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This guide walks you through building a fully functional Telegram AI bot using OpenClaw and the Dappier skill. By the end, you’ll have a personal AI assistant running in Telegram that can answer real-time questions — from live stock prices and sports scores to breaking news and weather — all powered by Dappier’s verified data APIs. In this guide, you’ll work with:
  • OpenClaw: A local-first, open-source AI agent framework that connects to messaging platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, and Discord. It runs on your own machine and acts as a persistent, autonomous AI assistant.
  • Dappier: A platform that connects LLMs and agentic AI agents to real-time, rights-cleared data from trusted sources. It delivers verified, prompt-ready information across domains like web search, finance, news, sports, and more.
  • Telegram Bot API: Telegram’s official interface for building bots. OpenClaw connects to it automatically during setup — no server or webhook configuration required.

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Live Demo

Before building your own, try the finished result. Chat with @amaan_assistant_bot on Telegram to see exactly what you’ll be building in this guide — powered by OpenClaw and Dappier.

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Step 1 — Create Your Telegram Bot with BotFather

Before running the installer, you’ll need a Telegram bot token. BotFather is Telegram’s official tool for creating and managing bots.
  1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather (verify the handle is exactly @BotFather).
  2. Send /newbot to start the creation flow.
  3. Enter a display name for your bot (e.g. Dappier Assistant).
  4. Enter a username — it must end with _bot (e.g. dappier_assistant_bot).
  5. BotFather will confirm creation and send you a bot token that looks like:
123456789:AABBccDDeeFFggHHiiJJkkLLmmNNoo
Save this token — the onboarding wizard will ask for it in the next step.
Tip: While in BotFather, optionally run /setprivacy → Disable if you plan to add your bot to group chats. This allows the bot to see all group messages, not just those that mention it directly.

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Step 2 — Run the OpenClaw Installer

Run this single command in your terminal. It installs Node.js (if needed), installs OpenClaw globally, and immediately launches the interactive onboarding wizard: 
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
Windows users: use the PowerShell equivalent: 
iwr -useb https://openclaw.ai/install.ps1 | iex
The installer handles the following automatically:
  • Detects your OS (macOS, Linux, or WSL)
  • Installs Homebrew on macOS if needed
  • Installs Node.js 22+ if not already present
  • Installs OpenClaw globally via npm
  • Launches openclaw onboard — the interactive setup wizard

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Step 3 — Complete the Onboarding Wizard

Once the installer finishes, the openclaw onboard wizard launches automatically in your terminal. It guides you through three setup areas in sequence.

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3a — Choose your AI model

The wizard will ask you to select an LLM provider and enter your API key. OpenClaw supports Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, DeepSeek, and others. Select your preferred provider and paste your API key when prompted. For the best experience, Anthropic Claude Opus or Sonnet is recommended.

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3b — Connect your Telegram channel

When the wizard asks which messaging channel to connect, select Telegram (Bot API). Paste the bot token you received from BotFather in Step 1. The wizard will then ask how to handle incoming DMs:
OptionDescription
pairingNew users must send a pairing code you approve (recommended)
allowlistOnly specific user IDs you list can message the bot
openAnyone can message the bot — no restrictions
Select pairing for a personal assistant. The gateway will start automatically.

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3b.1 — Approve your pairing code

Once the gateway is running, you need to authorize yourself as a trusted user. This is a one-time step.
  1. Open Telegram and search for your bot by its username (e.g. @dappier_assistant_bot).
  2. Send any message — for example /start.
  3. The bot will reply with a pairing code that looks like:
Your pairing code: ABCD1234
  1. Back in your terminal, approve the code:
# See all pending pairing requests
openclaw pairing list telegram

# Approve your specific code
openclaw pairing approve telegram ABCD1234
  1. You will see a confirmation in your terminal and the bot will reply in Telegram confirming access is granted. You can now chat with your bot freely.
Note: Pairing codes expire after 1 hour. If yours expired, simply send another message to the bot to trigger a new code, then approve it again.
Want to skip pairing for future users? Switch to allowlist mode in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json and add your numeric Telegram user ID: 
{
	"channels": {
		"telegram": {
			"dmPolicy": "allowlist",
			"allowFrom": ["YOUR_NUMERIC_TELEGRAM_USER_ID"]
		}
	}
}
To find your numeric user ID, DM @userinfobot on Telegram — it will reply instantly with your ID. Then run openclaw restart for the change to take effect.

