How to Automate Telegram

Telegram automates through its Bot API, which will post to a group or a channel on a schedule or on command. What a bot cannot do is find anything out. Getting the number onto the phone still needs something to read the system holding it first.

Telegram reaches the people who are not at a desk

Telegram is a free messaging app with groups, channels and bots, and for a lot of businesses it is the quickest way to reach someone who is nowhere near a computer. Drivers, engineers, site managers, kitchen staff and shop owners all have it open already.

It matters most where email is not really read and a desktop chat tool would never get installed. A crew of eight has a group. The owner has a channel where the day's numbers get posted. A supplier set up a bot that nobody ever configured properly.

Delivery is the appeal. A message lands on a phone in a pocket in about a second, costs nothing, and needs no licence and no company login. For a small operator that is often the only channel that genuinely works.

The person on site finds out last

The gap is never the sending. It is the knowing.

Someone at a desk checks whether the payment cleared, then types it into the group. Someone opens the job system to see which visits are booked for tomorrow and pastes the list in at nine at night. Someone notices at four in the afternoon that a delivery never left, four hours after the courier site said exactly that.

The information already exists. It is sitting behind a login on a screen nobody had open, waiting for a person to go and look before anyone else can be told.

By the time the group is told, the fact is often hours old, and the person it mattered to has already driven to the wrong place or waited for a part that was never coming.

The telegram.org homepage, the app these three jobs run in. Telegram
Tomorrow's list, tonight The next day's jobs read out of the scheduling system and posted to the crew group before anyone goes to bed.
Only what changed The deliveries that stopped moving and the payments that failed, rather than a full report nobody scrolls through.
Reaches people without a desk Drivers, engineers and site staff get the same facts as the office, on the phone already in their pocket.

A bot only says what it is handed

Telegram gives you real building blocks, and they are more capable than most people use.

The Bot API will post into a group or a channel on demand, run scheduled messages, offer buttons and keyboards, and take commands from members. Channels broadcast to any number of subscribers. A group can be quietly automated by a bot nobody has to think about.

What a bot cannot do is find anything out. It is a mouth, not a pair of eyes. Something has to hand it the figure, and that something is either a developer wiring up an API, assuming the system you care about even has one, or a person reading a screen and typing.

For most small operators it is the second, which is why so many of these groups are a stream of forwarded screenshots.

So the bot ends up as a megaphone for whatever a human already went and read, which is useful, but it is not automation.

The group can carry the day's facts

The posting has never been the problem. The reading in front of it is, and once a browser does that reading the group changes character.

Tomorrow's jobs, posted at six the evening before, read out of the scheduling system the office uses. The payments that failed overnight, named. The three deliveries that have not moved since yesterday, checked on the courier site by reference number. The stock lines that will not last the week.

It works the same way for the things people ask about all day. Whether the part arrived. Whether the invoice got paid. Whether the customer replied. Whether tomorrow is still going ahead.

Two things are worth deciding early. Post exceptions rather than everything, because a group that pings all day gets muted and then nobody sees the one message that mattered. And keep what goes to the crew separate from what goes to a customer: the crew group can run on its own, a message to a client should not.

Something has to go and look first

A bot will happily post the figure. Getting the figure is the part that still involves a person and a browser tab.

WebRun is an AI agent that works a real Chrome browser, signed in as you. It opens the scheduling system, the bank, the courier site or the supplier portal, reads what is on the screen, and hands the result to your bot to post into the group.

It runs on your schedule in your own private environment, and you can watch a run and stop it mid-way. Anything that would reach a customer is drafted and waits.

The workflows below are already built, and each shows exactly what it opens.

Questions people ask

Do I need a developer to set up a bot?

No. Creating a bot is a short conversation with BotFather inside Telegram and takes a couple of minutes. The part that normally needs a developer, getting real data to the bot, is what the workflow handles.

Can it message customers as well as staff?

It can, and that is the case to be careful with. Messages to your own crew group run on their own. Anything going to a customer is set up to draft and wait for a person to approve.

What if the group ends up too noisy?

Post exceptions rather than everything. Each workflow decides what is worth saying, so the group speaks when a delivery stalls or a payment fails, and stays quiet the rest of the time.

1,818 ready-made Telegram workflows

Each one names the apps it touches and the exact steps it takes. Open one to read what it will do, then turn it on.

