adeelahmad · Oct 11, 2026 · Oct 10, 2026 · Oct 10, 2026 · Oct 10, 2026 · Oct 10, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@ The backend (`fastapi_backend`) and the frontend (`nextjs-frontend`) are version
   passwords or card numbers, and showing each action as it happens. Once it has read a page, opening an address or
   typing text you didn't write asks you first too ([The assistant in your browser](docs/browser-assistant.md)).
 
+- **Telegram, built in.** Paste a bot token from @BotFather in Settings › Telegram and the assistant answers there:
+  no Matterbridge, no public address. It talks only to people you let in (one click on the settings page), hears
+  voice notes, takes files for the assistant to import, and does everything it does in Matterbridge rooms
+  ([Chat rooms](docs/chat-rooms.md#telegram-built-in)). Chat apps now share one channel layer, so the next one is an
+  adapter.
+
 ## 0.7.0 <small>October 10, 2026</small> {id="0.7.0"}
 
 - **Prometheus metrics.** Lens can serve `/metrics` for Prometheus and Grafana: jobs by status and pipeline, imports,

diff --git a/docs/chat-rooms.md b/docs/chat-rooms.md
@@ -4,6 +4,28 @@ Lens's assistant can answer in Slack, Discord, Telegram, Matrix, Mattermost, IRC
 [Matterbridge](https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge) bridges. Say "Lens, what did we decide about the launch?" (or
 "@Lens …") in a bridged room and it answers there, as it would in Chat.
 
+## Telegram, built in
+
+Telegram needs no Matterbridge and no public address: Lens reads its own bot's messages (long polling) and answers.
+
+1. In Telegram, message **@BotFather**, send `/newbot` and copy the token it gives you.
+2. Open **Settings → Telegram**, paste the token and turn on **Answer in Telegram**.
+3. Message your bot. You show on the settings page under **Wrote to the bot, not let in**: click **Let in**.
+
+Anyone can find a bot, so it answers only the people in **People it talks to** (Telegram user ids or usernames);
+anyone else who writes to it is told once that they need to be let in, and shows on the page. A private chat with
+the bot is always for Lens; in a group it answers what names it ("Lens, …"), mentions the bot (`@your_bot`) or
+replies to it. Voice notes are transcribed by the server's speech-to-text (the answer starts with what it heard), and
+files sent to it (up to Telegram's 20 MB for bots) are held for the assistant, which imports them into a namespace as
+a file dropped into Chat is. The page lists the chats it has seen with their ids, so a group can be given to a
+namespace's assistant with **Chats for a namespace's assistant** (`-1001234567890 = pods`). Approving by replying
+"yes", the account it answers as and routing between namespaces work as below.
+
+Give Lens a bot of its own: a bot that Matterbridge also reads answers neither reliably (**Check the bot** says so).
+
+Telegram is one adapter of the chat-channel layer (`app/domain/channels.py`) that Matterbridge is another of; a new
+chat app adds an adapter (reading, sending, files) and gets everything in a room for free.
+
 ## Set it up in the web app
 
 Lens can run Matterbridge for you, so adding Slack or WhatsApp takes no config file:

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/api/v1/routes/admin.py b/fastapi_backend/app/api/v1/routes/admin.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
     sources,
     speech,
     store,
+    telegram,
     telemetry,
     tunnel,
 )
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@
     SmbStatus,
     SpeechTestResult,
     Started,
+    TelegramStatus,
     TelemetryStatus,
     TelemetryTestResult,
     TunnelStatus,
@@ -87,10 +
10BC8
89,10 @@ def update_settings(section: str, body: dict[str, Any], user: AdminWriter, reque
         if "*" not in hosts and here not in hosts:
             raise HTTPException(400, f"that list leaves out {here}, the address you're using, and would lock you out")
     if (
-        section == "bridge"
+        section in ("bridge", "telegram")
         and body.get("enabled")
         and "account" not in body
-        and not request.app.state.archive.current()["bridge"].get("account")
+        and not (request.app.state.archive.current().get(section) or {}).get("account")
     ):
         body = {**body, "account": user.email}  # turned on without saying who it answers as: the admin who turned it on
     files_were = request.app.state.settings.current()["encryption"].get("files") if section == "encryption" else None
@@ -222,6 +224,19 @@ def test_bridge(user: AdminWriter, cfg: Cfg, db: Db) -> BridgeTestResult:
     return BridgeTestResult(ok=error is None, error=error)
 
