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Telegram is optional. Setup does not ask for it, and you can connect it at any time. Telegram has two kinds of bots:
  • The main bot. Your chief of staff answers it, and only the owner can message it. You connect it first.
  • Extra bots. Each one has its own teammate and its own list of people who can message it.
For how channels compare, see Talk to your squad from Telegram, Discord, or Slack.

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Before you start

  • Have the Telegram app open, signed in to your own account.
  • Get your Telegram user ID. Send any message to @userinfobot on Telegram, and copy the number that it sends back.

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Open the Telegram screen

Select Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then Apps, then the Telegram tab. You can also press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) and type Telegram. A link to the old Channels tab of the Apps page opens the Telegram tab. The owner and Administrators can open it. A Collaborator or a Viewer cannot.

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Connect the main bot

The owner connects the main bot first. Squad locks the main bot to the owner’s Telegram user ID, typed in these steps. Until the owner’s Telegram account is on file, an Administrator who opens the tab sees no connect form. The card says, for example, “The squad owner connects the bot first, because it needs the squad owner’s own Telegram ID to know who it answers. After that, you can switch bots here.” After that, an Administrator can also switch the main bot, and the card says that your squad answers the owner from the bot and that the owner messages it once to pair. Squad refuses a Telegram ID that anyone but the owner sends. To correct the ID later, see Change your Telegram user ID.
1

Create the bot

In Telegram, open @BotFather and send /newbot.
2

Name the bot

Give the bot a display name, then a username. The username must end in bot.
3

Copy the token

Copy the token that BotFather sends. It looks like 123456789:AA….
4

Paste the token

On the Squad Telegram tab, paste the token into the Paste its token step.
5

Wait for the check

Wait for Found followed by the bot username, for example “Found @acme_squad_bot”. This means Telegram accepted the token.
6

Add your user ID

If the Add your Telegram user ID step shows, type your Telegram user ID.
7

Connect

Select Connect followed by the bot username.
8

Pair the bot

In Telegram, send the bot one message. This pairs the bot with your account.
The card shows “Connected @” and the bot username, then “Message the bot once on Telegram to pair. Your squad answers from it once no teammate is working.” Your squad answers from the bot. Nothing restarts. If your squad is in the middle of work, the bot starts answering when the work finishes.
Check your user ID before you select Connect. It must be your own ID, not the bot’s. The main bot answers only the account with that ID. To fix a wrong ID later, see Change your Telegram user ID.
Keep the bot token secret. Anyone with the token controls the bot.

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Check that it works

  • The Main bot card shows the bot. It shows Not connected only when the bot is not connected.
  • Access shows Locked to your Telegram account and your ID, for example Locked to your Telegram account · ID 726882145.
  • The card shows Who can message it: just you.
  • Your chief of staff answers when you message the bot. Open in Telegram opens the bot.
When an Administrator opens the tab, the card names the owner instead: Locked to and the owner’s name and ’s Telegram account, and Who can message it: only and the owner’s name. When Squad does not know the owner’s name, the card says “the squad owner”. It says how the Administrator can reach a teammate on Telegram: an extra bot can list their own Telegram user ID. When the bot answers no one, the Administrator reads that the owner can add or change the ID on this page.

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Change your Telegram user ID

The main bot answers only the Telegram account whose user ID is on file. If that ID is wrong, for example because the bot’s own ID was typed, fix it here. Only the owner can. Administrators see the Access row without Change.
1

Get your ID

In Telegram, from your own account, send any message to @userinfobot. Copy the number that it sends back.
2

Open the form

On the Main bot card, select Change on the Access row. With no ID on file, the link is Add your ID. When the bot answers no one, the form is already open.
3

Save the ID

Type your ID into Your Telegram user ID, e.g. 726882145 and select Save.
4

Check it

Send your bot a message from that Telegram account.
The card says “Saved. Message your bot from that Telegram account to check it answers you.” If your squad is in the middle of work, or your cloud computer is still applying the change, the card says so instead. Until then, the old ID can still apply. What changes in the same save:
  • Every bot, the main bot and each extra bot, answers your new ID instead of the old one. Everyone else on a bot’s list keeps access.
  • Routines and heartbeats that report to your old Telegram account report to the new one. Their bot and schedule stay the same. See Where a routine reports.
  • Conversations that you last had from the old account point to the new one, so replies that go “where you asked” reach the new account.
  • An ID that you entered as your own before is left off when you save a bot’s list. Beside the list, the card says “[ID] was left off: you entered it as your Telegram ID before.” with Add anyway. Select Add anyway to add it. Later saves then keep it. An Administrator reads “[ID] was left off: the owner entered it as their Telegram ID before.” A teammate cannot add such an ID for you.
On Squad for Mac, the steps are the same. The Access row reads, for example, “Locked to your Telegram account, ID 726882145”. Cancel closes the form, except when it opened by itself.

