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Ayyaz Zafar
Ayyaz Zafar

Posted on • Originally published at ayyaztech.com

Claude Code Channels: Control Your AI Agent from Telegram (Complete Setup Guide)

#claudecode #ai #telegram #automation

Control Claude Code from Your Phone via Telegram

What if you could message your AI coding agent from your phone and have it build things on your computer — even when you're not at your desk? That's exactly what Claude Code Channels does with Telegram.

In this guide, I walk you through setting up a Telegram bot that connects directly to Claude Code. You send a message, Claude does the work, and sends the result right back to your Telegram — including screenshots of what it built.

If you saw my Discord version of this setup, this is the Telegram companion.

What You Need

  • Claude Code installed and working
  • A Telegram account
  • Terminal access

Step 1: Create a Telegram Bot with BotFather

Open Telegram and search for @botfather:

  1. Click Start
  2. Type /newbot
  3. Enter a display name and a username ending in "bot"
  4. Copy the bot token BotFather gives you

Step 2: Install the Telegram Plugin 

claude update
claude plugin install @anthropic/channel-telegram
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Choose global scope. If you get "plugin not found":

claude marketplace refresh
# or first-time setup:
claude marketplace install @anthropic/official
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Then reload and restart your Claude Code session (important!):

claude plugin reload
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Step 3: Configure and Pair 

/telegram:configure   # paste your bot token
claude --channel telegram   # start listening
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In Telegram: message your bot → get a 6-character pairing code → enter it in the terminal → approve.

Step 4: Lock Down Access 

/telegram:access
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Change DM policy from pairing to allow-list. Only approved senders can now interact with your bot.

Live Demo

I asked Claude Code from Telegram to build a landing page. It created the HTML, opened it in my browser, took a screenshot, and sent it back to Telegram. All remotely.

Unattended Mode

For fully remote control without permission prompts:

claude --channel telegram --dangerously-skip-permissions
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Only use in trusted environments. This bypasses all safety prompts.

Use Cases

  • Build web pages and get screenshots on your phone
  • Organize files and folders remotely
  • Get YouTube transcript summaries on the go
  • Run development tasks from anywhere

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