VEYA ← What you prepare
Step by step

Your Companion gets its own Telegram number.

For your AI companion to write to you on Telegram, it needs two things: its own Telegram account (a bot with its token) and your “house number” at Telegram (the Chat-ID). This page gets you both in 6 steps – no prior knowledge needed.

Telegram on your phone or PC About 10 minutes Completely free

Before you start: three terms, nothing more

Bot
A Telegram account for programs instead of people. Your Companion “lives” in it and writes to you through it – like a perfectly normal chat contact.
Bot-Token
The key to this account: a long string of characters with a colon in the middle. Whoever has the token controls the bot.
Chat-ID
Your personal number at Telegram. It tells the Companion who to write to – you exactly, and no one else.
No need to worry: Everything happens directly in Telegram, by chat – like a short conversation. Nothing costs money, and every step can be undone.
The images are example sketches. Telegram looks slightly different on phone and PC – but the steps and terms are the same everywhere.
1

Find the BotFather

In Telegram: tap the search at the top

  1. Open Telegram and type into the search: BotFather.
  2. Choose the entry with the blue verification checkmark ✔ – that is Telegram’s official bot manager.
  3. Open the chat and press “Start” at the bottom.
☰ 🔍 BotFather B BotFather ✓ @BotFather Bot Father 2026 ⚠ no checkmark – a fake, do not click botfather_official ⚠ no checkmark – a fake, do not click 1 · BLUE CHECKMARK ONLY
There are many imitators – only the entry with the blue checkmark is real.
Beware of fakes! Entries like “Bot Father 2026” without the checkmark are copycats after your token. When in doubt: the real one is called exactly @BotFather.
2

Request a new bot

In the chat with the BotFather

  1. Type into the chat: /newbot and send the message.
  2. The BotFather asks for a name. Reply with the display name of your Companion, e.g. My Companion – freely chosen, spaces allowed.
← B BotFather ✓ bot ⋮ /newbot Alright, a new bot. How are we going to call it?Please choose a name for your bot. My Companion= display name, freely chosen, spaces allowed Message ➤ 1 · SEND THE COMMAND
The whole process is a chat dialogue: question, answer, question, answer.
3

Choose the username

Still in the chat with the BotFather

  1. Now the BotFather asks for a username. It has two rules: it must end in bot and must not be taken anywhere in the world yet.
  2. If “Sorry, this username is already taken” appears: not an error, just taken – simply try a more personal variant, e.g. with your name or a year: my_assistant_2026_bot.
← B BotFather ✓ bot ⋮ Good. Now let's choose a username for your bot.It must end in `bot`, e.g. TetrisBot. assistant_bot Sorry, this username is already taken. my_assistant_2026_bot Done! Congratulations … Message ➤ 1 · UNIQUE, ENDS IN BOT
A rejected name is completely normal – the second or third try will work.
Display name vs. username: The display name is what you see in the chat (“My Companion”). The username is the technical address (@my_assistant_2026_bot) – it can be cryptic, nobody has to remember it.
4

Copy the token and store it safely

In the BotFather’s “Done! Congratulations” message

  1. The BotFather congratulates you and sends a message with the sentence “Use this token to access the HTTP API”. Right below it is your token: a long string of characters with a colon, something like 1234567890:AA….
  2. Tap or click the token – Telegram usually copies it right away. Alternatively, select and copy it.
  3. Paste it somewhere safe: a password manager or a text file that lives only on your computer.
← B BotFather ✓ bot ⋮ Done! Congratulations on your new bot: @my_assistant_2026_botUse this token to access the HTTP API:1234567890:AA·····your-token·····…Keep your token secure and store it safely. This is your Bot-Token – the line with the colon. Select it, copy it, store it safely. Show it to no one! Message ➤ 1 · COPY THIS LINE
The line with the colon – that is the treasure of this page.
Misplaced the token? Unlike with many other services, that is no problem here: write /mybots to the BotFather, choose your bot and then “API Token” – the token can be shown again there at any time.
5