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What the main bot does

  • Your chief of staff answers it. The main bot card has no Answered by control.
  • Only the owner can message it. You cannot add other people to it. To share a teammate with someone, connect an extra bot.
  • Your chief of staff’s About page has Message on Telegram in its More (⋯) menu, which opens the bot.
  • The Group chats switch is off when you first connect. If you turn it on, the bot works in group chats that it is added to, but it still answers only the owner.
To use a different bot as the main bot:
  1. On the Main bot card, select Switch to a different bot….
  2. Paste the new bot’s token and wait for Found and the bot username.
  3. Select Switch to followed by the new bot username.
  4. In Telegram, send the new bot one message to pair again.
The old bot stops answering when your squad moves to the new bot.

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Add an extra bot

Extra bots run alongside the main bot. Use them to put another teammate on Telegram, or to let other people talk to a teammate. Before you start: the main bot must be connected. Without it, Squad refuses the extra bot with “Connect your main bot first. This squad has no Telegram owner yet.”
1

Create the bot

In Telegram, open @BotFather, send /newbot, and copy the new token.
2

Find the connect card

On the Squad Telegram tab, below More bots, find the Put another teammate on Telegram card.
3

Paste the token

Paste the token into Paste its token and connect.
4

Connect

Select Connect bot.
Do not use the main bot’s token. Squad refuses it. A bot reads its messages in one place only. When another squad or another app reads the bot at that moment, the Telegram tab refuses it and changes nothing. This is also true when you connect or switch the main bot there. Squad cannot see a reader that is not running at that moment, for example a squad whose computer is stopped. So create a new bot for each squad. The page shows “Connected @” and the bot username, then “Set who answers it below.” The new bot gets its own card under More bots, with these controls: The card shows Offline when the bot is not running. A running bot shows no status. A bot that you just saved, while your squad is busy or the bot is still starting, shows “Your squad starts answering in Telegram once it finishes what it’s working on.” instead. The page checks again by itself for a while. See Channels. While a change saves, the card shows Saving…. A switch moves only after your cloud computer has the change.

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Choose who can message an extra bot

  1. Ask the person to send any message to @userinfobot on Telegram and send you the number.
  2. On the bot’s card, under Who can message it, type the number into the field.
  3. Select Add.
To remove a person, select the x on their ID. Squad always keeps the owner on the list. When only you can message the bot, the list shows Just you so far. A list can hold up to 50 people, including you. See Limits and defaults.

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Create a topic in a group

1

Turn on Topics

Turn on Topics in the Telegram group settings.
2

Add the bot

Add the extra bot to the group.
3

Open Group topics

On the bot’s card, select Group topics.
4

Enter the group and topic

Paste the group’s chat ID, for example -1001234567890, and type a Topic name.
5

Create

Select Create.
The card confirms that the topic was created.

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Troubleshooting

The teammate replies “⚠️ I hit a problem before I could finish replying.” and a cause. Cause: the run failed, for example because of a usage limit or a model that your AI account cannot use. The cause after the first sentence says what went wrong, for example “The model [model] is not available on the ChatGPT account I use. Choose another model for me, or connect a ChatGPT account that has it.” Squad sends that only after your other ChatGPT accounts and the models under When it can’t answer could not answer. Fix: fix the cause that the reply names, then send your message again. See Chat failure messages. The teammate replies with a sentence about Z.AI, for example “⚠️ Z.AI turned this away because too many teammates were working at the same time. Send it again in a minute.” Cause: your squad uses a Z.AI GLM Coding Plan, and Z.AI refused the run under one of its plan’s limits: too many requests at once, a used-up usage limit, an expired plan, a model that the plan does not include, or its Fair Usage Policy. Fix: do what the sentence says. See Z.AI’s own limits. The main bot does not answer. Cause: the bot is not paired yet, or your squad has not switched to it yet because it is in the middle of work. Or the Telegram user ID on file is not yours, or you wrote from another Telegram account. Then the bot answers once with “I only reply to the people I work with” and that account’s user ID. Fix: send the bot one message, then wait a short time and try again. Check the ID on the Access row. If it is not yours, see Change your Telegram user ID. Someone cannot message an extra bot. Cause: their ID is not on the bot’s list, or they are in a group and not on the list. In a direct message, the bot answers them once with their user ID. See A message from someone not on the list. Fix: add their Telegram user ID under Who can message it. The Access line shows “Your bot answers no one yet. Add your Telegram user ID.” Cause: the squad has no Telegram user ID for the owner. Fix: as the owner, type your ID in the form below the line and select Save. See Change your Telegram user ID. The Access line shows “Your bot answers no one: the ID on file is the bot’s own. Change it to yours.” Cause: the bot’s own ID was typed as your user ID. Fix: get your own ID from @userinfobot and save it in the form below the line. See Change your Telegram user ID.

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Messages when you paste a token

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Messages when you connect or switch the main bot

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Messages when you change your Telegram user ID

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Messages on the list and on topics

For messages that all channel screens share, see Messages on every channel screen.