Talk to Your Agent on
WhatsApp, Telegram & More
You don't need a new app. OpenClaw plugs into the messaging apps you already use every day. Send a message, get results — from anywhere, on any device.
Your Agent, in Your Inbox
OpenClaw's Gateway system bridges your messaging app to the AI engine running on your machine. Every message you send becomes a task. Every result comes back as a reply.
One agent, every channel. The same OpenClaw instance powers all your connected channels simultaneously. A task you send on WhatsApp and a reply you get on Telegram are the same agent — your agent — working for you everywhere at once.
Message from anywhere
Send a task from your phone while commuting, get the answer before you arrive. OpenClaw runs on your computer at home; you just need your messaging app.
Natural language commands
No slash commands or special syntax required. Just write what you want in plain English — "Summarise my emails", "Book a meeting for tomorrow at 3pm", "Check my Shopify orders."
Agent sends you alerts too
It's a two-way channel. OpenClaw can push notifications to you — price drop alerts, CI build results, new orders, daily briefings — without you asking.
Private by default
Your messages go from your phone to your own machine — not through any third-party server. The agent only responds to your verified account or Telegram user ID.
Which Channel Is Right for You?
Every channel works for sending tasks and receiving replies. Here's how they differ so you can pick the right one for your setup.
| Channel | Setup difficulty | Works on mobile | Proactive alerts | File/image replies | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (needs Meta API) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Personal use, mobile-first | |
| ✈️ Telegram | Easy (free bot token) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Best all-round, recommended first choice |
| 🔧 Slack | Medium (workspace app) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Teams, work workflows |
| 🎮 Discord | Easy (bot token) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Communities, side projects |
| 💬 iMessage | Easy (Mac only) | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | Apple ecosystem users |
| 🌐 Web UI | None (built in) | Browser only | ✓ | ✓ | Getting started, desktop use |
Recommended for most people: Telegram. It's free, takes under 5 minutes to set up, works on every device, and supports images, files, and formatted text in replies. Start here if you're not sure.
✈️ Telegram Setup
From zero to sending tasks in under 5 minutes. You'll need the Telegram app and a free bot token from BotFather.
Telegram Bot Connection
⏱ ~5 minutesCreate your Telegram bot
Open Telegram and search for @BotFather. Send it the message /newbot, choose a name and username for your bot (e.g. MyOpenClawBot). BotFather will give you a bot token — copy it, you'll need it in step 3.
Find your Telegram user ID
Search for @userinfobot on Telegram and send it any message. It will reply with your numeric user ID (e.g. 123456789). OpenClaw uses this to make sure only you can control your agent.
Add your credentials to config.yaml
Open your OpenClaw config.yaml file (usually at ~/.openclaw/config.yaml) and add the gateway block:
gateway: telegram: true telegram_token: "7312456789:AAH_your_bot_token_here" telegram_allowed_users: [123456789] # your user ID
Restart OpenClaw
Stop and restart OpenClaw. You should see ✅ Telegram gateway connected in the console output. Now open Telegram, find your bot, and send it a message.
openclaw start # ✅ Telegram gateway connected (@MyOpenClawBot) # 🦞 OpenClaw is ready — send a message on Telegram to begin
Send your first task
Message your bot on Telegram with any natural language task. Try these to get started:
📧 5 unread emails
1. Invoice from Stripe — $142 due 25 Mar
2. GitHub: PR #44 merged by @teammate
3. Notion: Marcus commented on "Q2 Goals"
4. Shopify: New order #1082 — Nike Shoes × 2
5. Calendar: Meeting reminder for Fri 2pm
"Hi, thanks for the invoice. I'll arrange payment by Friday 28th March. Best, Conan"
Reply yes to confirm or edit it first.
📱 WhatsApp Setup
WhatsApp requires a free Meta developer account to generate a phone number and access token. It takes about 15 minutes but gives you a native WhatsApp experience.
Before you start: You need a Meta (Facebook) developer account and a phone number not already registered to WhatsApp. The Meta Cloud API is free for up to 1,000 conversations per month — more than enough for personal use.
WhatsApp Cloud API Connection
⏱ ~15 minutesCreate a Meta developer app
Go to developers.facebook.com, create a new app, and choose Business as the type. Add the WhatsApp product to your app. Meta will give you a temporary phone number to test with.
Get your access token and phone number ID
In the Meta dashboard, navigate to WhatsApp → API Setup. Copy the temporary access token and your Phone number ID. Also note your WhatsApp Business Account ID — you'll need all three.
Add your credentials to config.yaml
gateway: whatsapp: true whatsapp_token: "EAAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" whatsapp_phone_id: "123456789012345" whatsapp_allowed_numbers: ["+447911123456"] # your number
Set up the inbound webhook
OpenClaw starts a local webhook server on port 7800. Use ngrok or a similar tunnel to expose it so Meta can deliver incoming messages to your machine.
