Telegram
Connect a Telegram bot to a Sift workspace to monitor groups and support channels, ingest direct conversations, and reply from the inbox alongside every other channel.
At a glance
| Inbound: Group messages (threads, replies) | ✅ |
| Inbound: Channel messages | ✅ |
Inbound: Direct messages opened via /sift command | ✅ |
| Inbound: Backfill on connect | ✅ 30-day lookback |
| Inbound: CSAT button replies | ✅ |
| Outbound: Reply in a group / channel (in-thread) | ✅ posted by the Sift Bot |
| Outbound: Direct message to a user | ✅ in conversations the user opened |
| Outbound: Send a CSAT prompt at close | ✅ button-based |
| Multi-channel + multi-group per workspace | ✅ |
| Auto-reply bots | ✅ |
| Secret Chats (end-to-end encrypted) | ❌ Telegram doesn't expose them via Bot API |
Set it up
Go to Settings → Integrations → Telegram and:
- Connect: paste your Telegram Bot token (generate one via @BotFather).
- Add the Sift Bot to the groups and channels you want monitored.
- (Optional) Configure the
/sifttrigger: change the slash command or keyword that opens a 1:1 ticket. - Assign each group / channel to a queue (optional) for routing.
The bot needs read permissions in each group to ingest messages, and send permissions to post replies. In channels, the bot must be an admin to read messages.
Once you've added the bot to a channel, the last 30 days of messages are pulled in. Older history isn't reachable through Telegram's API.
What you can do
Reply in-thread in any group or channel the bot is in - posts back to Telegram as the Sift Bot. Reply in a 1:1 ticket opened via /sift:** the user sees a normal DM from the bot. Send a CSAT prompt** at close - interactive button buttons; the user's tap comes back as an action update.
Trigger workflows off any Telegram signal (group, sender, keyword). Route to the right team automatically. Apply auto-reply bots for FAQ patterns.
How conversations get into Sift
Sift uses a Telegram bot account that you add to your groups and channels. There are two paths a conversation can take to reach the inbox:
1. Group + channel messages: once the Sift Bot is added to a group or channel, every new message there flows into the inbox as an action, threaded by the group's topic / reply chain. Use this for "watch our community" or "watch our support group" workflows.
2. /sift command in a group: a user types /sift (or your customized trigger) inside a group, and a private conversation opens between that user and the Sift Bot. Every message after that becomes a 1:1 ticket in Sift, separate from the group's noise. Use this for "let users ask for support from inside the community without spamming the channel" workflows.
Not supported today
- Secret Chats: Telegram's end-to-end-encrypted personal surface isn't exposed to the Bot API. Anything that needs to stay E2E-encrypted stays in Telegram, not Sift.
- User-account login (vs. bot account) - Sift connects as a bot, not as a human user. If you need messages to appear as posted by an individual rather than the Sift Bot, that's not available today.
- Edits and deletes after the fact: if a user edits or deletes a message in Telegram, the original stays in Sift (the inbox is an audit log, not a live mirror).