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3c — Install skills from ClawHub

The wizard will prompt you to install skills from ClawHub. When it does, search for and install the Dappier skill: 
dappier-search
Or install it at any time after onboarding using the ClawHub CLI: 
clawhub install dappier-search
You can also browse and install it directly from the marketplace: 👉 clawhub.ai/amaan-ai20/dappier-search

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Step 4 — Set Your Dappier API Key

Generate a free API key from your Dappier API dashboard. You can provide it in one of two ways: Option 1 — Export in your shell (current session only): 
export DAPPIER_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY_HERE"
Option 2 — Add it permanently to your OpenClaw environment file: Add the following line to ~/.openclaw/.env: 
DAPPIER_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY_HERE"
OpenClaw automatically loads environment variables from this file at startup, so your key will be available to all skills — including dappier-search — without needing to export it each session.

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Step 5 — Set the Tools Profile

The Dappier skill executes Node.js scripts on your local machine. Ensure your tools profile is set to full in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json so all scripts run without restriction: 
{
	"tools": {
		"profile": "full"
	}
}
Then restart the gateway for the change to take effect: 
openclaw restart

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Step 6 — Test Your Bot in Telegram

Open Telegram, find your bot by username, and send it a message. Try these examples to confirm each Dappier tool is working: Real-time web search: 
What is the weather in Mumbai today?
Stock market data: 
What is the current price of AAPL?
Sports news: 
Latest NBA trade rumors
Benzinga financial news: 
Latest news on NVDA
Lifestyle news: 
Top wellness trends this week
Research papers: 
Recent arXiv papers on large language models
Solar & roof analysis: 
Solar potential for 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA
Your bot will query the appropriate Dappier tool and reply with live, verified data directly inside your Telegram chat.

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Troubleshooting

Bot does not respond:
  • Confirm the gateway is running: openclaw gateway
  • Check logs in real time: openclaw logs --follow
  • Verify your botToken is correct in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
access not configured message: Your Telegram account is not yet authorized. During onboarding, the wizard walks you through approving your own pairing code. If you missed this step, run: 
openclaw pairing list telegram
openclaw pairing approve telegram <CODE>
Pairing codes expire after 1 hour. Re-send a message to your bot to trigger a new code.
Dappier skill not found or not running:
  • Confirm installation: clawhub list
  • Reinstall: clawhub install dappier-search
  • Confirm DAPPIER_API_KEY is set: echo $DAPPIER_API_KEY
setMyCommands failed error: Outbound DNS or HTTPS to api.telegram.org is blocked. Check your firewall or network settings. On VPS hosts, you may need to route Telegram API calls through a proxy: 
{
	"channels": {
		"telegram": {
			"proxy": "socks5://user:pass@proxy-host:1080"
		}
	}
}
Bot not seeing group messages: Run /setprivacy in BotFather and select Disable, then remove and re-add the bot to the group. This is required for the bot to receive messages it is not directly mentioned in.

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Conclusion

You now have a fully working Telegram AI bot powered by OpenClaw and Dappier — set up with a single command and a guided onboarding wizard. Your bot can answer real-time questions across finance, sports, news, academia, and more directly inside Telegram, grounded in live, verified data. From here you can:
  • Add more skills from ClawHub to extend your bot’s capabilities
  • Add your bot to group chats by adding it to a Telegram group and configuring channels.telegram.groups in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
  • Enable streaming replies with channels.telegram.streaming: "partial" for a live, typing-style response experience in chat
Install the Dappier skill: 
clawhub install dappier-search
Dappier skill on ClawHub: 👉 clawhub.ai/amaan-ai20/dappier-search Official OpenClaw Telegram docs: 👉 docs.openclaw.ai/channels/telegram