# Window 1: start OpenClaw openclaw start # Window 2: expose the webhook ngrok http 7800 # Copy the https://xxxx.ngrok.io URL # Paste it into Meta Dashboard → WhatsApp → Configuration → Webhook URL # Verify token: use the value in your config.yaml webhook_verify_token field
Send a test message
In the Meta dashboard, use the Send Message test to send a WhatsApp message to your own phone number. Once it arrives, reply from your phone — OpenClaw will respond.
#1082 — Nike Shoes × 2 — $189 — Processing
#1083 — Gym Bag — $65 — Fulfilled
#1084 — Water Bottle × 3 — $54 — Pending
Total revenue today: $308
Slack & Discord
Connect OpenClaw to your Slack workspace or Discord server — great for teams who want the whole group to interact with a shared agent.
Slack
TeamAdd OpenClaw as a Slack app to your workspace. Any team member can send tasks to the agent by messaging the bot directly or mentioning it in a channel.
- Responds in threads to keep channels clean
- Can post to specific channels for alerts
- Works with Slack's built-in file sharing
- Supports Slack's rich text formatting in replies
gateway: slack: true slack_bot_token: "xoxb-your-token" slack_signing_secret: "your-secret" slack_allowed_users: ["U0XXXXXXX"]
Discord
PopularCreate a Discord bot and invite it to your server. OpenClaw listens for messages in designated channels and responds like any other Discord bot.
- Works across all your Discord servers
- Can restrict to specific channels or roles
- Supports slash command shortcuts
- Fast — Discord bots have very low latency
gateway: discord: true discord_token: "your-discord-bot-token" discord_allowed_channels: [1234567890] discord_allowed_users: [987654321]
iMessage
Mac onlyOn macOS, OpenClaw can read and send iMessages directly through the Messages app. No extra accounts needed — it uses your existing Apple ID.
- No accounts or tokens to create
- Works with SMS fallback on non-iPhone devices
- Native macOS notifications
- Requires macOS 13+ and Full Disk Access permission
gateway: imessage: true imessage_allowed_numbers: ["+447911123456"] # Grant Full Disk Access in System Settings → Privacy
Run multiple channels at once. You can enable WhatsApp, Telegram, and Slack simultaneously in the same config.yaml. The same agent handles all three — so you can message it from your phone on WhatsApp while a teammate uses Slack.
Tasks You Can Send Right Now
Once your channel is connected, you can type anything. Here are the most popular tasks people send through their messaging apps.
Email management
"Summarise my last 10 emails"
"Reply to Marcus and say I'm free Thursday"
"Flag anything urgent from today"
Calendar & scheduling
"What do I have on tomorrow?"
"Book a 30-min call with Sarah next week"
"Clear my Wednesday afternoon"
Shopify & e-commerce
"How many orders came in today?"
"What's my revenue this week?"
"Alert me if any order goes unfulfilled for 24h"
Research & web
"Research the top 5 competitors for X"
"Summarise the article at this URL"
"Find the best price for MacBook Pro M4"
Reminders & alerts
"Remind me at 3pm to call the dentist"
"Alert me on WhatsApp if Bitcoin drops below $80k"
"Send me a Friday evening weekly summary"
Files & documents
"Summarise the PDF I sent you"
"Create a Google Doc draft from these bullet points"
"Convert this CSV into a summary report"
Get More Out of Your Channel
Use the /status command
Send /status to any connected channel to see what your agent is currently doing, what tasks are queued, and which skills are loaded.
Pause & resume your agent
Send /pause to stop your agent from running tasks (it will still receive messages). Send /resume to start again. Useful overnight or when travelling.
Send files as context
On all channels, you can send a PDF, image, or spreadsheet with your message. OpenClaw reads the attachment and uses it as context for your task.
Set up a morning briefing
Tell your agent once: "Every weekday at 8am, send me a summary of my emails, calendar, and Shopify orders on WhatsApp." It runs automatically from then on.
Give your agent a nickname
Name your Telegram bot or Slack app something memorable — Claw, Assistant, Rex. It makes the interaction feel more natural and helps you remember which bot is which.
Lock it to your user ID
Always set telegram_allowed_users or whatsapp_allowed_numbers in your config. This prevents anyone else from controlling your agent if they discover the bot name.
Frequently Asked Questions
config.yaml. Your messages travel from your phone to the messaging platform's servers, then to your own machine — no third-party has access. We recommend reading the Security Guide before connecting any sensitive capabilities.
config.yaml — Telegram, WhatsApp, and Slack can all run simultaneously. The same agent processes tasks from all three. If you send a task from WhatsApp and then check in on Telegram, you're talking to the same agent with the same memory and context.
whisper or voice skill is installed from ClawHub. With it enabled, you can send a voice note on WhatsApp and OpenClaw will transcribe it and execute the task as if you had typed it.