Written by Sean Dadashi

<aside> 💡 Two patterns covered here: (1) Same agent, separate sessions per topic — zero config needed. (2) Different agents per topic — full isolation with own model, instructions, and workspace.

</aside>

Overview

OpenClaw supports Telegram forum topics (supergroups with Topics enabled). Each topic automatically gets its own session, and you can optionally bind different agents to different topics within one group.

This replaces the old pattern of creating separate Telegram groups per agent. One supergroup with topics is cleaner, easier to manage, and keeps everything in one place.

How it works under the hood:

• Each forum topic gets a unique session key: agent:<id>:telegram:group:<chatId>:topic:<threadId>
• Bindings can match on topic-level peer IDs (e.g., -100XXXXXXXXXX:topic:2)
• Topics without explicit bindings fall back to the base group binding via parentPeer

Total time: 5 minutes (same agent) or 15 minutes (different agents)

Pattern 1: Topics with the Same Agent

The simplest case. Each topic gets its own isolated session, but they all use the same agent (same model, workspace, and personality). Great for organizing conversations by domain without needing separate "brains."

Step 1: Create a supergroup with Topics

1. Open Telegram → New Group → name it (e.g., "Claw Workspace")
2. Open group settings → Edit → Topics → toggle ON
3. Add your OpenClaw bot to the group

<aside> ⚠️ Bot privacy must be OFF for group messages. Go to @BotFather → /mybots → your bot → Bot Settings → Group Privacy → turn OFF. Then remove and re-add the bot to the group (privacy changes only apply to groups joined after the change).

</aside>

Step 2: Create your topics

Create topics for each domain (e.g., "Investing", "Coaching", "Research"). A "General" topic exists by default.