Telegram alerts — setup checklist

Connects this server's alerts (nightly backups, the weekly server-rebuild kit, and the VDO / TURN service check) to a Telegram group with Charles and Tom. About 15 minutes. Tick the boxes as you go.

The bot token is a password. It goes in exactly one place: the hidden prompt of the setup script (step D). Never paste it into a chat, an email, a Telegram message, or an AI assistant.

A · Telegram on your phone

Charles and Tom — skip if you already have it

Install Telegram — iPhone (App Store) · Android (Google Play) · desktop apps · Telegram Web

Sign in with your phone number. Optional but handy: set a username in Settings → Username so you're easy to add to groups.

B · Create the alert bot

Charles, on his phone

Open @BotFather (Telegram's official bot for making bots — check for the blue verified tick) and tap Start.

Send /newbot.

Give it a name people will see in the group — e.g. Charles Altman Alerts.

Give it a username. It must be unique and end in bot — e.g. charlesaltman_alerts_bot. Write the username down; you need it in step C.

BotFather replies with the token (looks like 1234567890:AAH…). Leave that message where it is — you'll copy it in step D. BotFather help

C · Make the group

Charles

In Telegram: New Group → add Tom → name it, e.g. charlesaltman alerts.

Open the group → Add members → search for your bot's username from step B → add it.

In the group, send /start@your_bot_username (with your real bot username). Bots in groups don't see ordinary messages, so this command is how the setup script finds the group. Why: privacy mode

D · Run the setup on the server

Charles — in a real terminal, not through Claude

Open a terminal on the server — either
• DigitalOcean → Droplets → charles-altman → Access → Launch Droplet Console, or
• SSH from your computer: ssh root@charlesaltman.com

Run:

/root/telegram-setup.sh

It refuses to run through an AI assistant on purpose, so the token never passes through any chat.

When it asks, copy the token from BotFather's message and paste it. Nothing shows while you paste — that's intentional. Press Enter.

It shows the group it found — type y to confirm.

It finishes with two ✅ lines and sends two test messages to the group.

E · Confirm

Charles and Tom

Both of you see two test messages in the group — one "shell alert path", one "ALERTS CONNECTED".

Any time later, check the setup without sending anything:

/root/telegram-setup.sh check

or send the two test messages again:

/root/telegram-setup.sh test

What goes where

Every value in this setup: where you get it, and where it ends up

Value	Get it from	Put it	Never
Bot token a password	BotFather's reply to `/newbot` (step B)	Only the hidden prompt of `/root/telegram-setup.sh`. The script saves it for both alert systems.	Chat, email, screenshots, AI assistants
Bot username	You choose it in step B (ends in `bot`)	When adding the bot to the group, and in `/start@username` (step C)	—
Group	You create it in step C, with Tom and the bot	Nothing to copy — the script finds its ID and asks you to confirm	—
Group chat ID a negative number	Found automatically by the script	Saved by the script alongside the token	—
Server access	DigitalOcean Droplet Console or SSH	Only needed to run the script in step D	—

For the record, the script writes the same token and group to two places on the server, so the two alert systems can't disagree: the shell alerts' settings file (backups, rebuild kit, service check) and the CMS's Telegram settings (Site Guardian, and the agent scheduler later). Neither is reachable from the web.

If something goes wrong

You see	Do this
`Telegram rejected the token: Unauthorized`	The token was copied incompletely. Copy the whole line from BotFather again and re-run step D.
`… doesn't see a group yet`	Make sure the bot is a member of the group, send `/start@your_bot_username` in the group, then press Enter.
`needs a real terminal`	You ran it through Claude or a script. Use the Droplet Console or SSH (step D).
A ✅ and a 🔴 at the end	One of the two alert systems didn't send. Run `/root/telegram-setup.sh test`, then tell Tom which line was red.
You think the token leaked	In @BotFather: `/revoke` → pick the bot → it issues a new token. Re-run step D with the new token. The old one stops working immediately.

What you'll get once it's on

Service check, every 15 minutes — a message only when LuminalVDO or the TURN relay goes down or comes back, not every run.

Nightly site backup to Google Drive — a message if it fails.

Weekly server-rebuild kit (Sundays) — a message if it fails.

CMS alerts — Site Guardian now, the agent scheduler once it's installed here.