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Setup and Installation Guide

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

  • Python 3.11+ -- Download here
  • Telegram Bot Token -- Get one from @BotFather
  • Claude Authentication -- Choose one method below
  • For source installs: Poetry

2. Claude Authentication Setup

The bot uses the Claude Code Python SDK. Choose your authentication method:

Option A: CLI Authentication (Recommended)

Uses the SDK with your existing Claude CLI credentials.

# 1. Install Claude CLI (https://claude.ai/code)
# 2. Authenticate
claude auth login

# 3. Verify
claude auth status
# Should show: "You are authenticated"

# No ANTHROPIC_API_KEY needed — SDK uses CLI credentials

Option B: Direct API Key

Uses the SDK with a direct API key, no CLI auth needed.

# 1. Get your API key from https://console.anthropic.com/
# 2. Configure bot
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-your-key-here

3. Install the Bot

Choose your preferred installation method:

Option A: Install from a release tag (Recommended)

# Using uv (recommended — installs in an isolated environment)
uv tool install git+https://github.com/RichardAtCT/claude-code-telegram@v1.3.0

# Or using pip
pip install git+https://github.com/RichardAtCT/claude-code-telegram@v1.3.0

# Track the latest stable release
pip install git+https://github.com/RichardAtCT/claude-code-telegram@latest

Don't have uv? Install it with curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh.

Option B: From source (for development)

git clone https://github.com/RichardAtCT/claude-code-telegram.git
cd claude-code-telegram
make dev

Important: Always install from a tagged release, not main, for stability.

4. Configure Environment

cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Required Configuration:

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=1234567890:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11
TELEGRAM_BOT_USERNAME=your_bot_username
APPROVED_DIRECTORY=/path/to/your/projects
ALLOWED_USERS=123456789  # Your Telegram user ID

5. Get Your Telegram User ID

  1. Message @userinfobot on Telegram
  2. It will reply with your user ID number
  3. Add this number to your ALLOWED_USERS setting

6. Run the Bot

make run-debug    # Recommended for first run
make run          # Production

7. Test the Bot

  1. Find your bot on Telegram (search for your bot username)
  2. Send /start to begin
  3. Try asking Claude a question about your project
  4. Use /status to check session info

Agentic Platform Setup

The bot includes an event-driven platform for webhooks, scheduled jobs, and proactive notifications. All features are disabled by default.

Webhook API Server

Enable to receive external webhooks (GitHub, etc.) and route them through Claude:

ENABLE_API_SERVER=true
API_SERVER_PORT=8080

GitHub Webhook Setup

  1. Generate a webhook secret:

    openssl rand -hex 32

  2. Add to your .env:

    GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-generated-secret
NOTIFICATION_CHAT_IDS=123456789  # Your Telegram chat ID for notifications

  3. In your GitHub repository, go to Settings > Webhooks > Add webhook:

    • Payload URL: https://your-server:8080/webhooks/github
    • Content type: application/json
    • Secret: The secret you generated
    • Events: Choose which events to receive (push, pull_request, issues, etc.)

  4. Test with curl:

    curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/webhooks/github \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Event: ping" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Delivery: test-123" \
  -H "X-Hub-Signature-256: sha256=$(echo -n '{"zen":"test"}' | openssl dgst -sha256 -hmac 'your-secret' | awk '{print $2}')" \
  -d '{"zen":"test"}'

Generic Webhook Setup

For non-GitHub providers, use Bearer token authentication:

WEBHOOK_API_SECRET=your-api-secret

Send webhooks with:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/webhooks/custom \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-api-secret" \
  -H "X-Event-Type: deployment" \
  -H "X-Delivery-ID: unique-id-123" \
  -d '{"status": "success", "environment": "production"}'

Job Scheduler

Enable to run recurring Claude tasks on a cron schedule:

ENABLE_SCHEDULER=true
NOTIFICATION_CHAT_IDS=123456789  # Where to deliver results

Jobs are managed programmatically and persist in the SQLite database.

Voice Message Transcription

Enable voice message support with automatic transcription:

ENABLE_VOICE_MESSAGES=true

Choose your transcription provider:

Mistral Voxtral (default):

VOICE_PROVIDER=mistral
MISTRAL_API_KEY=your-mistral-api-key

OpenAI Whisper:

VOICE_PROVIDER=openai
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key

If you installed via pip/uv, make sure voice extras are installed:

pip install "claude-code-telegram[voice]"

Optionally override the transcription model with VOICE_TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL (defaults to voxtral-mini-latest for Mistral, whisper-1 for OpenAI).

Notification Recipients

Configure which Telegram chats receive proactive notifications from webhooks and scheduled jobs:

NOTIFICATION_CHAT_IDS=123456789,987654321

Advanced Configuration

Authentication Methods Comparison

Feature SDK + CLI Auth SDK + API Key
Performance Best Best
CLI Required Yes No
Streaming Yes Yes

Security Configuration

Directory Isolation

# Set to a specific project directory, not your home directory
APPROVED_DIRECTORY=/Users/yourname/projects

User Access Control

# Whitelist specific users (recommended)
ALLOWED_USERS=123456789,987654321

# Optional: Token-based authentication
ENABLE_TOKEN_AUTH=true
AUTH_TOKEN_SECRET=your-secret-key-here

Rate Limiting

RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS=10
RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW=60
RATE_LIMIT_BURST=20
CLAUDE_MAX_COST_PER_USER=10.0

Development Setup

DEBUG=true
DEVELOPMENT_MODE=true
LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
ENVIRONMENT=development
RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS=100
CLAUDE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=600

Running on a Remote Mac (SSH)

If you're running the bot on a remote Mac Mini (or any Mac accessed via SSH), Claude Code's OAuth tokens stored in the macOS keychain will be inaccessible because the keychain is locked in SSH sessions. This causes Claude invocations to fail silently or with authentication errors.

Quick Start: make run-remote

The simplest fix is to unlock the keychain before starting the bot:

make run-remote

This prompts for your keychain password, then starts the bot in a detached tmux session that persists after SSH disconnect. Manage the session with:

make remote-attach   # View logs
make remote-stop     # Kill the bot

Alternative: Unlock Keychain in Shell Profile

Add this to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile so the keychain unlocks automatically on SSH login:

if [ -n "$SSH_CONNECTION" ] && [ -z "$KEYCHAIN_UNLOCKED" ]; then
  security unlock-keychain ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db
  export KEYCHAIN_UNLOCKED=true
fi

Extend Keychain Lock Timeout

By default the keychain re-locks after a short idle period. Set it to 8 hours:

security set-keychain-settings -t 28800 ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db

Alternative: Use an API Key Instead

Bypass the keychain entirely by using a direct API key (Option B in the authentication section above). Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in your .env and the keychain is never consulted.

Troubleshooting

Bot doesn't respond

# Check your bot token
echo $TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN

# Verify user ID (message @userinfobot)
# Check bot logs
make run-debug

Claude authentication issues

SDK + CLI Auth:

claude auth status
# If not authenticated: claude auth login

SDK + API Key:

# Verify key starts with: sk-ant-api03-
echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

Permission errors

# Check approved directory exists and is accessible
ls -la /path/to/your/projects

Production Deployment

ENVIRONMENT=production
DEBUG=false
LOG_LEVEL=INFO
RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS=5
CLAUDE_MAX_COST_PER_USER=5.0
SESSION_TIMEOUT_HOURS=12
ENABLE_TELEMETRY=true

Getting Help