Start your own bot once

The congratulations message contains a link like t.me/my_assistant_2026_bot

  1. Tap this link – the chat with your new bot opens.
  2. Press the big “Start” button at the bottom.
← M My Companion bot ⋮ No messages here yet. Your bot can only reply once you start it. START 1 · START HERE
A single press of a button – but without it the bot stays silent forever.
Please don’t skip this! Telegram rule: a bot may only write to a person after that person has started the chat. Without this click your Companion can never send you a message – the most common stumbling block.
6

Find your own Chat-ID

Again via the Telegram search: userinfobot

  1. Search Telegram for userinfobot and open the chat with @userinfobot.
  2. Press “Start” – the bot replies immediately with a few lines about you.
  3. The number after “Id:” is your Chat-ID, e.g. 123456789. Write it down or copy it.
← u userinfobot bot ⋮ /start @YourNameId: 123456789First: First nameLang: en The number after “Id:” is your Chat-ID. Write it down or copy it – hand it over together with the token. Message ➤ 1 · YOUR CHAT-ID
A plain number – your “house number” at Telegram.
Why does the Companion need this number? So that it writes exclusively to you and reacts to no one else. The Chat-ID is not a secret like the token – but it still doesn’t belong in strangers’ hands.

Done!

You now have both: the Bot-Token (the key) and your Chat-ID (the address). Hand both over to the program that sets up the Companion – by pasting (Ctrl+V) into the fields provided. Once everything is connected, your Companion will report in exactly the chat you started in step 5.

And what does all this cost?

Telegram bots: free – now and permanently. Telegram charges nothing for the bot, token and Chat-ID. There are no hidden fees and no payment details.
Costs arise elsewhere: with the AI itself. Your Companion uses AI models via OpenRouter (its own page) – billed by usage from your prepaid balance. And there, model choice is the biggest cost lever: your Companion comes set to DeepSeek V4 Pro out of the box – strong in everyday use and very inexpensive. Simply stay with it.
Careful with premium models (e.g. Claude Opus 4.8) Top models cost many times more per request. Chatting away comfortably with one of them can use up €20 of credit in half an hour – for normal chats they are simply the wrong choice.

Important: how to handle the token

The token is like a house key. Whoever has it can write through the bot in your name and read along. Please don’t put it publicly on the internet, don’t post it in forums or chat groups, and don’t pass it on to strangers. If the token does ever end up in the wrong hands: with the BotFather, /mybots → your bot → “API Token” → “Revoke current token” – the old token is instantly worthless, and you get a new one.

Common stumbling blocks

My Companion doesn’t write to me

Most common cause: step 5 was skipped – you have to have opened the chat with your bot once yourself, with “Start”. Second cause: the token or Chat-ID was handed over with a typo or a stray space – best to copy and paste both again, fresh.

“Sorry, this username is already taken” – again and again

Telegram usernames are unique worldwide, and the obvious ones are long gone. Going more personal frees things up: your own name, a year or an invented word in front – as long as it ends in bot. The name doesn’t have to be pretty; nobody but the technology sees it regularly.

I lost the token

No drama: open the BotFather, send /mybots, choose your bot, “API Token” – there it is. Only if you suspect that a stranger knows it should you choose “Revoke” there and use the new token.

The Chat-ID has a minus in front

Then it belongs to a group, not to you personally. For your personal Companion you need your own, positive ID from step 6. Group IDs are only needed when the Companion is supposed to write into a group – that is a special case.

I don’t trust @userinfobot – can I do without it?

Understandable – it is an unofficial helper (though all you send it is “/start” – it sees nothing more). Alternative without a third party: send your own bot any message, then open the address api.telegram.org/botYOUR-TOKEN/getUpdates in your browser (replace YOUR-TOKEN with the real token). In the displayed text, your number is after "id": in the "chat" section.

My Telegram looks different from the pictures

The phone app, the PC program and the browser version differ visually, and the pictures here are simplified sketches. The steps, however, are identical: BotFather chat, /newbot, name, username, token – the same everywhere.