Summary

Telegram inbound messages are received by the polling provider (visible in trace logs as gateway/channels/telegram/raw-update) but are never dispatched to any agent session. No message queued or message processed log entry is created for Telegram-origin messages. Outbound messages via the message tool work correctly.

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure Telegram channel with bot token and plugins.entries.telegram.enabled: true
2. Start gateway (openclaw gateway start)
3. Verify bot is polling: log shows [default] starting provider
4. Send a DM to the bot from Telegram
5. Observe trace logs — raw update appears but no dispatch/queue entry follows

Expected behavior

Telegram DM messages should be dispatched to a session and the agent should respond via Telegram.

Actual behavior

The raw Telegram update is received and logged:

gateway/channels/telegram/raw-update: telegram update: {"update_id":...,"message":{"from":{"id":"<redacted>"},"chat":{"type":"private"},"text":"Szia"}}

But no subsequent dispatch occurs. There is no message queued with channel=telegram, no message processed, and no error. The gap between the raw update and the next log entry is 20-30 seconds.

Outbound messages via the message tool work fine.

OpenClaw version

2026.2.15

Operating system

macOS 26.3 (arm64)

Install method

pnpm (homebrew node)

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

• Affected: All Telegram DM users — no inbound messages reach the agent
• Severity: Critical (Telegram channel completely non-functional for inbound)
• Frequency: 100% reproducible
• Consequence: Agent cannot receive or respond to any Telegram messages

Additional information

Tried (no effect):

• streamMode: partial → off
• dmScope: per-channel-peer → main
• plugins.entries.telegram.enabled: false — stops polling entirely, confirming plugin is required
• Multiple gateway restarts
• openclaw doctor reports Telegram: ok

Possibly related: #19001, #19047