Telegram publishing

How publishing works

flowchart TD
    A[Create bot in BotFather] --> B[Add bot token in admin panel TG bots]
    B --> C[Create Telegram channel]
    C --> D[Add bot as channel admin<br/>Post messages + Add members]
    D --> E[Write note in Obsidian]
    E --> F[Add telegram_publish_at + telegram_publish_tags]
    F --> G[Sync the note]
    G --> H{Tag matches?}
    H -->|Instant Tag| I[Publish immediately]
    H -->|Scheduled tag| J[Queued until publish_at]
    I --> K[Post live in channel]
    J --> K

Set up a bot

Create the bot:

1. Open @BotFather in Telegram
2. Send the command /newbot
3. Enter a display name for the bot
4. Enter a username ending in _bot (e.g. myposts_bot)
5. Copy the token — keep it private

Add the bot to the admin panel:

1. Open the admin panel
2. Go to TG bots
3. Click + Add
4. Paste the token into the Token field
5. Enter a description, e.g. "Main bot"
6. The system will verify the token and show the bot's name
7. Refresh the page to see the bot in the list

Connect a Telegram channel

Create a channel (public or private — either works).

Add the bot as admin:

1. Open the channel settings → Administrators
2. Add your bot
3. Grant two permissions only:
   • Post messages
   • Add members

Note: the "Add members" permission is currently required for the bot to connect. This is a known limitation that will be fixed.

If the channel does not appear in the admin panel, remove the bot from the channel and re-add it with the correct permissions.

Schedule a post

Add two properties to a note, then sync:

telegram_publish_at — type must be Date & time (not plain Date)

telegram_publish_at: 2025-01-15T09:00

telegram_publish_tags — type must be List

telegram_publish_tags:
  - My channel

The system matches these tags to channels configured in the admin panel. A note publishes to every channel whose tags overlap.

Sync the note after adding the properties. The post will appear in the queue.

Set the tags before the first publish. Adding a tag to a note that is already published does not deliver it to the newly matched channel — publish state is tracked per note, not per channel. To reach the extra channel, open admin panel → Telegram posts → the post → Sent tab → Reset, then sync again. Reset deletes the post from every channel it already reached and re-sends it with new message IDs, so links to the old post break.

Preview a post instantly

Give a private test channel an Instant Tag and a note carrying that tag arrives there the moment you sync it, so you see the finished post before your readers do. See en/user/telegram-instant.

Check post status

Go to admin panel → Telegram posts.

• Date in the past → post already sent
• Date in the future → post is queued

Click a queued post to send it immediately. Click a sent post → open the Sent tab → click Reset to delete it from the channel and re-queue it.

Editing published posts

After a post is published, sync an updated note and the post updates in the channel automatically.

flowchart TD
    E[Want to change a published post] --> Q{What changes?}
    Q -->|Text, formatting,<br/>links, lists| A[Edit note in Obsidian -> Sync<br/>Post updates automatically]
    Q -->|Photos, videos, post type,<br/>number of album photos| B[Open post in admin -> Reset]
    Q -->|Rename the note| B
    B --> C[Edit note in Obsidian]
    C --> D[Sync again<br/>Re-queued and published]

What can be edited:

• Text content
• Formatting (bold, italic, code)
• Links and lists

What cannot be changed:

• Photos and videos — Telegram freezes media after publication
• Post type — you cannot add media to a text post or remove media from a photo post
• Number of photos in an album

To change media or post type: go to admin panel → find the post → click Reset → edit the note in Obsidian → sync again.

Renaming notes: The system identifies posts by file path and name. Renaming a note creates a second post. If you must rename a published note, reset it first, rename, then sync.

Post types and limits

The system determines post type from the note's content automatically:

The limit is measured on visible text — formatting tags are not counted. If the limit is exceeded, the post will not publish and a warning appears in the admin panel.

If a note has more than 10 media files, the system uses the first 10.

Formatting in posts

Write in Markdown — the service converts it to Telegram formatting.

When a wikilink points to an unpublished note that has a scheduled telegram_publish_at, the system appends a "Coming soon" block to the post automatically.

What is not supported:

• Tables
• Nested lists
• Regular images embedded in text (use media attachments instead)
• Unknown HTML tags (only <u> is supported)

Notes containing unsupported elements will not publish. A warning appears in the admin panel post list.

Scheduling tips

• Write a week of posts in advance, set dates, sync once — they publish automatically at the scheduled times
• Keep posts in a dedicated folder to avoid accidentally renaming published notes
• Always preview in a test channel before publishing to your main channel

Related

• en/user/publishing — property types and how to use telegram_publish_at and telegram_publish_tags correctly
• en/user/telegram-access — link a group to a subgraph: members read gated notes, subscribers join the group
• en/user/monetization — gate content by Telegram group membership or third-party subscriptions