Telegram plugin: bot does not reply to DMs — inbound messages not delivered to session

Fix

brew install oven-sh/bun/bun

Description

The Telegram plugin (telegram@claude-plugins-official v0.0.1) does not reply when a user sends a DM to the bot. The bot appears online but sends no response. This is likely related to the known issue where inbound notifications/claude/channel MCP notifications are not delivered to the active Claude Code session.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.81
• OS: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0, arm64 — Apple Silicon)
• Node version: v25.8.1
• Plugin: telegram@claude-plugins-official v0.0.1

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install the Telegram plugin
2. Configure bot token via /telegram:configure — token is saved to ~/.claude/channels/telegram/.env
3. Start Claude Code with --channels flag
4. No access.json exists — default policy is pairing (should accept any DM and return a pairing code)
5. Send a DM to the bot on Telegram
6. Bot does not reply — no pairing code, no typing indicator, no error

What Works

• Bot token is valid and saved correctly (verified via /telegram:configure — shows first 10 chars)
• Plugin is installed and recognized by Claude Code
• Claude Code starts without errors related to the Telegram channel

What Doesn't Work

• DMs to the bot produce no response at all
• No typing indicator appears in Telegram
• No pairing code is returned despite dmPolicy: "pairing" being the default
• No <channel source="telegram"> message appears in the Claude Code session

Investigation

• /telegram:configure confirms the token is set and valid
• No access.json exists, which means defaults apply (dmPolicy: "pairing", empty allowlist) — the bot should accept any DM and respond with a pairing code
• This appears to be the same root cause as #36431, #36472, #36503, and #36802: the MCP notifications/claude/channel notification is either not firing or not being routed into the Claude Code conversation
• Restarting Claude Code does not resolve the issue

Related Issues

• #36431 — Inbound MCP channel notifications not delivered to conversation
• #36472 — Inbound channel notifications not delivered to session
• #36503 — --channels shows "Channels are not currently available" but notifications ignored
• #36802 — notifications/claude/channel not delivered to session

Expected Behavior

When a user DMs the bot with dmPolicy: "pairing", the bot should reply with a pairing code. Once paired and approved, the bot should relay messages to the Claude Code session and deliver responses back to Telegram.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code