Built-in Telegram Feature

Introduction

AI Agent SDK has a plugin mode and one of the initial plugins is the Telegram plugin, which allows users to connect the agent to their Telegram bot with just a few lines of code.

This guide demonstrates how to build a Telegram bot that interacts with the Cronos network. The bot enables users to query blockchain information and execute transactions smoothly.

A video demo is avaliable in Crypto.com AI Agent SDK X post.

Prerequisites

• Crypto.com AI Agent SDK installed.
• Python installed (version >= 3.12)

• API Key for Cronos EVM Blockchain Explorer or Cronos zkEVM Blockchain Explorer
• API Keys of AI provider, the AI Agent SDK supports Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and Fireworks.

• Required account: Telegram Bot Token.

Get a Telegram Bot Token

• Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.

• Type /start and /newbot, then follow the prompts to name your bot (must end in bot, e.g., CryptoHelper).

• After creation, @BotFather will give you a TOKEN (e.g., 7008008900:AAEKe6vIwM0gokw..), which should be safely kept.

Telegram Plugin

We need to add telegram plugin when initializing the Agent:

OpenAI as Provider

import os
from crypto_com_agent_client import Agent
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

# Initialize the agent with LLM and blockchain configurations
# Current chainID refers to Cronos zkEVM Testnet, optionally change it to other Cronos networks
agent = Agent.init(
   llm_config={
       "provider": "OpenAI",
       "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
       "provider-api-key": os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
   },
   blockchain_config={
       "chainId": "240", 
       "explorer-api-key": os.getenv("EXPLORER_API_KEY"),
       "private-key": os.getenv("PRIVATE_KEY"),
       "sso-wallet-url": "your-sso-wallet-url",
   },
   plugins={
       "instructions": "You are a humorous assistant that always includes a joke in your responses.",
       "telegram": {"bot_token": os.getenv("TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN")},
   },
)

agent.start_telegram()

Gemini as Provider

import os
from crypto_com_agent_client import Agent
from dotenv import load_dotenv
​
load_dotenv()
​
# Initialize the agent with LLM and blockchain configurations
# Current chainID refers to Cronos zkEVM Testnet, optionally change it to other Cronos networks
agent = Agent.init(
  llm_config={
      "provider": "GoogleGenAI",
      "model": "gemini-2.0-flash",
      "provider-api-key": os.getenv("GEMINI_API_KEY"),
  },
  blockchain_config={
      "chainId": "240",
      "explorer-api-key": os.getenv("EXPLORER_API_KEY"),
      "private-key": os.getenv("PRIVATE_KEY"),
      "sso-wallet-url": "your-sso-wallet-url",
  },
  plugins={
      "instructions": "You are a humorous assistant that always includes a joke in your responses.",
      "telegram": {"bot_token": os.getenv("TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN")},
  },
)
​
agent.start_telegram()

Run everything

As shown in the example code, we start the Telegram bot by invoking the Agent's built-in function:

agent.start_telegram()

Once the bot is running, test it to ensure it’s working as expected:

• Open Telegram and search for your bot using the bot name you set up with @BotFather.

• Send a sample command or message, such as /start, to see if the bot responds.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues during setup or execution, follow these tips:

• Check your API keys to ensure they are correctly set in the environment variables.

• Verify dependencies by confirming that all packages in requirements.txt are installed.

• Review Telegram Bot API limitations to ensure compliance with rate limits and usage guidelines.