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Telegram Group Settings

This guide covers the Channel Settings panel for your Telegram bot — how to configure DM access, group access, mentions, and the allowlist. It also covers deeper group-specific concepts like Privacy Mode and forum topics.

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Overview

Once your Telegram bot is connected (see Connect Telegram), you can fine-tune its behavior under Settings → Channels → Telegram → Channel Settings.

Control is split across two axes:

  1. DM Policy — who can direct-message your bot

  2. Group Policy — which groups your bot responds in, and who within them can trigger it

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Channel Settings Panel

Expand Channel Settings under the Telegram section of your dashboard to reveal all configuration options.

Telegram Channel Settings panel in Genie dashboard

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Enabled

A master toggle. When off, the bot will not respond to any message — DMs or groups. Turn this off to temporarily disable the channel without disconnecting the bot.

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DM Policy

Controls who can direct-message the bot. Four options:

  • Pairing — require approval code (default) — users must pair by entering an approval code before the bot responds to them

  • Open — anyone can DM — any Telegram user can DM the bot (use carefully; the bot has full access to your server)

  • Allowlist — pre-approved only — only user IDs in the Allowlist can DM the bot

  • Disabled — no DMs — the bot ignores all direct messages

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Group Policy

Controls which groups the bot responds in. Three options:

  • Open — all chats (mention-gated) — the bot responds in any group it is added to (still respects Require Mention)

  • Allowlist — pre-approved chats (default) — the bot only responds in chats whose IDs are in the Allowed Chats list

  • Disabled — no groups — the bot ignores all group messages

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Allowed Chats

When Group Policy is set to Allowlist, add the group chat IDs you want the bot to respond in.

  • Telegram group chat IDs are negative numbers, e.g. -1001234567890

  • Paste the ID into the Chat ID input and click Add chat

  • To find a group's chat ID, add the bot to the group — the pairing request in your Genie settings will display the group ID

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Require Mention

By default, the bot only responds when @mentioned in groups. This keeps noise down in busy channels.

  • On (default) — the bot ignores group messages unless tagged with @botusername

  • Off — the bot responds to all messages in the group (requires Privacy Mode to be disabled — see below)

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Allowlist (User IDs)

A list of numeric Telegram user IDs that the bot treats as pre-approved. Used when DM Policy is set to Allowlist.

  • Enter a numeric Telegram user ID (e.g. 1032102740) into the input and click Add user

  • Use Remove next to an existing ID to revoke access

  • Telegram usernames (@handles) are not accepted here — you must use the numeric user ID

How to find a Telegram user ID: search for @userinfobotarrow-up-right or @getidsbotarrow-up-right in Telegram and start a chat — the bot replies with your numeric user ID.

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Adding the Bot to a Group

Open the Telegram group info → Add Members → search for your bot's username.

The bot will not respond in the group until:

  1. The Group Policy allows it (Open, or Allowlist with the group's chat ID added), and

  2. Require Mention is satisfied (either mention the bot, or turn it off)

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Privacy Mode

Telegram's Privacy Mode is enabled by default on all bots. It limits which group messages reach the bot.

With Privacy Mode enabled, the bot only sees:

  • Messages where it is @mentioned

  • Commands (messages starting with /)

  • Replies to its own messages

If you want the bot to see all messages in a group (required when Require Mention is off), you have two options:

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Option A: Disable Privacy Mode via BotFather

  1. Open @BotFatherarrow-up-right in Telegram

  2. Send /setprivacy

  3. Select your bot

  4. Choose Disable

After changing this setting, remove and re-add the bot to the group for the change to take effect.

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Option B: Make the Bot a Group Administrator

Promote the bot to administrator in the group settings. Admin status grants full message visibility regardless of Privacy Mode — no BotFather changes needed.

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Forum Supergroups (Topics)

For forum-enabled supergroups, each topic can have its own configuration:

  • Require Mention — override the group-level setting per topic

  • Allowed senders — restrict who can use the bot in specific topics

Topic settings inherit from the parent group unless explicitly overridden. The General topic (topic ID 1) uses the group's default configuration.

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Tips

  • Start with Pairing DM Policy to control who can DM your bot

  • Use numeric Telegram user IDs (not @usernames) in the Allowlist — find yours by messaging @userinfobotarrow-up-right or @getidsbotarrow-up-right

  • Use Allowlist Group Policy and add chat IDs explicitly for shared team groups

  • Turn on Require Mention in busy groups to reduce noise

  • Make the bot an admin if you want it to respond to all messages without @mentions

  • Each user who DMs the bot under Pairing policy needs to complete the pairing flow individually

  • All interactions consume credits from the Genie account that connected the bot

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