Bot Token vs Full Account Access: What Telegram-Claude Integrations Really Mean
Connecting Claude to Telegram via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can be done in minutes, but users face two fundamentally different setups with very different security implications. Bot API servers authenticate using a limited bot token, restricting access only to chats the bot is explicitly added to, while MTProto servers log in as the user, exposing all private messages, groups, and contacts. The session file created by MTProto does not expire like a token and can be exploited by anyone who gains access to it, making secure storage critical. Beyond credential theft, granting an AI agent full read-write access to Telegram introduces prompt injection risks, since a malicious message crafted as a command could manipulate the agent. The article also highlights practical pitfalls such as differing config file locations across AI clients and Codex CLI requiring TOML rather than JSON format.
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