How to add an AI help bot to your Telegram channel

20 October 2026

What you need

• A Telegram account that owns or runs the channel or group.
• The text your members keep asking about: a pinned post, rules, a price list, or a few questions and answers.
• About two minutes. No code, no website, no new app.

1. Open @HelpCenterBot and create the bot

Open @HelpCenterBot, tap Start, then ➕ Create my help bot.

2. Pick your channel or group

Tap 📢 My channel or 👥 My group. The list only shows chats you run. The bot takes its name from your community, so members recognise it. You can also tap Skip and name it yourself.

3. Confirm the new bot

Tap 🤖 Create the bot. Telegram opens a screen with the bot's name and username already filled in; just confirm. If the username is taken, change it a little, for example by adding a number.

On desktop or web Telegram this screen sometimes doesn't open. Then tap 🔑 Use @BotFather instead:

1. Open @BotFather and send /newbot.
2. Choose a name, then a username that ends in "bot".
3. BotFather replies with a token that looks like 123456789:AAH…. Copy it and send it to @HelpCenterBot.

@HelpCenterBot deletes your message with the token right away and stores the token encrypted. Use a new bot for this, because connecting it replaces the bot's current setup.

4. Open your new bot and tap Start

This last step lets your bot send you the questions it can't answer. If you skip it, @HelpCenterBot reminds you.

5. Give it your FAQ

In @HelpCenterBot open 🤖 My bots, pick your bot and tap 📝 FAQ. You have three ways to fill it:

• 📨 Import: forward your pinned post, rules or price list from your channel, paste text, or send a .txt or .docx file. Then tap 📝 Make my FAQ. HelpCenter drafts the questions and answers, and you check the prices, links and contacts before saving.
• 📋 Templates: ready-made FAQs for Selling ads in my channel and Shop / orders. Copy, fill in the [brackets], send back.
• Write it yourself as questions and answers, in any language.

Until there's a FAQ, the bot tells members it's still being set up. Our guide on writing a FAQ a bot can answer from shows what works best.

6. Test it yourself

Open your bot and ask it a question, the way a member would. Anything you type in your own bot is answered like a member's question, so you see exactly what members will get. Try asking in another language too.

7. Tell your members

Tap 📣 Tell your members. You get a ready post with an Ask a question button. Forward it to your channel or group and pin it. Adding the bot's link to your channel description helps too.

Optional: tap 🖼 Profile photo to give the bot your channel's photo.

What happens next

When a member asks something your FAQ covers, the bot answers in seconds, in the member's language. When it doesn't know, it tells the member the question was passed on, and you get it in your bot's chat. Reply to that message and the member gets your answer. Tap Add to FAQ, and the bot tests itself on that question and shows you what members will get next time.

📊 Stats shows how many questions came in, how many the bot answered, and which languages members use.

If something doesn't work

Nothing opens when I tap Create the bot

Your Telegram app may not support one-tap creation yet. Update it, try on your phone, or use the @BotFather route in step 3.

The bot says it's still being set up

It has no FAQ yet. Add one in 📝 FAQ.

I don't receive questions

Open your help bot and tap Start (step 4). Bots can't message you until you've started them.

Questions