Channels

Telegram

How an agent publishes to a Telegram channel or group through uplika: your own bot, the chats it can post to, and what the Bot API does not offer.

Quick reference

NameTypeDescription
characterstext4,096
imagesmediaup to 10 per post; more than that and the first 10 go out with a warning
carouselmedia2-10 items, images and video can be mixed
videomedia10 per post
text alonemediaallowed
posts / 24hlimit28,800
deletes / 24hlimitTelegram only within 48 hours of publishing, with no documented daily cap
statusstatelive

These numbers come from the same file the server validates against. The text limit changes with media: 4,096 characters for a text message, 1,024 for a caption, counted in code points.

Why do I pick a chat instead of typing an address?

Private channels have no @address, only a numeric id that the Telegram app never shows. So after you paste the token uplika reads the bot's recent updates and lists the chats it was added to. If the list is empty, add the bot as an admin and send /start@yourbot in that chat, then try again.

How does media publish?

One image or video goes out as a photo or video message with the text as its caption. Several go out as an album, which Telegram stores as several messages; uplika keeps every message id so deleting removes the whole album, not just the first item.

How do I publish my first post?

Call publish with text. Markdown is not interpreted; the text goes out as written.

curl -X POST https://api.uplika.com/v1/posts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $UPLIKA_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "content": "Shipped nested replies today.",
    "accountIds": ["conn_..."]
  }'

What options.telegram takes

NameTypeDescription
contentstringText for this channel only. When set it replaces the shared content for this channel, and the length and media checks use it. Leave it out to use the shared content.

Telegram has no channel-specific settings. Like every channel it takes content, a different text for this channel alone.

What is not available?

Metrics, comments and reading the channel's history: the Bot API has no method for any of them, so get_insights and list_replies answer that they cannot rather than returning empty values. Deleting works for 48 hours after publishing; after that Telegram no longer lets a bot delete, and the error says so.

Frequently asked

Does uplika see my Telegram account?

No. It holds the bot token you made, encrypted, and calls the Bot API with it. Your own account is not involved.

Why is the chat list empty?

The bot has not been added to a chat as an admin yet, or it has but no update reached it. Add it, send /start@yourbot in the chat, and try again.

Why is there no view count?

The Bot API has no method for it. That is a Telegram limitation, not a missing feature: get_insights says not supported instead of returning zero.