Configure the active Hermes profile
Put the token in the config or environment for the exact Hermes profile that will run the Telegram gateway.
- 4
Restart the Telegram gateway
Restart Hermes after token or allowlist changes so the gateway process reads the new configuration.
- 5
Verify with a private message
Send one test message from the allowed account, confirm the response uses the intended profile, then expand to groups, voice notes, or cron delivery.
Pro Tips
- 💡Keep the first bot private and allowlist only your Telegram user ID.
- 💡Use mention-only behavior before adding Hermes to groups.
- 💡For always-on Telegram, compare VPS/self-hosting with FlyHermes instead of relying on a laptop process.
Troubleshooting
❌ Bot is silent after setup
✅ Confirm the token is in the active Hermes profile, the gateway restarted, your numeric user ID is allowlisted, and Hermes can answer from the CLI.
❌ Bot responds in group chats too broadly
✅ Require direct mentions or limit Hermes to a dedicated group/topic before opening it to shared rooms.
❌ Voice notes do not work
✅ Verify plain text first, then configure Hermes voice mode separately for speech-to-text handling.