Turn Telegram into your website's live chat inbox
chatwithdev puts a chat bubble on your website and relays every visitor message to your own Telegram — through a bot you create and own. You answer like you'd answer a friend; your reply appears on the visitor's screen in seconds. No helpdesk console, no agent seats, no app for your visitors.
How the Telegram relay works
- Open the bot setup
Create your account, open Setup, and choose Create my bot. Follow the Telegram link or scan the QR code to continue on your phone.
- Confirm in Telegram
Confirm the bot creation in Telegram. chatwithdev configures the bot and its connection automatically. You do not need to paste a bot token.
- Pick where chats arrive
Use the setup buttons to connect a direct chat or a team group. For a separate topic per visitor in a group, enable Topics and give the bot the Manage Topics permission. The setup links handle pairing.
- Paste the widget on your site
One script tag before
</body>— that is the entire website integration:<script src="https://www.chatwithdev.com/widget.js" data-chatrelay-project="your-project" data-chatrelay-convex="https://impressive-quail-820.convex.cloud" data-chatrelay-title="Chat with us" defer></script>
Two modes, both Telegram-native
Group / Topics
Each visitor becomes a separate topic (thread) in one private Telegram group. Conversations stay organized, and a team can share the inbox by simply being in the group.
Direct
Every conversation arrives in your private chat with your bot. Reply to a specific relayed message to answer that exact visitor; a plain message goes to your most recent open conversation.
Why your own bot matters
- Tenant isolation — your messages never share a bot with other companies; webhooks and rate limits are yours alone.
- Revocable ownership — the bot lives in your @BotFather account; revoke the token any time and the relay stops, no support ticket needed.
- Your brand in the chat list — the thread in your Telegram is named after your bot, not a vendor.
- A dashboard when you want one — every conversation also lives in the chatwithdev web inbox, with AI drafting, delivery status and history.
FAQ
Do my website visitors need Telegram?
No. Visitors only ever see the chat bubble on your website — no app, no account, no fields. Telegram is purely your side of the conversation; they never see where you reply from.
Is the Telegram bot free? Do I need to code it?
You do not need to code a bot or paste a token. Open Setup, choose Create my bot, and confirm in Telegram. chatwithdev configures the bot for you. New projects get 14 days of Pro free, including unlimited messages. Afterwards, the free plan includes 5 customer messages each month. You are only charged if you choose a paid plan.
Group mode or direct mode — which should I pick?
Group mode puts every visitor in their own topic inside a private Telegram group — best for staying organized or sharing the inbox with a team. Direct mode delivers every chat to your private DM with the bot — fastest for a solo founder. You can switch anytime.
Can a team share the Telegram inbox?
Yes — use group mode. Everyone in the group sees the visitor topics, anyone can answer, and the reply is attributed with the sender's name in the dashboard transcript.
What happens if I miss a message or Telegram is down?
Nothing is lost. Every conversation also lives in the chatwithdev web dashboard, and if a relay to Telegram fails the message is flagged so you can see it wasn't delivered there.
Why does chatwithdev use my own bot instead of a shared one?
Isolation and ownership: your traffic never mixes with other tenants on a shared bot, rate limits are yours alone, and you can revoke the bot token at @BotFather any time. Your bot, your audience.
Turn a bug report into a verified fix
When a conversation needs more than an answer, create a ticket from the chat. Review the draft and confirm the details. Ticketing is included on every plan; Pro adds dispatch to a coding agent through GitHub or your own runner.
A closed issue or merged pull request does not send a fix notification. Deploy the change, check the live site, and explicitly confirm the fix before linked visitors are told it is ready. See the complete bug reporting workflow.