openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Telegram DM topics now require direct_messages_topic_id; message_thread_id falls back to main DM

Summary

Telegram DM/private-chat topics stopped receiving OpenClaw replies and deliveries around 2026-05-08 evening. OpenClaw still resolves the inbound DM topic route/session, but outbound delivery uses message_thread_id, which Telegram now rejects for private DM topics with:

400 Bad Request: message thread not found

A direct Telegram Bot API probe shows that the same topic id succeeds when sent as direct_messages_topic_id instead of message_thread_id.

This appears related to #79448, but that issue focuses on fallback delivery status being reported as delivered. This report focuses on the likely root routing/API field mismatch for Telegram DM topics.

Environment

• OpenClaw versions tested:
  • 2026.5.7 initially
  • rolled back to 2026.5.4 and reproduced the same behavior
• OS: Linux / WSL2
• Node: v22.22.1
• Telegram chat type: private DM with topics/threaded mode enabled
• Telegram provider mode: polling
• channels.telegram.dm.threadReplies tested with both:
  • inbound
  • always

User-visible symptom

1. Inbound messages from a Telegram DM topic still reach OpenClaw.
2. OpenClaw creates/uses a thread-scoped session key like:

agent:main:telegram:direct:<chat_id>:thread:<chat_id>:<topic_id>

1. Assistant replies are generated normally.
2. Replies do not appear in the DM topic screen.
3. Replies appear in the Telegram “All” / main DM view instead.

Timeline observed

• Earlier on 2026-05-08, Telegram DM topic replies were working.
• Later the same evening, replies started landing only in the main/all DM view.
• Restarting Gateway did not fix it.
• Changing dm.threadReplies from inbound to always did not fix it.
• Rolling back from OpenClaw 2026.5.7 to 2026.5.4 did not fix it.

Reproduction / diagnostics performed

1. OpenClaw message tool with explicit topic/thread target

Sending through OpenClaw to a DM topic target or with explicit threadId succeeds from OpenClaw's perspective, but the message lands in the main/all DM view.

Examples tested:

target = <chat_id>:topic:<topic_id>

and:

target = <chat_id>
threadId = <topic_id>

Both returned successful message ids, but Telegram displayed the messages outside the topic.

2. Raw Telegram Bot API probe with message_thread_id

Direct Bot API call, token omitted:

{
  "chat_id": "<chat_id>",
  "text": "raw message_thread_id test",
  "message_thread_id": 42159
}

Telegram response:

{
  "http": 400,
  "ok": false,
  "error_code": 400,
  "description": "Bad Request: message thread not found"
}

The same failure was observed for the previous topic id as well as a freshly-created topic id.

3. Raw Telegram Bot API probe with direct_messages_topic_id

Direct Bot API call, same chat/topic, token omitted:

{
  "chat_id": "<chat_id>",
  "text": "raw direct_messages_topic_id test",
  "direct_messages_topic_id": 42159
}

Telegram response:

{
  "http": 200,
  "ok": true,
  "message_id": 26887,
  "chat_id": "<chat_id>"
}

This strongly suggests that Telegram private/DM topics now require direct_messages_topic_id for outbound sends, while OpenClaw currently uses message_thread_id for DM topic sends.

Gateway log evidence

OpenClaw logs show the current fallback behavior:

telegram sendMessage: message thread not found; retrying without message_thread_id
telegram sendMessage ok chat=<chat_id> message=<message_id>

So OpenClaw first tries topic delivery, Telegram rejects it, then OpenClaw retries without the thread/topic field. The retry succeeds but lands in the main/all DM view.

Expected behavior

For Telegram private DM topics, OpenClaw should send outbound messages using the Telegram Bot API field that Telegram accepts for private direct-message topics:

{
  "direct_messages_topic_id": <topic_id>
}

For Telegram forum/group topics, OpenClaw should continue using:

{
  "message_thread_id": <topic_id>
}

Actual behavior

OpenClaw appears to send DM topic outbound messages using message_thread_id, causing Telegram to return:

400 Bad Request: message thread not found

OpenClaw then falls back to a bare DM send, making the message visible only in the main/all DM view.

Why this may have started suddenly

This matches #79448's timeline: Telegram seems to have stopped accepting message_thread_id for private DM topics sometime on 2026-05-08. In our environment, the behavior changed the same day: it worked earlier, then started failing later in the evening without local config changes that explain the Telegram API rejection.

Suggested fix

In the Telegram outbound/send parameter builder, distinguish DM/private topics from forum/group topics:

if (thread.scope === "dm") {
  return normalized > 0 ? { direct_messages_topic_id: normalized } : undefined;
}

if (thread.scope === "forum") {
  return normalized > 1 ? { message_thread_id: normalized } : undefined;
}

The exact field name should be verified against the current Telegram Bot API schema, but live probing indicates direct_messages_topic_id is accepted while message_thread_id is rejected for private DM topics.

Related issues / PRs

• #79448 — reports the silent fallback/status masking for DM topic misroutes.
• #79408 / #79410 — forum-topic fallback behavior, adjacent but not the same as DM topic field selection.
• Historical DM-topic fixes such as #18586 and #17952 appear to assume message_thread_id is correct for DM topics; that assumption may no longer hold for current Telegram Bot API behavior.

Workaround

Current workaround is to stop relying on Telegram DM topics and send to the bare DM chat. This avoids invisible/misleading topic routing, but does not preserve topic separation.