Telegram session injection + topic routing debug

This is a runbook skill distilled from a real incident while testing:

•Plan A: use sessions_send(sessionKey, message) to make a proxy bot/agent post in another group/topic.
•Reality: forum topics require message_thread_id; without prior inbound, session metadata may be incomplete.
•Gotchas: “pending announce” can mean generated but not actually delivered.

Key mental model

1) SessionKey decides where the message goes

•Group: telegram:group:<chatId>
•Forum topic: telegram:group:<chatId>:topic:<threadId>

2) deliveryContext.accountId decides who sends

Even if you (some agent) created the content, the visible Telegram sender is the accountId bound to the target session.

Typical co-existing sessions in the same topic:

•agent:claw-config:telegram:group:-100…:topic:279 → accountId: claw_config_bot
•agent:ginmoni:telegram:group:-100…:topic:279 → accountId: ginmoni
•telegram:group:-100…:topic:279 → usually a default account (depends on your config)

Rule of thumb: message is “to” the sessionKey, not “to” an agent.

3) `sessions_send` reply != Telegram delivery

•sessions_send returns a reply (agent output) for control-plane visibility.
•External delivery is a separate step (“announce”). It can fail independently.

Procedure: Validate Plan A (sessions_send) on Telegram topics

Step 0 — Preflight

•Ensure the target bot is in the target group and can speak.
•Ensure OpenClaw allowlist/groupPolicy does not block the group.

Step 1 — Seed the topic (critical)

Symptoms of missing seed:

•replies go to topic 1 (General), or
•nothing shows up in the target topic.

Why: without a prior inbound update that includes message_thread_id, OpenClaw may lack topic metadata.

Minimum seed action:

•In the target topic: @<bot> ping (blue mention).

(If you use MTProto/user tooling to seed, note this changes the object being tested; prefer real bot inbound when validating bot routing.)

Step 2 — Inject a unique marker via sessions_send

Send a message that forces an exact reply so you can attribute causality:

•Ask the bot to reply exactly SS-OK-<random>.
•Do not send any other messages during this window.

Expected:

•The bot posts SS-OK-<random> in the same topic.

Step 3 — If you see “pending announce” but nothing in Telegram

Do not assume it’s “just delay”. Treat it as “delivery unknown” until proven.

Common causes:

•Bot API network errors.
•chat not found (wrong chat id / bot removed / permissions).
•Topic/thread mismatch.
•Rate limits.

Diagnostics: targeted logs without global verbosity

OpenClaw supports diagnostics flags (requires restart).

Recommended temporary flags:

json5

{
  diagnostics: {
    flags: ["telegram.http", "gateway.*"],
  }
}

Where to look:

•/tmp/openclaw/openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log

What to grep for:

•telegram ... sendMessage failed
•Delivery failed (telegram to telegram:-100...)
•chat not found
•Network request for 'sendMessage' failed!
•429

Important: turn flags back off after debugging: