Telegram channel: no feedback when agent starts working on a message

Problem

When using Claude Code with the Telegram channel plugin (--channels:plugin telegram@claude-plugins-official), there are two recurring UX issues:

1. No acknowledgment when work begins

When a Telegram message arrives and the agent starts working (reading files, making edits, etc.), there is often no immediate Telegram reply sent back. The user sees no reaction at all — they don't know if the message was received, if the agent is working, or if something went wrong.

This happens because the agent jumps straight into tool calls (Read, Edit, Grep, etc.) without first sending a reply to Telegram. The user's only feedback channel is Telegram, but tool call outputs are invisible to them.

2. Messages not delivered to Claude Code at all

Sometimes a Telegram message is sent but never arrives at Claude Code. The terminal shows no incoming message — the plugin simply doesn't deliver it. The user has to resend the same message multiple times before it gets through. This is a delivery issue in the Telegram plugin, not a model behavior problem.

Suggested improvements

1. Auto-react on message receipt: When the Telegram plugin delivers a message to the agent, automatically send a reaction (e.g. 👍 or 👀) to the Telegram message. This gives the user immediate confirmation that the message was received and is being processed — before the agent even starts thinking.

1. System prompt guidance: The Telegram plugin's system prompt could more strongly instruct the agent to always send a brief Telegram reply before starting long-running work (e.g. "Got it, working on it." → then proceed with tool calls).

1. Heartbeat/progress reactions: For long-running tasks (>30 seconds), periodically react or edit a status message so the user knows the agent hasn't stalled.

1. Fix message delivery reliability: Investigate why some Telegram messages are silently dropped and never reach Claude Code. This may be a polling/webhook issue in the Telegram plugin.

Environment

• Claude Code CLI on Linux (Strato server)
• Telegram channel plugin: telegram@claude-plugins-official
• Model: Claude Opus 4
• The agent runs as a persistent daemon, receiving messages via Telegram

Reproduction

Issue 1 (no acknowledgment):

1. Start Claude Code with --channels:plugin telegram@claude-plugins-official
2. Send a task message via Telegram (e.g. "Update the design docs with X")
3. Observe: no Telegram reply for 30-60+ seconds while agent works silently
4. User has no way to know if message was received

Issue 2 (dropped messages):

1. Same setup as above
2. Send a message via Telegram
3. Observe: nothing appears in the Claude Code terminal — message never delivered
4. Resend the same message 2-3 times until it gets through

🤖 Generated with Claude Code