You can answer website chats from Telegram like this: every conversation that needs a person becomes its own topic in the company's Telegram group, the operator writes the reply in that topic, and the visitor reads it in the chat on the site. That is how Tolkly works: the AI answers first from your site's pages, and questions about orders, requests for a person and anything your rules do not cover come to the group as topics, with a card and the order number.

Below: how it works step by step, what the operator sees, and what the limits are.

Why do support teams want to answer from Telegram?

It became practical when Telegram added topics in groups (Bot API 6.3, November 2022): a bot can open a separate topic for every conversation, so conversations do not mix in one feed.

PaywireBy the site's rules

Hello! I am the AI assistant of Paywire: I answer from the service’s rules or bring in an operator.

Sent it an hour ago, payment P-48213 has still not arrived

I cannot see your payment: an operator will check it. Bringing one in.

The operator has order P-48213
The conversation went to an operator
Operator Anna joined the chat
I see P-48213: the recipient’s bank is checking it, up to 24 hours. I will write here when it arrives.
Runs on Tolkly
The visitor on the site: the AI handed over, an operator answered Example: the service is invented.

How do you connect a Telegram group to the chat on your site?

The company's owner links the group in the Tolkly app, under «Team and plan» › «Telegram»:

  1. Create a group in Telegram and turn on Topics in its settings.
  2. Press «Get a link for the group». The link works once and only for a short time.
  3. Press «Open in Telegram» and choose that group. Tolkly's bot becomes an admin there: it opens topics and deletes the topics of closed conversations.

The page shows by itself that the group is linked. One group serves every project of the company (Operators in Telegram).

What does each operator need to do?

  1. Sign in to the app with Telegram, or connect Telegram on the account page. Tolkly's bot knows operators by their Telegram account and their membership in the company, not by name. Messages from anyone else in a topic go nowhere.
  2. Set a work name: /name Anna. Visitors see this name, not the Telegram profile name.
  3. Start a shift: /shift on, and at the end /shift off.

What does the operator see in a topic?

The bot names the topic after the visitor's question. At the top there is a card:

The visitor's new messages arrive in the same topic.

Sent it an hour ago, payment P-48213 has still not arrivedSupport group Paywire
Tolkly

Order question

Order: P-48213

Question: Sent it an hour ago, payment P-48213 has still not arrived

The AI answered: I cannot see your payment: an operator will check it. Bringing one in.

The whole conversation · 3 messages

TakeBack to the bot⏸ SnoozeClose
Anna

I see P-48213: the recipient’s bank is checking it, up to 24 hours. I will write here when it arrives.

1 min
The same conversation in the group’s topic: the card, its buttons and the reply Example: the service is invented.

What buttons does an operator have?

ButtonWhat it does
«Take»The conversation is yours, and only you answer it. Replying in a waiting conversation takes it too
«Take over»Takes a conversation a colleague holds
«Back to the bot»The AI answers the visitor again; the topic closes
«Snooze»For an answer that takes days: for a day, 3 days or a week the conversation does not close by itself
«Close»Ends the conversation; the visitor is asked «Did we solve your question?»

One person holds a conversation at a time, in the group and in the web inbox alike. If you write in a conversation a colleague holds, your message does not reach the visitor, and the bot tells you so.

How does Tolkly know an operator is there?

Tolkly cannot see who is online in Telegram, so it relies on shifts:

If no operator takes the conversation in time (3 minutes by default, adjustable), the chat also asks for a contact, so an operator can write back later.

Can operators and visitors send files and screenshots?

Yes. A visitor's file comes into the topic as a photo or a document. A picture (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, HEIC) or a PDF up to 10 MB that an operator posts in the topic reaches the visitor as a file. Other formats do not, and the bot explains why.

What else does Tolkly post to the group?

In the group's general topic, Tolkly's bot posts service messages, once per event:

Owners also get messages in the group when 80% of the month's AI conversations are used and when the limit is reached.

The bot deletes the topics of closed conversations after 3 days, so only live ones stay in the group. The delay can be changed: a day, 3, 7 or 30 days, or keep them. The conversations themselves stay in the inbox.

How is an operators' Telegram group different from Telegram as a channel for customers?

These are different things, and easy to confuse:

In the docs of many live chat services, Telegram is described as a channel for customers, while operators answer in the service's own app. Some other tools can answer from a group too; in Tolkly this comes together with an AI that answers first with a quote from your rules and hands the conversation over by itself when a person is needed.

What limits should you know in advance?

Frequently asked questions

Can you answer website customers right from Telegram?

Yes. In Tolkly every conversation handed to a person becomes a topic in the company's Telegram group. The operator writes in the topic, and the visitor sees the reply in the chat on the site.

How many operators can you connect?

Tolkly's Start plan ($49 a month) allows up to 10 operators, and Business ($149 a month) has no limit. There is no fee per operator: the price counts AI conversations.

What if no operator answers?

If nobody is on shift, or nobody takes the conversation in time (3 minutes by default), Tolkly's chat asks the visitor to leave a contact, and an operator writes back later.

Does the visitor see the operator's Telegram name?

No. In Tolkly the visitor sees the work name set with /name, not the profile name. The owner can choose one name for everyone.

Do operators need to install anything?

No, only Telegram. Tolkly's web inbox in the browser is there as a fallback and for those who prefer to work at a computer.

Try it on your site

Open tolkly.io/#try and type your site's address: in a minute the chat answers from your pages, and on a handoff it shows what your operator would get. No sign-up needed. The first month at tolkly.io is free, with the inbox and operators in Telegram from day one.

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