Telegram Bot API

Name: Telegram Bot API API
Brand: Telegram Bot API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentCommunicationsChat MessagingapiKey24 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Send and receive Telegram messages, photos, documents and updates as a bot, with webhook or long-polling delivery for incoming events.

Quickstart

Get started with Telegram Bot API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"send a Telegram message from a bot"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Telegram Bot API API.

Send a text message to a Telegram chat including markdown formatting and inline keyboards

Send photos or documents to a chat with optional captions

Forward or copy a message between two chats

Set a webhook URL so Telegram pushes incoming updates to your server

Long-poll for new updates with getUpdates when a webhook isn't usable

GET STARTED

Start building with Telegram Bot API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for Telegram Bot API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Telegram Bot API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Telegram Bot API exposes 24 method-style endpoints under the path /{methodName} for sending messages, photos, documents and other media to chats, plus webhook setup, getMe identity checks, message forwarding and copying, and update polling for long-poll bot architectures. Authentication is via the bot token embedded in the path (https://api.telegram.org/bot{token}/METHOD), and methods accept JSON or form-encoded bodies. The API supports both polling (getUpdates) and push (setWebhook) flows for receiving incoming messages.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Telegram Bot API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Operational Alerts to a Telegram Channel

Engineering and ops teams can send Slack-style alerts to a Telegram channel by calling /sendMessage with the channel chat_id and a markdown-formatted body. /sendDocument can attach log snippets or report PDFs, and inline keyboards let on-call engineers acknowledge an alert directly from the message.

POST /sendMessage with chat_id of the on-call channel and a markdown alert body containing the failing service name and a link to the runbook.

Customer Support Bot with Webhook Delivery

Customer support teams can deploy a Telegram bot that receives messages via webhook and replies with /sendMessage. /setWebhook installs the receiver, /getWebhookInfo confirms delivery health, and /deleteWebhook switches back to long polling for testing without leaving the spec.

POST /setWebhook with the support backend URL, then on each incoming update reply via /sendMessage referencing the original chat_id and message_id.

Content Distribution from a CMS

Publishers can broadcast new posts to a Telegram channel by combining /sendPhoto for hero images and /sendMessage for headline plus link. The bot token in the path keeps each publication's bot isolated, and /copyMessage lets the team rebroadcast curated picks across multiple channels without losing attribution.

POST /sendPhoto with the article hero image to channel @example_channel, then POST /sendMessage with the headline and URL for that article.

AI Agent Chat Interface on Telegram

An AI agent can serve users directly inside Telegram by receiving updates via webhook and replying through /sendMessage and /sendDocument. Through Jentic, the bot token never leaves the credential vault and the agent calls Telegram operations using their plain method names mapped to /{methodName}.

Use Jentic to call /sendMessage with chat_id from the incoming update and a generated reply body, after the webhook delivered the user's question.

Key Endpoints

24 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for telegram bot api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/getMe

Get bot information

POST

/sendMessage

Send a text message

POST

/sendPhoto

Send a photo

POST

/sendDocument

Send a document

POST

/setWebhook

Set the webhook URL for incoming updates

POST

/getUpdates

Long-poll for incoming updates

POST

/forwardMessage

Forward a message between chats

GET

/getMe

Get bot information

POST

/sendMessage

Send a text message

POST

/sendPhoto

Send a photo

POST

/sendDocument

Send a document

POST

/setWebhook

Set the webhook URL for incoming updates

POST

/getUpdates

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

The Telegram bot token sits in the Jentic credential vault. Agents calling /sendMessage, /sendPhoto or /setWebhook through Jentic never see the token; Jentic substitutes it into the bot{token} path segment at execution time and per-bot tokens stay isolated.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic with intents like 'send a Telegram message' or 'set Telegram webhook' and Jentic returns the matching /{methodName} operation along with the chat_id and body schema, so the agent picks the right send-* variant for text, photo or document.

Time to first call

Direct integration: half a day to wire up bot token handling, webhook receiver and message formatting. Through Jentic: 15-30 minutes from signup to first /sendMessage.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Slack API

Workplace messaging platform with channels and threads, used for team comms rather than consumer chat

Choose Slack when the audience is internal teams; pick Telegram when the audience is consumers or external community channels.

Alternative

Discord API

Community chat platform with servers and channels, similar bot model to Telegram

Pick Discord when the user community is gaming, dev or hobbyist; choose Telegram when the audience is broader consumer messaging.

Complementary

MessageBird Intent API

NLU layer that can parse incoming Telegram messages before the bot replies

Use MessageBird Intent alongside Telegram when the bot needs intent classification before formulating a reply.

FAQs

Specific to using Telegram Bot API API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Telegram Bot API?

Telegram does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Telegram Bot API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the Telegram Bot API use?

The bot token is embedded in the URL path (https://api.telegram.org/bot{token}/{method}). Through Jentic the bot token sits in the credential vault and is substituted into the path at execution time, so the secret never enters agent context.

Can I send photos with the Telegram Bot API?

Yes. POST /sendPhoto accepts a chat_id plus a photo (file_id, URL or upload) and an optional caption. Use /sendDocument for arbitrary files and /sendMessage for plain text or markdown bodies.

Should I use webhooks or long polling with the Telegram Bot API?

Webhooks (POST /setWebhook) are the production-grade option since Telegram pushes updates to your server. Long polling (POST /getUpdates) is useful for local development. Use /getWebhookInfo to confirm delivery health when debugging missed messages.

What rate limits apply to the Telegram Bot API?

The OpenAPI spec does not declare formal rate limits, but Telegram documents soft limits of roughly 30 messages per second across all chats and 1 message per second per chat. Implement exponential backoff on HTTP 429 with the retry_after value Telegram returns.

How do I send a Telegram message through Jentic with the Telegram Bot API?

Run pip install jentic, search Jentic with 'send a Telegram message', load the operation schema for POST /sendMessage and execute with the chat_id and text payload; Jentic substitutes the bot token in the path automatically.