Automated ART19 Podcast Download Reports
Every Monday, WebRun pulls last week's ART19 download figures by episode, sends you the summary on Telegram, and leaves a Gmail draft of the report ready for your sponsor or client.
ART19TelegramGmail
Automated Arctic Wolf Risk Scorecard
Every Monday, WebRun pulls your open Arctic Wolf findings and risk items, logs the week's numbers in Airtable, and sends the scorecard to Telegram.
Arctic WolfAirtableTelegram
Automated Aramex Delayed Shipment Alerts
Twice a day, WebRun tracks your open Aramex shipments, posts the ones stuck or held to your Telegram operations channel, and sends the account manager a WhatsApp list with a drafted customer update.
AramexWhatsAppTelegram
Automated Aqua Mail Unanswered Email Tracking
Every morning, WebRun scans your Aqua Mail inbox for messages nobody has answered, logs each one in a Google Sheet with its waiting time, and sends you the overdue list on Telegram.
Aqua MailGoogle SheetsTelegram
Automated Apple TV Watchlist Digest
Every Friday, WebRun reads your Apple TV Up Next queue and watchlist, posts the weekend line-up to Telegram, and texts you on the night a title you follow drops.
Apple TVTelegramTwilio
Automated Any.do Overdue Task Sweep
Every Friday, WebRun sweeps Any.do for tasks that blew past their due date, logs the whole backlog in a Google Sheet, and posts the worst offenders to Telegram for the weekly clean-up.
Any.doGoogle SheetsTelegram
Automated Ansarada Q&A Chase Lists
Twice a day, WebRun checks Ansarada for buyer questions past their answer deadline, posts the chase list to Microsoft Teams, and escalates the oldest ones on Telegram.
AnsaradaMicrosoft TeamsTelegram
Automated Andela Engagement Tracking
Every Monday, WebRun reads your active Andela engagements, records each end date in Airtable, and pings Telegram about the ones running out in the next 30 days.
AndelaAirtableTelegram
Automated Vendor Central PO and Chargeback Alerts
Every morning, WebRun reads your new Amazon purchase orders, open chargebacks and unavailable items, posts the priorities to Slack, and alerts Telegram when a deadline is today.
Amazon Vendor CentralSlackTelegram
Automated Allegro Unshipped Order Alerts
Every morning, WebRun checks Allegro for paid orders with no dispatch yet, writes the backlog into Notion, and pings your Telegram when an order is past your shipping promise.
AllegroTelegramNotion
Automated Alipay Settlement Reconciliation
Every morning, WebRun reads your Alipay transaction and settlement totals for yesterday, posts the reconciliation to Slack, and messages you on Telegram when the numbers do not line up.
AlipaySlackTelegram
Automated Alibaba Late Shipment Alerts
Every morning, WebRun checks your Alibaba orders, works out which are past their promised ship date or still unshipped, posts the exceptions to Microsoft Teams, and alerts you on Telegram.
AlibabaMicrosoft TeamsTelegram
Automated Akaunting Bill Due Reports
Every Monday, WebRun reads the bills due in Akaunting, posts a payment run list to Slack, and sends a Telegram alert for anything due in the next two days or already late.
AkauntingSlackTelegram
Automated Airtel Bill and Usage Tracking
Every month, WebRun opens your Airtel account, reads the bill, plan, and usage on each connection, logs them in Airtable, and sends the due dates and overages to Telegram.
AirtelAirtableTelegram
Automated Aircall Daily Call Reporting
Every morning, WebRun reads yesterday's Aircall activity, writes the volume, answer rate, and wait times into Google Sheets, and sends the headline numbers to Telegram.
AircallGoogle SheetsTelegram
Automated Airbyte Usage Reporting
Every Monday, WebRun reads the usage Airbyte reports for each connection, posts a ranked burn report to Telegram, and texts you when the month is on track to run past your budget.
AirbyteTwilioTelegram
Automated Affirm Payout Reconciliation
Every morning, WebRun reads yesterday's Affirm settlements, refunds, and fees, posts the reconciliation to Microsoft Teams, and pings Telegram when a payout does not match.
AffirmTelegramMicrosoft Teams
Automated Adzuna Job Listing Export
Every morning, WebRun runs your saved Adzuna searches, appends every new listing to a Google Sheet with its title, employer, location, and salary, and posts the day's count to Telegram.
AdzunaGoogle SheetsTelegram
Automated ADP New Hire Setup Checks
Every morning, WebRun checks new ADP hires for missing tax forms, bank details and pay assignments, pings you on Telegram, and drafts the chase emails in Gmail.
ADPTelegramGmail
Automated Photoshop Design Change Digest
Every Monday, WebRun reviews which Photoshop cloud documents changed in the past week, posts a digest with links to Slack, and pings the art director on Telegram.
Adobe PhotoshopSlackTelegram
Automated Adobe Connect Attendance Records
After each training day, WebRun pulls the Adobe Connect attendance report, writes every attendee into Airtable, and posts the no-show list to Telegram.
Adobe ConnectAirtableTelegram
Automated Acrobat E-Signature Chasing
Every morning, WebRun checks which Adobe Acrobat agreements are still unsigned, queues a reminder for each one for you to approve, posts the chase list to Slack, and pings Telegram about anything badly overdue.
Adobe AcrobatSlackTelegram
Automated Acronis Storage Quota Reporting
Every Monday, WebRun reads backup storage usage per customer in the Acronis console, sends the weekly report to Telegram, and messages you on WhatsApp when a quota is nearly full.
AcronisWhatsAppTelegram
Automated Acquire Support Shift Handover
At the end of each day, WebRun opens Acquire, summarises every open conversation and who is still waiting, posts the handover note to Microsoft Teams, and flags the longest waits on Telegram.
AcquireMicrosoft TeamsTelegram

Want one of these running on your own Telegram?

Show WebRun the process once and it will run it on schedule, in your own private browser environment.