Use this article to connect one or more Telegram bots to your Intercom workspace, understand what happens once the connection is live, and know what to do if you need to disconnect. After setup, Telegram conversations appear in the Inbox alongside all other channels, Fin handles them automatically, and Workflows apply at full parity.
What you'll need before connecting
You'll need admin access in your Intercom workspace to connect or disconnect a Telegram channel.
Before you connect, you'll need a Telegram bot and your bot token (a credential that gives Intercom permission to send and receive messages on your bot's behalf). Create a bot via @BotFather (Telegram's official bot for creating and managing bots) see Telegram's documentation for step-by-step instructions.
Note: Your bot token gives full control over the bot. Keep it secure and don't share it beyond what's needed for the Intercom connection.
How to connect Telegram
Have your bot token from @BotFather ready before you start.
Paste your bot token into the Bot token field.
Click Connect.
Once connected:
Intercom validates your bot token.
The webhook (the connection endpoint that receives messages from Telegram) is registered, linking your Telegram bot to the Inbox.
The install is recorded in the Teammate Activity Log (Settings > Security > Teammate Activity).
The Telegram channel appears as active under Settings > Channels > Telegram once setup is complete. To verify the connection, send a test message to your Telegram bot — it should appear as a new conversation in your Intercom Inbox within a few seconds.
Connecting multiple Telegram bots
You can connect more than one Telegram bot to a single workspace — useful if you run separate bots for different brands, regions, or product lines. Each bot you add appears in the list under Settings > Channels > Telegram with its own @username and connection status. To add another bot, repeat the connection steps above with the new bot's token.
Assign a brand to a Telegram bot
If your workspace is on a multibrand plan, you can assign a brand to each connected Telegram bot. This controls the persona Fin uses when replying and the help center content Fin answers from — each bot can point at a different brand independently.
To assign a brand:
On the bot's card, open the Brand picker.
Select the brand you want that bot to use.
Conversations started by the bot are tagged with the brand as a standard conversation attribute, so they segment correctly in brand-based views, reporting, and workflow conditions.
Note: Clearing the brand picker returns the bot to the workspace default. Brand assignment is only available on multibrand plans.
Route conversations by bot
If your workspace has more than one Telegram bot connected, you can route each bot's conversations independently using a dedicated conversation attribute.
The Telegram bot attribute
Each conversation that arrives via Telegram automatically carries a read-only Telegram bot attribute recording which bot it came from, shown by that bot's Telegram username (for example, support_acme_bot). This attribute is available in:
Assignment rules
Workflow conditional branches
The inbox sidebar
Reporting
To set up routing, create an assignment rule or workflow with a condition on Telegram bot, pick a bot from the dropdown, and route to the team that owns it. Repeat per bot. Workspaces with only one Telegram bot connected will see the attribute with a single option — the attribute is present, but there's nothing to route on between bots.
Limitations
No history. Only conversations created on or after August 12, 2026 carry the attribute. Conversations opened before that date stay blank permanently — there's no backfill. Rules that branch on the attribute won't match older conversations.
Read-only. The attribute is set automatically when the conversation is created. Teammates and admins can't set or correct it manually, including in the sidebar.
Not in the public API. The attribute isn't exposed via the REST API, so it can't be read or filtered by external integrations.
One workflow at a time. A conversation runs a single teammate-visible workflow at once. If another live workflow already picked up the conversation, a workflow branching on Telegram bot won't run. This is the most common cause of a routing rule appearing to do nothing — check whether another workflow is running first.
Group chats with two bots. If two of your bots are in the same Telegram group, each opens its own Intercom conversation for that group, so the same message appears twice and both bots can reply. This is pre-existing behaviour, not specific to this feature.
Disconnected bots
If a bot is later disconnected, it remains available as an archived option in the attribute picker. Existing rules and older conversations that reference it continue to resolve correctly.
How to disconnect Telegram
To disconnect a Telegram bot, go to Settings > Channels > Telegram and click Disconnect.
Existing conversations in the Inbox are not affected when you disconnect, they remain accessible and can still be managed by teammates. However, customers won't be able to send new messages to the bot until it's reconnected.
Important: Disconnecting a bot permanently removes its bot token and webhook secret (a security credential tied to the webhook connection) from Intercom. These credentials can't be recovered. To reconnect, you'll need to regenerate your bot token via @BotFather and complete the setup again.
Telegram broadcasts
When you send a broadcast, a From bot selector appears if you have more than one Telegram bot connected. Select which bot the broadcast sends from — the channel list automatically scopes to that bot's channels. If you only have one bot connected, broadcasts work as before with no extra steps.
Send hosted ticket forms to Telegram customers
You can collect structured information from your Telegram customers by sending them a hosted ticket form — the same way you can on Discord, Slack, and WhatsApp. The customer verifies their identity with one tap using Telegram's built-in login, then fills in and submits the form without leaving the chat.
Set your bot's domain in BotFather
Telegram's Login Widget only works on a domain registered with your bot. You must set this once per bot — the domain depends on your workspace's hosting region:
Region | Domain to set |
United States | app.intercom.com |
Europe | app.eu.intercom.com |
Australia | app.au.intercom.com |
Open a chat with @BotFather in Telegram.
Send
/setdomain.Select your bot.
Send the domain for your region from the table above.
Note: If you're not sure which region your workspace is in, check the URL you use to log in to Intercom — it matches one of the domains above. Setting the wrong region's domain will prevent the login widget from appearing.
Send a form to a Telegram customer
Open the Telegram conversation in your Inbox.
In the reply composer (or via the
⌘K/Ctrl+Kactions), choose to send a hosted ticket form.Pick the form and send it. The customer receives a link in the Telegram chat.
What the customer sees
They open the link from the chat.
They're asked to verify their identity with the Log in with Telegram button.
After one tap, the form opens — they fill it in and submit.
The submitted ticket appears back in the conversation, just like any other hosted ticket form.
Troubleshooting
The login button doesn't appear — the bot's domain isn't set, or the wrong region's domain was used. Re-run
/setdomainin BotFather with the correct domain for your region."Verification failed" after tapping login — confirm the specific bot that handled the conversation matches the bot you set the domain for. With multiple bots connected, each bot needs its domain set in BotFather separately.
The connection failed — Each Telegram bot can only be connected to one Intercom workspace at a time. If you try to connect a bot that's already in use on another workspace, the connection will fail.
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