Summary

When running Clawdbot on Telegram in a group, the bot does not receive updates for messages authored by other bots in the same group — even if:

• Clawdbot is a group admin, and/or
• privacy mode is disabled.

This is surprising if you expect Clawdbot to “see everything” in group mode for context, routing, or triggers that depend on another bot’s output.

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure Clawdbot Telegram provider and add it to a Telegram group.
2. Ensure the right privacy settings on botfather so bot sees all messages.
3. Add any other bot (Bot X) to the same group.
4. Have Bot X send a normal message to the group (or have Clawdbot send a message that includes @BotX).

Expected behavior

Clawdbot should receive updates for all group messages (including those sent by other bots) when configured as admin / privacy disabled, so it can:

• include those messages in context/history,
• react to or route based on other bots’ output,
• support “bot-to-bot” workflows inside a group (useful for multi-instance clawdbot workflows)

Actual behavior

Clawdbot does not receive updates for messages sent by other bots in the group. Mentions like @BotX do not cause Bot X (or Clawdbot) to receive anything special if the sender is a bot.

Root cause (Telegram Bot API limitation)

Telegram’s Bot API intentionally does not deliver messages sent by bots to other bots (to prevent feedback loops).
This is documented in Telegram’s Bots FAQ:

“bots will not be able to see messages from other bots regardless of mode.”

And also:

“Bot admins and bots with privacy mode disabled will receive all messages except messages sent by other bots.”

So this behavior is upstream and expected on Telegram Bot API.

Impact on Clawdbot

• Group context/history in Telegram is incomplete if the group includes other bots.
• Any planned workflow like “Bot A posts → Clawdbot reads it → Clawdbot acts” won’t work on Telegram Bot API.
• The current Telegram provider docs mention disabling privacy mode / admin for groups, but don’t explicitly warn that other bots’ messages are never visible via Bot API.

Proposed changes

1. Docs: Add an explicit note under Telegram provider docs (Setup/Troubleshooting/Limitations):
   • “Telegram Bot API does not deliver messages from other bots; Clawdbot cannot read other bots’ messages in groups.”
   • Mention that @otherbot text is just text — it won’t trigger delivery to other bots.
2. UX / Logging (optional):
   • If feasible, add a troubleshooting hint when users report missing messages in Telegram groups: check privacy mode, and note the bot-to-bot limitation.
3. Possible Future Feature :
   • Even if a clawdbot instance doesn't get to talk to other bots - there should be various ways to make clawdbot instance bot <> clawdbot instance bot work

Workarounds

• Out-of-band relay: If you control both systems, have Bot A notify Bot B via your backend (HTTP call, queue/pubsub, DB) instead of relying on Telegram group messages.
• Use MTProto (client API) as a user: If you truly need “read everything in the group like a normal account,” run a Telegram client integration via MTProto (e.g., Telethon / TDLib) logged in as a user account (sometimes called a “userbot”). This can see the full chat stream because it’s acting as a user client rather than Bot API. (Note: operational/security tradeoffs apply since it uses a real user account/phone login.)

References

• Telegram Bots FAQ — “Why doesn't my bot see messages from other bots?” + “What messages will my bot get?”
  https://core.telegram.org/bots/faq
• Telegram Bot Features — Privacy Mode (background on group message visibility)
  https://core.telegram.org/bots/features#privacy-mode
• Clawdbot Telegram provider docs (Bot API / grammY)
  https://docs.clawd.bot/providers/telegram
• Stack Overflow discussion confirming behavior (links back to Telegram docs)
  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53016170/telegram-bot-receiving-commands-from-other-bot
• node-telegram-bot-api issue mentioning the same “except messages sent by other bots” behavior
  how to detect a message that have been sent via a bot? yagop/node-telegram-bot-api#421
• Telethon docs — Bot API vs MTProto (MTProto clients can log in as user/bot and talk directly to Telegram API)
  https://docs.telethon.dev/en/stable/concepts/botapi-vs-mtproto.html