Hermes Agent Telegram is the quickest way to talk to your agent from your phone. You message a Telegram bot, and Hermes answers with its full set of tools, memory and skills, voice notes included. Here’s the setup from the official docs, plus the group-chat setting that trips most people up.
Key takeaways
- Create the bot in one scan with Create with QR, or by hand with @BotFather.
- Lock it to your numeric Telegram user ID.
- Turn off privacy mode (then re-add the bot) before using groups.
- Send voice notes and get cron results in Telegram.
- Want this set up for your business? Claim a free strategy session.
Why the gateway matters in v0.23
Hermes’ messaging gateway is one background process that connects to every platform you set up, keeps the sessions, runs cron jobs and delivers voice messages. Since v0.23.0 (5 November 2026), one gateway on each machine owns every conversation, and the CLI, TUI, Desktop, editors, bots and cron all attach to it. A chat you start in one place is the same chat everywhere, with one queue and one history.
The latest patch, v0.23.1 (9 November), fixes plugin installs so hermes plugins install sees the live catalog again. Update with hermes update.
1. The fast way: Create with QR
In the Hermes dashboard or desktop app, open Messaging → Telegram and choose Create with QR. Scan the code in Telegram and Hermes creates the bot, detects your user ID, writes TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS into your profile and restarts the gateway (Telegram docs).
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2. The manual way: BotFather
- Message @BotFather, send
/newbot, pick a display name and a username ending inbot. - Copy the token BotFather sends. Keep it secret, and use
/revokeif it ever leaks. - Get your numeric user ID from @userinfobot. It’s a number, not your @username.
hermes gateway setup # pick Telegram, paste token + user ID
hermes gateway # start it; the bot comes online in secondsPrefer it running all the time? hermes gateway install sets it up as a service.
3. Groups: fix privacy mode first
Telegram bots have privacy mode on by default, so in a group the bot only sees commands, replies to it and service messages. Turn it off in BotFather (/mybots → Bot Settings → Group Privacy → Turn off), then remove and re-add the bot, because Telegram caches the setting. Making the bot a group admin also works.
To stop it replying to every message, set require_mention: true. It then answers @mentions, replies to it and commands. With observe_unmentioned_group_messages it can read the chatter as context and still only speak when asked. Several Hermes bots can share one group too.
4. Voice notes, files and cron results
- Voice in: voice notes are transcribed automatically (local faster-whisper needs no key; Groq or OpenAI are options).
- Voice out: spoken replies arrive as Telegram voice bubbles. The free Edge TTS needs ffmpeg for that.
- Files: Telegram’s public Bot API caps downloads at 20 MB. A local telegram-bot-api server raises it to 2 GB.
- Cron: set a home channel with
/sethomeand scheduled jobs deliver their results there.
Every Hermes chat command works in Telegram too: /new, /model, /stop, /bg for background jobs and /btw for side questions.
Want this set up for you instead of doing it yourself? Claim your free strategy session →
5. Hermes Cloud with Team Gateway
On a Hermes Cloud instance with Team Gateway, Telegram reaches your agent through a shared Hermes bot instead of your own. Choose Link Telegram, then send the one-time /link code to the shared bot. This arrived in v0.22.7. Running your own bot alongside it keeps the instance awake, so the docs make that opt-in.
Keep it locked down
The gateway’s default is safe: it denies everyone who isn’t on an allowlist or paired. You can list user IDs per platform, or let unknown people DM the bot for a one-time pairing code that you approve with hermes pairing approve. Codes expire after an hour.
The docs call allowing all users “NOT recommended for bots with terminal access”, and that’s the right call for any business. Keep the allowlist short and use /approve and /deny for risky commands.
My verdict
Use Create with QR, lock it to your user ID, and add groups only after you’ve fixed privacy mode. Voice notes plus cron results in your pocket are why Hermes Agent Telegram is the first channel I’d set up.
About Julian Goldie
I’m Julian Goldie — founder of Goldie Agency and the AI Profit Boardroom. I test new AI agents almost every day for 432K+ YouTube subscribers and run Hermes, OpenClaw, OpenCode, Claude and Codex side by side in my own Agent OS. Claim your free strategy session or join the AI Profit Boardroom.
Want another angle? Read the AI Profit Boardroom guide to Hermes Agent Telegram.
FAQ: hermes agent telegram
How do I connect Hermes Agent to Telegram?
Use Create with QR in the Hermes dashboard or desktop app, or create a bot with @BotFather and run hermes gateway setup with the token and your user ID.
Why doesn’t my Hermes Telegram bot reply in groups?
Privacy mode is on by default. Turn it off in BotFather and then remove and re-add the bot, or make the bot a group admin.
Can Hermes understand Telegram voice notes?
Yes. Voice notes are transcribed automatically, and spoken replies can come back as Telegram voice bubbles.
Is there a file size limit on Telegram?
The public Bot API caps downloads at 20 MB. Running a local telegram-bot-api server raises the limit to 2 GB.
Who can talk to my Hermes Telegram bot?
Only allowlisted user IDs or people you approve with a pairing code. The gateway denies everyone else by default.
Can cron jobs send results to Telegram?
Yes. Set a home channel with /sethome and scheduled jobs deliver their output there.
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Related reading
Last updated November 2026. This page is a living guide to hermes agent telegram — the facts here move fast and it is updated as they do.
