---
title: Telegram
description: Get WatchFor alerts in Telegram in under a minute through the official @WatchForAlertsBot — no bot-building, just a chat ID.
canonical: https://watchfor.io/docs/notifications/telegram
---

# Telegram

Get WatchFor alerts in Telegram in under a minute through the official @WatchForAlertsBot — no bot-building, just a chat ID.

WatchFor delivers alerts through the official **@WatchForAlertsBot**. You
don't create any bots or tokens — you only tell WatchFor *which chat* to send
to, and the bot itself tells you that number.

## Personal alerts (to your own Telegram)

### Say hello to the bot
In Telegram, open **[@WatchForAlertsBot](https://t.me/WatchForAlertsBot)** and
press **Start**. The bot replies right away:

```
👋 This is the WatchFor alerts bot.

Chat ID for this chat:
493699112

Paste it into WatchFor → Notification Channels → Telegram, and incident alerts will arrive here.
```

That number is your **Chat ID** — copy it. Pressing Start also gives the bot
permission to message you; Telegram bots can never write first.

### Add the channel in WatchFor
Go to **Alerting → Channels & contacts → Add Channel → Telegram**, paste the **Chat ID**,
attach the [contact groups](/docs/notifications/contact-groups) it should
serve and save.

### Send a test
**⋯ → Send test** on the new channel. A `[TEST]` message appears in Telegram
within a couple of seconds — you're done.

## Team alerts (to a group)

Want the whole team to see incidents? Send them to a Telegram **group**
instead:

1. Add **@WatchForAlertsBot** to your group like any other member.
2. The moment it's added, the bot posts the **group's Chat ID** into the group
   — a *negative* number such as `-1001234567890`. That's normal for groups.
3. Paste that number into a Telegram channel in WatchFor, the same way as
   above.

Only members of the group see these alerts. A bot conversation or group is
private to its participants and is never shared between WatchFor customers.

## What the alerts look like

Messages use Telegram's HTML formatting with link previews turned off, so the
alert itself is the whole message:

- the title — `🔴 DOWN: API (prod)`, `🟡 Degraded: …`, `🟢 UP: …` or
  `⏹️ Resolved: …` (administrative close, with who and why);
- the plain-language **Diagnosis**, **Expected** vs **Detected** values (and
  *Now Returning* on recovery), certificate details for SSL incidents;
- target, severity, start/resolve times, duration, the locations that
  **confirmed** the failure, a flapping note if state changes rapidly;
- an **Incident #N** link straight to the incident page.

When several incidents open or resolve within the
[grouping window](/docs/notifications#grouping-during-a-storm), the chat
receives one summary (`🔴 5 new incidents`, one linked line per monitor)
instead of separate messages.

## Troubleshooting

- **The bot didn't reply to Start** — send it any message (for example "hi");
  it answers every message with the Chat ID.
- **Test works, but real alerts don't arrive** — check that the channel is
  attached to a [contact group](/docs/notifications/contact-groups) that is
  among the monitor's **Notification Targets**, and that the channel's
  severity filter includes the rule's severity.
- **Alerts stopped** — if you blocked or deleted the bot chat, Telegram
  refuses delivery (the attempts show as **Failed** in
  [notification history](/docs/notifications/history)). Unblock the bot and
  press Start again; the Chat ID stays the same.
- **Group ID changed** — converting a group to a *supergroup* gives it a new
  ID. Remove and re-add the bot; it posts the new ID.

---

Canonical page: https://watchfor.io/docs/notifications/telegram · All docs: https://watchfor.io/docs · Site guide: https://watchfor.io/llms.txt