Telegram Setup
Control Mando from your phone with the Telegram bot.
Mando ships with a Telegram bot that handles both task management and content research (Scout). It connects to your local daemon over HTTP, the same way the desktop app and CLI do.
Create your bot
- Open Telegram and message @BotFather.
- Send
/newbot, pick a name and username. - Copy the bot token BotFather gives you.
Configure Mando
Open Settings > Telegram in the Mando app, or edit ~/.mando/config.json directly:
{
"channels": {
"telegram": {
"enabled": true,
"owner": "your_telegram_username",
"allowFrom": ["your_telegram_user_id"],
"groupChatId": "-100xxxxxxxxxx"
}
},
"env": {
"TELEGRAM_MANDO_BOT_TOKEN": "your-bot-token-here"
}
}Key fields:
owner— your Telegram username (for display purposes).allowFrom— list of Telegram user IDs authorized to send commands. Find yours by messaging @userinfobot.groupChatId— optional. If set, notifications go to this group chat instead of the direct message.env.TELEGRAM_MANDO_BOT_TOKEN— the token from BotFather. Stored in theenvsection, never serialized in plaintext config fields.
Available commands
Once connected, you can manage your entire task list from Telegram:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/todo | Add a new task (with confirmation flow) |
/tasks | Show task list with status |
/action | Pick a task and act on it (reopen, rework, cancel, merge, nudge, ask, input) |
/timeline | Task lifecycle timeline and Q&A history |
/triage | Rank pending-review PRs by merge readiness |
/stop | Stop all active workers |
/health | System health and active workers |
/scout_add | Add a URL to Scout |
/scout_research | AI-powered link discovery on a topic |
/scout_list | List scout items |
/scout_saved | View saved scout items |
/scout | Review processed items (swipe interface) |
The bot supports inline callbacks for confirmations, multi-select operations, and project pickers — all designed for one-thumb mobile use.
Troubleshooting
- Bot not responding — ensure the daemon is running (
mando status) and the bot token is correct. - "Unauthorized" messages — check that your Telegram user ID is in
allowFrom. - Group chat not working — add the bot to the group as an admin, then set
groupChatIdto the group's chat ID (starts with-100).