Send your first Telegram message

Before you start

1. Connect at least one Telegram account in GramClaw Settings.
2. Create an API key with read and send scopes. The full key is shown only once.
3. Choose a recipient who expects the test message. The endpoint sends immediately.

1. Set your credentials

Keep the API key in a server-side environment variable. Do not place it in browser code or commit it to source control.

export GRAMCLAW_BASE_URL="https://gramclaw.com"
export GRAMCLAW_API_KEY="gc_live_replace_with_your_key"

2. Verify the key and find an account ID

The response lists only connected accounts this key is allowed to use. Copy the id of the Telegram account you want to send from.

curl -s "$GRAMCLAW_BASE_URL/api/v1/me" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRAMCLAW_API_KEY"

3. Start the conversation and send

Replace the account ID, username, and message. Keep the same Idempotency-Key when retrying this exact request so a network retry does not send twice.

export TELEGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID="replace_with_account_id"

curl -s "$GRAMCLAW_BASE_URL/api/v1/chats/start" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRAMCLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: first-message-001" \
  -d '{
    "account_id": "'"$TELEGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID"'",
    "identifier": "@recipient_username",
    "provider": "TELEGRAM",
    "text": "Hi! This is a test message sent with the GramClaw API."
  }'