Telegram

This tutorial connects a Telegram bot of your own to your agent, so you can talk to Hermes from your phone and get your scheduled results there. You finish by checking that the bot answers.

What you'll need

• A paid plan, Mini or Pro, with your agent set up. While a new agent is still being set up, Channels says "Setting up your agent…"; wait until that's gone.
• The Telegram app with an account, on your phone or computer.
• The dashboard open on any device, to paste the bot's details in.

Steps

1. Start a new bot with BotFather

   In Telegram, open @BotFather and send /newbot.

   BotFather asks you to choose a name for your bot.

2. Give the bot a name

   Send the name you'd like people to see, for example myhermes.

   BotFather then asks for a username, which has to end in bot.

3. Choose a username

   Send a username that ends in bot, for example my_hermes_bot.

   BotFather replies with your bot's token. It looks like 1234567890:ABCdef….

4. Copy the token

   Copy the whole token from BotFather's message.

   The token is on your clipboard, ready to paste into MyHermes a few steps from now.

5. Get your Telegram user id

   In Telegram, send any message to @userinfobot.

   It replies with your numeric Telegram user id, a number like 123456789. Keep it handy too.

6. Open Settings, Channels

   In the dashboard, open Settings›Channels (open it). You can also get there from "Connect Telegram" in the sidebar, or from the "Connect Telegram" row of the chat's "Getting started" card (on an older account, the chat's "Connect Telegram" nudge) if it shows. On a phone or a narrow window, the sidebar button sits in the "Chats" drawer, which the menu button at the top left opens.

   You see a card headed "Bring your bot." with a sample BotFather conversation, a "Bot token" box and an "Allowed Telegram users" box.

7. Paste the token

   Paste the token into "Bot token".

   The hint under the box reads "Create a bot with @BotFather. Stored encrypted." Your token is encrypted before it's stored.

8. Add your own id

   Type your numeric id into the first row under "Allowed Telegram users". Ids are digits only.

   "Save credentials" is ready to press. It turns on as soon as there's a token or an id to save.

9. Save

   Press "Save credentials".

   The form is replaced by a card saying your credentials are saved and your agent is starting, with "Update credentials again →" under it. Your agent restarts to pick up the bot.

10. Reload and check the connection

    Reload the page.

    Settings›Channels now shows "connected as @" followed by your bot's username. The sidebar's "Connect Telegram" button has become a button with your bot's @username, which opens the bot in Telegram. If you don't see "connected as", go to If something goes wrong.

11. Open your bot

    Click the sidebar button with your bot's @username (on a phone or a narrow window, it's in the "Chats" drawer).

    Your bot opens in Telegram, in a private chat with you.

12. Send /start yourself

    Send /start in that private chat. Do it now, before anyone else can.

    The bot answers with a welcome that starts "Welcome to Hermes 👋" and asks what you do, what you're working on right now, and how you'd want it to help you day to day.

13. Send a first message

    Answer the welcome, or send anything you like.

    Hermes replies in the chat. If your agent was asleep, a short holding line such as "Let me think on that…" arrives first, then the real reply. That's your bot working.

Who can message your bot

MyHermes checks who sent each message before it reaches your agent. You never run a pairing command.

• Allowed: the owner (whoever sent the first private /start) and every id under "Allowed Telegram users".
• An id you entered correctly is always let in, whoever the owner is.
• Everyone else is stopped. If someone else sends /start, they still get the welcome, but it doesn't change the owner. Anything else they send gets a short reply saying the bot doesn't recognise them yet and asking them to tap /start, and it never reaches your agent.
• There's no "let everyone in" switch. Each person you want to allow needs their id on the list.

Adding and removing people

To let someone else talk to your agent:

1. Ask them to send a message to @userinfobot and tell you the number it replies with.
2. In Settings›Channels, press "+ Add another user" and type their id into the new row.
3. Press "Save credentials".

To take someone off, press the "✕" next to their row, then "Save credentials". The "✕" only shows when there are two or more rows.

• The rows show your saved ids when you come back to Channels, so you edit the list rather than starting over. Saving replaces the stored list with what's in the rows.
• The owner can't be locked out by editing the rows; the owner is always allowed.
• You can't empty the list. If every row is blank when you save, the saved ids stay as they were.
• The token box starts empty each time. Leave it empty to keep your current bot.
• Switching to a different bot: paste the new bot's token and save. The owner doesn't change, so it stays the person who sent the first /start.

What the bot answers by itself

A few commands are handled by MyHermes before they reach your agent:

• /start sends the welcome message.
• /restart (or /reload-mcp) restarts your agent. The bot replies "Restarting your agent… it'll be back in about 30 seconds."
• /update replies "To update Hermes, head to your dashboard settings:" with a link to your settings. It doesn't update anything itself.

Where results arrive

• Scheduled tasks you create in the web chat send their results to your "home channel": the private chat between your bot and the first person on your allowed list (you, if you followed the steps above). MyHermes sets that up for you after you save your Telegram details.
• Scheduled tasks you create by messaging the bot report back to that same Telegram chat.
• Webhook replies go to your home channel too. (Until the home channel is set, they go to the private chat where the first /start was sent; if you followed the steps above, that's the same chat.)

Scheduled tasks covers the rest, and Webhooks covers webhooks.

When your plan's limits apply

• Running-time cap. When your agent reaches its plan's running-time cap, the bot says Hermes has been hard at work and is catching its breath, tells you when it'll be back at full speed, and says your message is saved. It is: the message is answered automatically once the window frees up. On Mini, the reply also points to Pro. Plans and credits explains the cap.
• After your plan ends, the bot replies that your subscription has ended, and your messages no longer reach your agent. See Billing.

If something goes wrong

• Channels never shows "connected as". MyHermes couldn't look up the bot with that token. Get a fresh token from @BotFather, paste it into "Bot token" and press "Save credentials".
• The card says your agent failed to start. Your details are saved, but they didn't reach your agent. Press "Update credentials again →", then "Save credentials" once more in a moment. If you added ids, they're already filled in and an empty token box keeps your saved bot; otherwise paste the token again.
• The bot says it doesn't recognise you and asks you to tap /start. The id saved under "Allowed Telegram users" doesn't match your Telegram id. Check your id with @userinfobot, fix the row in Settings›Channels and save; a correct id there always lets you in. If you'd already sent /start in a private chat and still get this reply, someone else sent /start to your bot before you did. They're its owner and can also message your agent. Tell us through "Get help" in the account menu (open it).
• The bot takes a while. A sleeping agent has to wake first. A short holding line such as "Let me think on that…" means your message arrived; the reply follows once the agent is up.
• The bot stopped answering after your plan ended. That's expected. Resubscribing brings it back; if you get a new agent, send /start to your bot again yourself (see Billing).

Common questions

Do I have to enter my id before saving?

No, but it's the more direct path. If you save only a token, the bot still works: your agent sets up the connection when it starts, and your first private /start makes you the owner and adds your id to the list.

I resubscribed and got a new agent. Do I need to redo Telegram?

Your bot, its token and your allowed ids carry over to the new agent, but the owner doesn't. Send /start to your bot yourself again, straight away, before anyone else does.

What's next

• Scheduled tasks: have Hermes send you things on a schedule.
• Morning briefing: a weekday brief delivered to this Telegram chat.
• Chat: the web chat, which talks to the same agent.