configure-telegram

Configure Telegram Notifications

Set up Telegram notifications so PEP can message you when sessions end, need input, or complete background tasks.

How This Skill Works

This is an interactive, natural-language configuration skill. Walk the user through setup by asking questions with AskUserQuestion. Write the result to ~/.claude/.pep-config.json.

Step 1: Detect Existing Configuration

CONFIG_FILE="$HOME/.claude/.pep-config.json"

if [ -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]; then
  HAS_TELEGRAM=$(jq -r '.notifications.telegram.enabled // false' "$CONFIG_FILE" 2>/dev/null)
  CHAT_ID=$(jq -r '.notifications.telegram.chatId // empty' "$CONFIG_FILE" 2>/dev/null)
  PARSE_MODE=$(jq -r '.notifications.telegram.parseMode // "Markdown"' "$CONFIG_FILE" 2>/dev/null)

  if [ "$HAS_TELEGRAM" = "true" ]; then
    echo "EXISTING_CONFIG=true"
    echo "CHAT_ID=$CHAT_ID"
    echo "PARSE_MODE=$PARSE_MODE"
  else
    echo "EXISTING_CONFIG=false"
  fi
else
  echo "NO_CONFIG_FILE"
fi

If existing config is found, show the user what's currently configured and ask if they want to update or reconfigure.

Step 2: Create a Telegram Bot

Guide the user through creating a bot if they don't have one:

To set up Telegram notifications, you need a Telegram bot token and your chat ID.

CREATE A BOT (if you don't have one):
1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot
3. Choose a name (e.g., "My PEP Notifier")
4. Choose a username (e.g., "my_omc_bot")
5. BotFather will give you a token like: 123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz

GET YOUR CHAT ID:
1. Start a chat with your new bot (send /start)
2. Visit: https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_TOKEN>/getUpdates
3. Look for "chat":{"id":YOUR_CHAT_ID}
   - Personal chat IDs are positive numbers (e.g., 123456789)
   - Group chat IDs are negative numbers (e.g., -1001234567890)

Step 3: Collect Bot Token

Use AskUserQuestion:

Question: "Paste your Telegram bot token (from @BotFather)"

The user will type their token in the "Other" field.

Validate the token:

• Must match pattern: digits:alphanumeric (e.g., 123456789:ABCdefGHI...)
• If invalid, explain the format and ask again

Step 4: Collect Chat ID

Use AskUserQuestion:

Question: "Paste your Telegram chat ID (the number from getUpdates API)"

The user will type their chat ID in the "Other" field.

Validate the chat ID:

• Must be a number (positive for personal, negative for groups)
• If invalid, offer to help them find it:

# Help user find their chat ID
BOT_TOKEN="USER_PROVIDED_TOKEN"
echo "Fetching recent messages to find your chat ID..."
curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/getUpdates" | jq '.result[-1].message.chat.id // .result[-1].message.from.id // "No messages found - send /start to your bot first"'

Step 5: Choose Parse Mode

Use AskUserQuestion:

Question: "Which message format do you prefer?"

Options:

1. Markdown (Recommended) - Bold, italic, code blocks with Markdown syntax
2. HTML - Bold, italic, code with HTML tags

Step 6: Configure Events

Use AskUserQuestion with multiSelect:

Question: "Which events should trigger Telegram notifications?"

Options (multiSelect: true):

1. Session end (Recommended) - When a Claude session finishes
2. Input needed - When Claude is waiting for your response (great for long-running tasks)
3. Session start - When a new session begins
4. Session continuing - When a persistent mode keeps the session alive

Default selection: session-end + ask-user-question.

Step 7: Write Configuration

Read the existing config, merge the new Telegram settings, and write back:

CONFIG_FILE="$HOME/.claude/.pep-config.json"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$CONFIG_FILE")"

if [ -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]; then
  EXISTING=$(cat "$CONFIG_FILE")
else
  EXISTING='{}'
fi

# BOT_TOKEN, CHAT_ID, PARSE_MODE are collected from user
echo "$EXISTING" | jq \
  --arg token "$BOT_TOKEN" \
  --arg chatId "$CHAT_ID" \
  --arg parseMode "$PARSE_MODE" \
  '.notifications = (.notifications // {enabled: true}) |
   .notifications.enabled = true |
   .notifications.telegram = {
     enabled: true,
     botToken: $token,
     chatId: $chatId,
     parseMode: $parseMode
   }' > "$CONFIG_FILE"

Add event-specific config if user didn't select all events:

For each event NOT selected, disable it:

# Example: disable session-start if not selected
echo "$(cat "$CONFIG_FILE")" | jq \
  '.notifications.events = (.notifications.events // {}) |
   .notifications.events["session-start"] = {enabled: false}' > "$CONFIG_FILE"

Step 8: Test the Configuration

After writing config, offer to send a test notification:

Use AskUserQuestion:

Question: "Send a test notification to verify the setup?"

Options:

1. Yes, test now (Recommended) - Send a test message to your Telegram chat
2. No, I'll test later - Skip testing

If testing:

BOT_TOKEN="USER_PROVIDED_TOKEN"
CHAT_ID="USER_PROVIDED_CHAT_ID"
PARSE_MODE="Markdown"

RESPONSE=$(curl -s -w "\n%{http_code}" \
  "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=${CHAT_ID}" \
  -d "parse_mode=${PARSE_MODE}" \
  -d "text=PEP test notification - Telegram is configured!")

HTTP_CODE=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | tail -1)
BODY=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | head -1)

if [ "$HTTP_CODE" = "200" ]; then
  echo "Test notification sent successfully!"
else
  echo "Failed (HTTP $HTTP_CODE):"
  echo "$BODY" | jq -r '.description // "Unknown error"' 2>/dev/null || echo "$BODY"
fi

Report success or failure. Common issues:

• 401 Unauthorized: Bot token is invalid
• 400 Bad Request: chat not found: Chat ID is wrong, or user hasn't sent /start to the bot
• Network error: Check connectivity to api.telegram.org

Step 9: Confirm

Display the final configuration summary:

Telegram Notifications Configured!

  Bot:        @your_bot_username
  Chat ID:    123456789
  Format:     Markdown
  Events:     session-end, ask-user-question

Config saved to: ~/.claude/.pep-config.json

You can also set these via environment variables:
  PEP_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456789:ABCdefGHI...
  PEP_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=123456789

To reconfigure: /pepcode:configure-telegram
To configure Discord: /pepcode:configure-discord

Environment Variable Alternative

Users can skip this wizard entirely by setting env vars in their shell profile:

export PEP_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz"
export PEP_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID="123456789"

Env vars are auto-detected by the notification system without needing .pep-config.json.