OpenClaw Telegram Bot Not Responding

Work from the Gateway outward. A working bot token does not prove that the sender is approved or that Telegram delivered the group message.

Run the channel ladder

openclaw gateway status
openclaw channels status --probe
openclaw pairing list telegram
openclaw logs --follow

Direct messages

If the logs show a pairing request, approve the current code for the trusted sender. Pairing codes expire after one hour. If Telegram returns getMe 401, the configured bot token is invalid; replace it with the current BotFather token.

Group messages

Look for mention required, allowlist, or blocked-sender messages. When mention gating is enabled, mention the bot explicitly. When it is disabled, Telegram Privacy Mode must allow the bot to receive the relevant group messages.

After changing Privacy Mode in BotFather, remove and re-add the bot to the group so Telegram applies the new visibility.

Network failures

Repeated fetch failed, DNS, or timeout messages point to outbound access to api.telegram.org, not to model quality. Fix the network path before changing the agent prompt.

Expected result

Channel probe reports a healthy transport, the sender passes pairing or allowlist policy, and logs show one accepted inbound message followed by a reply.