Telegram
Service domainMESSAGING
Arcade Optimized
Arcade.dev LLM tools for Telegram
Author:Arcade
Version:
1.1.0Auth:No authentication required
7tools
7require secrets
Telegram Toolkit
The Telegram toolkit lets Arcade-powered agents interact with Telegram bots — sending messages, polling for replies, retrieving chat metadata, and delivering AI-generated audio.
Capabilities
- Messaging: Send text messages to any chat, group, or channel the bot belongs to; attach inline keyboard buttons and automatically collapse the keyboard on selection.
- Update polling (long-poll): Wait for new private-chat messages or inline-button taps using bounded
getUpdatespolls; resume across timeout windows via cursor offsets. Incompatible with webhook mode. - Message retrieval: Fetch pending (unacknowledged) private-chat updates; permanently acknowledges earlier updates on read. Group and channel messages are excluded for security.
- Text-to-speech audio: Convert text to MP3 via OpenAI TTS and send the audio file directly to a Telegram chat.
- Chat & bot introspection: Retrieve metadata (type, title, description, member count) for chats the bot has joined, and query the bot's own identity and capabilities.
Secrets
This toolkit requires no OAuth flow; all authentication is handled via secrets.
-
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN— The HTTP API token that authenticates your bot with Telegram. Obtain it by messaging @BotFather on Telegram, using the/newbotcommand (or/tokenfor an existing bot), and copying the token it returns. No paid tier is required. See Telegram's bot documentation for step-by-step instructions. Keep this token secret — anyone with it can act as your bot. -
OPENAI_API_KEY— An OpenAI API key used exclusively byTelegram.SendTtsAudioto call OpenAI's TTS endpoint. Create one in the OpenAI Platform dashboard under API keys → Create new secret key. The key needs access to theaudio/speechendpoint (available on any paid-usage account). Usage is billed to the OpenAI account that owns the key.
Configure secrets in Arcade via the tool secrets guide or directly at https://api.arcade.dev/dashboard/auth/secrets.
Available tools(7)
7 of 7 tools
Operations
Behavior
| Tool name | Description | Secrets | |
|---|---|---|---|
Get metadata about a Telegram chat, group, or channel.
Returns information including the chat type, title, description, and member count.
The bot must be a member of the chat to retrieve its information. | 2 | ||
Get recent private-chat messages sent to the bot via Telegram's getUpdates API.
Returns messages from private (1:1) chats only. Group and channel messages are
excluded for security — any group member could inject content into the response.
Only pending (unacknowledged) updates are returned.
The limit parameter controls how many raw Telegram updates are fetched, not how
many messages are returned. After filtering to private-chat messages for the
requested chat_id, the result may contain fewer items. has_more indicates whether
more updates exist on the server, not whether more messages exist for this chat.
Note: This retrieves updates delivered to the bot, not the full history of a chat.
Passing a non-zero offset permanently confirms all earlier updates — they cannot be
retrieved again. Returns newest messages last. | 2 | ||
Send a text message to a Telegram chat, group, or channel.
The bot must be a member of the target chat or have permission to send messages to the
specified channel.
When the message asks the recipient a question, prefer attaching the possible answers as inline
`buttons` rather than asking in free text. With buttons and wait_for_response (the default),
this call waits for the user to tap one and returns it as `selected_option` — the toolkit
collapses the keyboard to the choice automatically, so you do not react to the tap yourself. If
no tap arrives in the wait window, `timed_out` is true and `next_offset` lets you resume waiting
without re-sending. Reserve a plain (button-less) message for statements or genuinely
open-ended questions. | 2 | ||
Convert text to speech using OpenAI TTS and send it as an audio message on Telegram.
Generates an MP3 audio file from the provided text using OpenAI's text-to-speech API,
then sends it to the specified Telegram chat. | 2 | ||
Resume waiting for an inline-button tap on a message that was already sent with buttons.
Use this only to keep waiting after an earlier attempt's wait window elapsed without a tap — it
does NOT send anything. It is a bounded long-poll on Telegram's getUpdates: it waits a short
window for a tap on the given message, and when one happens the toolkit acknowledges it and
collapses the keyboard to the chosen option (no agent round-trip), returning the choice as
selected_option. If the window elapses with no tap, it returns timed_out=true with a
next_offset cursor to resume from again.
Cannot be used while the bot has an active webhook, because getUpdates and webhooks are
mutually exclusive. | 2 | ||
Wait for the next new message in a Telegram private chat, returning as soon as one arrives.
This is a bounded long-poll built on Telegram's getUpdates: it waits up to timeout_seconds
for a new message in the given chat. If one or more arrive, they are returned immediately
with timed_out set to false. If the budget elapses with nothing, it returns an empty message
list with timed_out set to true and a next_offset cursor, so you can call again with that
next_offset to keep waiting.
On the first call, leave offset at 0: the tool skips any already-pending backlog and waits for
messages that arrive after the call begins. To read pending messages without waiting, use
get_messages instead.
Returns messages from private (1:1) chats only — group and channel messages are excluded for
security, since any group member could inject content. This tool cannot be used while the bot
has an active webhook, because getUpdates and webhooks are mutually exclusive. | 2 | ||
Get information about the Telegram bot.
Returns the bot's identity including its ID, username, and capabilities. | 2 |
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