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Telegram Gateway

The Telegram Gateway lets you interact with goose through Telegram, enabling remote access from any device where Telegram is available.

Experimental Feature

The Gateway feature is experimental and in active development. Behavior and configuration may change in future releases.

How It Works​

The Gateway connects your Telegram account to goose through a secure pairing process. Once paired, you can send messages to a Telegram bot that forwards them to goose, and receive formatted responses back in Telegram.

Key details:

  • Uses a Telegram bot that you create and configure
  • Secure pairing with a one-time code
  • Supports formatted responses with code blocks and markdown
  • Maintains a persistent session that auto-compacts for long conversations
  • Works from any device with Telegram installed

Prerequisites​

Before setting up the Telegram Gateway:

  1. Configure goose with a provider and model.
  2. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.
  3. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to create your bot.
  4. Copy the bot token that BotFather provides (it looks like 123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz).
tip

Keep your bot token secure. Anyone with the token can control your bot.

Setup​

Use the goose CLI to start the gateway and pair your Telegram account.

Start the Gateway​

In one terminal, export your bot token and start the gateway:

export TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
goose gateway start telegram --bot-token "$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN"

Leave this command running. Your computer must remain awake and online for the bot to respond.

Pair Your Telegram Account​

In a second terminal, generate a pairing code:

goose gateway pair telegram

Open your bot in Telegram and send it the six-character pairing code within five minutes. The bot confirms when pairing is complete, and you can then chat with goose through Telegram.

To stop the gateway, press Ctrl+C in the terminal where it is running.

What You Can Do​

Once paired, you can:

  • Send messages to goose and receive responses
  • Get formatted code blocks with syntax highlighting
  • Continue conversations across multiple sessions
  • Access your configured goose extensions

Troubleshooting​

Bot not responding​

  • Verify the bot token is correct.
  • Check that the goose gateway start command is still running.
  • Ensure your computer is awake and online.

Pairing code not working​

  • Pairing codes expire after five minutes. Generate a new one and try again.
  • Make sure you're sending the code to the correct bot.

Messages not formatting correctly​

  • The gateway converts goose's markdown to Telegram-compatible formatting.
  • Some complex formatting may be simplified for Telegram compatibility.

Additional Resources​