Workspace owners and administrators configure this feature under Settings → Auto-reply. Auto-replies match rules against newly received messages and send fixed text. Their reply templates are managed separately from the message templates used in manual chats.
Configuration
- Open the Reply templates tab, create a template, and name it.
- Add keyword rules, choose contains, exact, or regular-expression matching, and enter the reply text.
- Order the rules. The system checks from top to bottom and uses the first match.
- Optionally add a fallback reply for unmatched messages or images, voice messages, and files. Leave it empty to send no fallback.
- Open the Managed accounts tab, select Configure for an account, and choose a reply template and operating schedule.
- Enable the auto-reply master switch, save, and confirm that the account connection and listener are ready.
For example, use an exact-match rule for “business hours” with a fixed opening-hours reply. Put broad contains rules after more specific rules so they do not override them.
Each template supports up to 50 rules, each rule up to 30 keywords, and fixed replies up to 4,000 characters. Regular expressions should be maintained by someone familiar with their syntax.
Schedules and group mentions
Choose all day or a scheduled period. Schedules run in the workspace time zone. If the master switch is on but the account is not connected, the page shows a waiting state. Messages received while offline do not get catch-up replies.
Only private chats are processed by default. To reply in groups, also enable Auto-reply when @mentioned in groups in the account configuration. In groups and supergroups, only new messages that Telegram identifies as mentioning the current account trigger a reply. This includes direct mentions and recognized replies to messages. Channel broadcasts, ordinary group messages, history, and edit events do not trigger this feature.
Replies quote the triggering message in the original group; they are not sent as private messages. The account mention is removed from message entities before rule matching, so @agent business hours can match “business hours.”
Manual takeover and cooldowns
When an agent speaks, auto-replies pause for that conversation for 30 minutes. Other conversations continue. Select Resume now in the managed account's Conversations under manual takeover list to resume early. This is an auto-reply pause mechanism; independent manual assignment and transfer features are not available.
Within the same conversation, the same keyword rule has a 10-minute cooldown and the fallback reply has a 30-minute cooldown to avoid repeated messages. Excluded chats do not trigger auto-replies.
A Telegram account cannot be managed for auto-replies by multiple workspaces at the same time. If the page says another workspace already manages it, coordinate with that workspace rather than repeatedly toggling the master switch.
Missing replies or uncertain outcomes
Check in this order:
- Confirm the workspace and account, and whether another workspace manages the account.
- Confirm a template is selected, the master switch is enabled, and the current time is within the schedule.
- Check that the account connection and listener are ready.
- Check earlier matching rules, cooldowns, and manual-takeover pauses.
- For groups, confirm mentions are enabled, the message actually mentions the current account, and the chat is not excluded.
When an outcome is uncertain, the system does not automatically resend and pauses the conversation for 30 minutes. Check Telegram before deciding whether to resume. Do not trigger the rule repeatedly to find out whether the previous reply was sent.
Before deleting a template, remove it from account configurations that use it. On first activation, an authorized person should verify rules and schedules in a test conversation they control.
Implementation references: auto-reply page and rules and limits. Deployment requires make migrate.autoReply and updates to the main service, Worker, and frontend. See group-mention auto-replies.