Telegram Chat IDs in SquadOS

A Chat ID is the numeric identifier Telegram assigns to a destination chat. In the supported SquadOS flow, you normally do not need to find or paste this number: it is captured when a message arrives through the connected bot.

How SquadOS records the Chat ID

When a regular message arrives, SquadOS uses its Chat ID to find or create:

1. a Telegram identity linked to a contact;
2. a conversation for that contact in the bot inbox.

In a private chat, the identity represents that person’s chat with the bot. In a group, the Chat ID represents the whole group; every participant enters the same group identity and conversation.

Note

The current Telegram channel does not process channel posts. Adding the bot as a channel administrator therefore does not automatically create a usable identity in SquadOS.

Prepare a contact to receive messages

1. Confirm that the bot is connected to an inbox. See Telegram.
2. In the target private chat or group, send a regular message to that bot.
3. Under Conversations, open the incoming conversation and confirm its inbox and contact.

That first incoming message records the Telegram identity. In a private chat, /start can open the chat, but any regular message delivered to the bot can provide the identity.

Use the identity in an automation

To send a Telegram message from an automation:

1. Add Pick contact.
2. When selecting by identity, choose Telegram id and provide a value already linked to the contact. This step only finds an existing contact; it does not create a new identity.
3. Add Get the contact’s conversation and choose the correct Telegram inbox.
4. Add Send message.
5. Test the flow with a contact prepared by the earlier incoming message.

Delivery requires all three existing references: a contact with a Telegram identity, a conversation in the inbox, and a valid bot token for that inbox. Without any one of them, the automation has no valid Telegram destination.

See also Automation actions and Executions and tests.

What the editor does not do

The automation editor does not provide a generic field where you can paste the number of any person, group, or channel and create a delivery from scratch. It also does not turn a typed Chat ID into a new contact.

If an external tool gave you a number, it is useful in this documented flow only when it already exists as a contact identity and a conversation is associated with the correct inbox.

Troubleshooting

• Pick contact cannot find the value — confirm that the chat has already sent a message to the bot and that the identity belongs to the expected contact.
• Get the contact’s conversation cannot find the destination — choose the Telegram inbox that received the initial message.
• Send message reports that a conversation is missing — place Get the contact’s conversation before Send message.
• The group became a single contact — this is the current behavior: the identity uses the group Chat ID, not each participant’s individual ID.
• The bot was blocked or removed from the group — restore access in Telegram and run a real test before reactivating the automation.
• The bot or token changed — validate the connection and incoming messages again; the automation depends on the selected inbox token.