--- name: telegram-compose description: | Format and deliver rich Telegram messages with HTML formatting via direct Telegram API. Auto-invoked by the main session for substantive Telegram output — no other skills need to call it. Decision rule: If your Telegram reply is >3 lines or contains structured data (lists, stats, sections, reports), spawn this as a Haiku sub-agent to format and send. Short replies (<3 lines) go directly via OpenClaw message tool. Handles: research summaries, alerts, status updates, reports, briefings, notifications — anything with visual hierarchy. metadata: | {"openclaw":{ "os": ["darwin", "linux"], "requires": { "binaries": ["jq", "curl"], "config": ["channels.telegram.accounts..botToken"] }, "credentials": "Reads Telegram bot token from OpenClaw config file (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json or ~/.openclaw/clawdbot.json). The specific account name must be provided by the caller — the skill does not auto-select accounts.", "network": ["api.telegram.org"] }} model-preference: claude-haiku-4-5 subagent: true allowed-tools: exec, Read ---

Telegram Compose

Format and deliver rich, scannable Telegram messages via direct API with HTML formatting.

How This Skill Gets Used

This skill is auto-invoked by the main session agent. No other skills need to know about it.

Decision Rule (for the main session agent)

Before sending a message to Telegram, check:

• Short reply (<3 lines, no structure): Send directly via OpenClaw message tool. Done.
• Substantive content (>3 lines, or has lists/stats/sections/reports): Spawn this skill as a sub-agent.

Spawning the sub-agent

The main session agent calls sessions_spawn with:

sessions_spawn(
  model: "claude-haiku-4-5",
  task: "<task content — see template below>"
)

Task template:

Read the telegram-compose skill at {baseDir}/SKILL.md for formatting rules, then format and send this content to Telegram.

Bot account: <account_name>  (e.g., "main" — must match a key in channels.telegram.accounts)
Chat ID: <chat_id>
Thread ID: <thread_id>  (omit this line if not a forum/topic chat)

Content to format:
---
<raw content here>
---

After sending, reply with the message_id on success or the error on failure. Do NOT include the formatted message in your reply — it's already been sent to Telegram.

IMPORTANT: The caller MUST specify which bot account to use. The sub-agent must NOT auto-select or iterate accounts.

CRITICAL: The sub-agent announcement routes back to the main session, NOT to Telegram. So the main session should reply NO_REPLY after spawning to avoid double-messaging. The sub-agent's curl call is what delivers to Telegram.

What the sub-agent receives

1. Skill path — so it can read the formatting rules
2. Bot account name — which Telegram bot account to use (must be specified, never auto-selected)
3. Chat ID — where to send
4. Thread ID — topic thread if applicable
5. Raw content — the unformatted text/data to turn into a rich message

---

Credentials

Bot token: Stored in the OpenClaw config file under channels.telegram.accounts..botToken.

The account name is always provided by the caller. Never auto-select or iterate accounts.

# Auto-detect config path
CONFIG=$([ -f ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ] && echo ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json || echo ~/.openclaw/clawdbot.json)

# ACCOUNT is provided by the caller (e.g., "main")
# Validate the account exists before extracting the token
ACCOUNT="<provided_account_name>"
BOT_TOKEN=$(jq -r ".channels.telegram.accounts.$ACCOUNT.botToken" "$CONFIG")

if [ "$BOT_TOKEN" = "null" ] || [ -z "$BOT_TOKEN" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: Account '$ACCOUNT' not found in config or has no botToken"
  exit 1
fi

---

Sending

CONFIG=$([ -f ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ] && echo ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json || echo ~/.openclaw/clawdbot.json)
# ACCOUNT provided by caller — never auto-select
BOT_TOKEN=$(jq -r ".channels.telegram.accounts.$ACCOUNT.botToken" "$CONFIG")

# Without topic thread
curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n \
    --arg chat "$CHAT_ID" \
    --arg text "$MESSAGE" \
    '{
      chat_id: $chat,
      text: $text,
      parse_mode: "HTML",
      link_preview_options: { is_disabled: true }
    }')"