 
+@router.get("/settings/telegram")
+def telegram_status(user: AdminReader, cfg: Cfg, db: Db) -> TelegramStatus:
+    """How the assistant's Telegram bot is doing, and the chats it has seen (their ids are what telegram.rooms names)."""
+    return TelegramStatus(**telegram.status(db, cfg))
+
+
+@router.post("/settings/telegram/test")
+def test_telegram(user: AdminWriter, cfg: Cfg, db: Db) -> BridgeTestResult:
+    """Check that Telegram knows the bot's token, and that the account to answer as exists."""
+    error = telegram.TELEGRAM.check(db, cfg)
+    return BridgeTestResult(ok=error is None, error=error)
+
+
 @router.post("/settings/documents/node/test")
 def test_conversion_node(user: AdminWriter, cfg: Cfg) -> ConversionNodeTestResult:
     """Check that the conversion node (documents.anytopdf_url) answers at its address and takes Lens's token."""

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/cli.py b/fastapi_backend/app/cli.py
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ def platform_main(argv, config):
 
     from .domain import (
         auth,
-        bridge,
+        channels,
         https,
         jobs,
         local_llm,
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ def password():
                     sensors.start(db, C, stop, log=print, name=wk.name)  # and the sensor hub, while sensors are on
                     smb_share.start(db, C, stop, name=wk.name, log=print)  # and the SMB share of the file tree, while it's on
                     shares.start(db, C, stop, log=print, name=wk.name)  # and the file shares (S3, WebDAV), while they're on
-                    bridge.start(db, C, stop, lambda: cfg, name=wk.name, log_fn=print)  # and the chat-room bridge, while it's on
+                    channels.start_all(db, C, stop, lambda: cfg, name=wk.name, log_fn=print)  # and the chat channels, while they're on
                     tunnel.start(db, C, stop, name=wk.name, log=print)  # and the Cloudflare tunnel, while it's on
                     https.start(db, C, stop, name=wk.name, log=print)  # and HTTPS, where the ports are (LENS_HTTPS_LISTEN)
                     local_llm.start(db, C, stop, name=wk.name, log=print)  # and the local chat model, while it's on

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/core/runtime.py b/fastapi_backend/app/core/runtime.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 from app.domain import (
     activity,
     auth,
-    bridge,
+    channels,
     components,
     content_types,
     https,
@@ -83,15 +83,15 @@ def prepare(self) -> None:
 
     def start_background(self) -> None:
         """Inline workers, the watched-folder poller, the notifier, the routine scheduler, the sensor hub (idle while
-        sensors are off) and the chat-room bridge (idle while it's off). Production runs these as separate processes (`lens worker`)."""
+        sensors are off) and the chat channels (each idle while it's off). Production runs these as separate processes (`lens worker`)."""
         for i in range(max(0, int(self.current()["workers"]["inline"]))):
             w = jobs.Worker(self.db, self.current, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}-{i}", log=log.info)
             threading.Thread(target=w.loop, args=(self.stop,), daemon=True, name=f"worker-{i}").start()
 
         notify.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}", log=log.warning)
         routines.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, log=log.info)
         sensors.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, log=log.info, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}")
-        bridge.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, lambda: self.base, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}", log_fn=log.warning)
+        channels.start_all(self.db, self.current, self.stop, lambda: self.base, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}", log_fn=log.warning)
         tunnel.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}", log=log.info)
         https.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}", log=log.info)
         local_llm.start(self.db, self.current, self.stop, name=f"api-{os.getpid()}", log=log.info)