Bug: Telegram group messages not received after updating to 2026.2.25
✅Solved
Version: 2026.2.25 (updated from 2026.2.21-2 and 2026.2.15)
Environment: Two separate gateways — Raspberry Pi 5 (Debian 12/arm64) and Ubuntu VPS. Both updated to 2026.2.25. Both stopped receiving Telegram group messages after the update.
What works:
• DMs work fine
• Bot can SEND to groups via API (sendMessage)
• getChat and getChatMember return correct data
• Bot is admin in group with all permissions
• Privacy mode disabled in BotFather
• openclaw status --deep shows Telegram as OK
• openclaw health --json probe shows canReadAllGroupMessages: true
What's broken:
• Zero group messages appear in gateway logs (no inbound, no drops, no filtering — they simply don't arrive)
• Affects both regular groups and forum/topic supergroups
• Affects both gateways independently (different bots, different VPSes)
• Group sessions from before the update exist and worked fine
Observed:
• openclaw health --json reports Telegram channel as running: false and tokenSource: none even though DMs are actively working
• Group allowlist config is correct and hot-reloads successfully
• Tested with brand new group — same result
Config (relevant):
"channels": {
"telegram": {
"enabled": true,
"dmPolicy": "pairing",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"groups": {
"[hidden]": { "requireMention": true }
}
}
}
Previous working version: 2026.2.21-2 (Pi) and 2026.2.15 (VPS)
Environment: Two separate gateways — Raspberry Pi 5 (Debian 12/arm64) and Ubuntu VPS. Both updated to 2026.2.25. Both stopped receiving Telegram group messages after the update.
What works:
• DMs work fine
• Bot can SEND to groups via API (sendMessage)
• getChat and getChatMember return correct data
• Bot is admin in group with all permissions
• Privacy mode disabled in BotFather
• openclaw status --deep shows Telegram as OK
• openclaw health --json probe shows canReadAllGroupMessages: true
What's broken:
• Zero group messages appear in gateway logs (no inbound, no drops, no filtering — they simply don't arrive)
• Affects both regular groups and forum/topic supergroups
• Affects both gateways independently (different bots, different VPSes)
• Group sessions from before the update exist and worked fine
Observed:
• openclaw health --json reports Telegram channel as running: false and tokenSource: none even though DMs are actively working
• Group allowlist config is correct and hot-reloads successfully
• Tested with brand new group — same result
Config (relevant):
"channels": {
"telegram": {
"enabled": true,
"dmPolicy": "pairing",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"groups": {
"[hidden]": { "requireMention": true }
}
}
}
Previous working version: 2026.2.21-2 (Pi) and 2026.2.15 (VPS)
Solution
Yep — that lines up with how Telegram group access control is supposed to work.
With:
…OpenClaw will (now) treat that as “allowlist mode, but the allowlist is empty” → block group triggers. Older builds were more “forgiving” in some cases, so you could end up accidentally running what was effectively “open” behavior even though config said “allowlist”.
With:
…OpenClaw will (now) treat that as “allowlist mode, but the allowlist is empty” → block group triggers. Older builds were more “forgiving” in some cases, so you could end up accidentally running what was effectively “open” behavior even though config said “allowlist”.
What to do (pick one)
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