# With topic thread
curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n \
    --arg chat "$CHAT_ID" \
    --arg text "$MESSAGE" \
    --argjson thread $THREAD_ID \
    '{
      chat_id: $chat,
      text: $text,
      parse_mode: "HTML",
      message_thread_id: $thread,
      link_preview_options: { is_disabled: true }
    }')"

---

Formatting Rules

HTML Tags

<b>bold</b>  <i>italic</i>  <u>underline</u>  <s>strike</s>
<code>mono</code>  <pre>code block</pre>
<tg-spoiler>hidden until tapped</tg-spoiler>
<blockquote>quote</blockquote>
<blockquote expandable>collapsed by default</blockquote>
<a href="url">link</a>
<a href="tg://user?id=123">mention by ID</a>

Escaping

Escape these characters in text content only (not in your HTML tags):

• & → & (do this FIRST to avoid double-escaping)
• < → <
• > → >

Common gotcha: content containing & (e.g., "R&D", "Q&A") will break HTML parsing if not escaped.

Structure Pattern

EMOJI <b>HEADING IN CAPS</b>

<b>Label:</b> Value
<b>Label:</b> Value

<b>SECTION</b>

• Bullet point
• Another point

<blockquote>Key quote or summary</blockquote>

<blockquote expandable><b>Details</b>

Hidden content here...
Long details go in expandable blocks.</blockquote>

<a href="https://...">Action Link →</a>

Style Rules

1. Faux headings: EMOJI CAPS TITLE with blank line after
2. Emojis: 1-3 per message as visual anchors, not decoration
3. Whitespace: Blank lines between sections
4. Long content: Use

5. Links: Own line, with arrow: Link Text →

Examples

Status update:

📋 <b>TASK COMPLETE</b>

<b>Task:</b> Deploy v2.3
<b>Status:</b> ✅ Done
<b>Duration:</b> 12 min

<blockquote>All health checks passing.</blockquote>

Alert:

⚠️ <b>ATTENTION NEEDED</b>

<b>Issue:</b> API rate limit at 90%
<b>Action:</b> Review usage

<a href="https://dashboard.example.com">View Dashboard →</a>

List:

✅ <b>PRIORITIES</b>

• <s>Review PR #234</s> — done
• <b>Finish docs</b> — in progress
• Deploy staging

<i>2 of 3 complete</i>

---

Mobile-Friendly Data Display

Never use

 for stats, summaries, or visual layouts. 
 uses monospace font and wraps badly on mobile, breaking alignment and tree characters. Reserve 
 for actual code/commands only.

For structured data, use emoji + bold + separators:
❌ BAD (wraps on mobile):
<pre>
├─ 🟠 Reddit  32 threads │ 1,658 pts
└─ 🌐 Web     8 pages
</pre>

✅ GOOD (flows naturally):
🟠 <b>Reddit:</b> 32 threads · 1,658 pts · 625 comments
🔵 <b>X:</b> 22 posts · 10,695 likes · 1,137 reposts
🌐 <b>Web:</b> 8 pages (supplementary)
🗣️ <b>Top voices:</b> @handle1 · @handle2 · r/subreddit
Other patterns:
Record cards:
<b>Ruby</b>
Birthday: Jun 16 · Age: 11

<b>Rhodes</b>
Birthday: Oct 1 · Age: 8
Bullet lists:
• <b>hzl-cli:</b> 1.12.0
• <b>skill:</b> 1.0.6
---
Limits and Splitting
Message max: 4,096 characters
Caption max: 1,024 characters
If formatted message exceeds 4,096 chars:
Split at section boundaries (blank lines between HEADING blocks)
Each chunk must be valid HTML (don't split inside a tag)
Send chunks sequentially with a 1-second delay between them
First chunk gets the full heading; subsequent chunks get a continuation indicator: (continued)
---
Error Handling
If Telegram API returns an error:
...