TeleClaude

A Python framework for building Telegram bots that use Claude Code to read, plan, and edit their own codebase - with human-in-the-loop approval, voice transcription via OpenAI Whisper, and self-restarting deployment.

_{anthropic claude-code claude-code-channels telegram-bot ai-agent self-improving-software whisper voice-to-code agentic-coding python}

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The idea: let Claude Code edit itself through Telegram

Your bot is a thin Telegram relay. Claude Code is the agentic part - it reads the codebase, proposes changes, and writes files when you approve. The bot just forwards your messages to Claude Code and sends back the response.

The result is a closed-loop development cycle: chat -> analyze -> plan -> approve -> edit -> restart. No IDE, no SSH, no deploy pipeline. Just a conversation with your running application from your phone - or even a voice message transcribed via Whisper.

What about Claude Code Channels? Anthropic's official Telegram/Discord/iMessage channels are a promising direction, but they're still in research preview - when we last tested them, the experience wasn't stable enough for production use. TeleClaude was built to fill that gap: your bot runs Claude Code as a subprocess on the server where it's deployed, with a plan/approve workflow and self-restart baked in. No local machine needed, no --channels flag, no Bun dependency - just pip install and go. If Channels matures into a solid production path, we'd love to add it as an alternative backend - contributions welcome.

How it works

+----------------+        +-----------------+        +--------------------+
|   Telegram     |  msg   |   TeleClaude    | stdin  |    Claude Code     |
|   (phone)      |------->|   (Python bot)  |------->|    (subprocess)    |
|                |<-------|                 |<-------|                    |
|                | reply  |  plan/approve   | stdout |   reads/edits      |
|                |        |  workflow       |        |   your codebase    |
+----------------+        +-----------------+        +--------------------+

1. You send a message in Telegram
2. TeleClaude routes it to Claude Code in read-only plan mode
3. Claude analyzes your codebase and proposes a plan
4. You /approve or /reject from Telegram
5. On approve, Claude executes with file-edit permissions
6. /restart reloads the bot to pick up code changes
7. The application is now running its improved version of itself

Quickstart

Prerequisites

• Python >= 3.10
• Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated
• A Telegram bot token from @BotFather

Install

pip install teleclaude

Create your bot

import os, time
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from teleclaude import ClaudeSession, TeleClaudeBot, kill_previous

load_dotenv()

kill_previous("bot.pid")
session = ClaudeSession(project_dir=".")
bot = TeleClaudeBot(
    token=os.environ["TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN"],
    chat_id=os.environ["TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID"],
    claude_session=session,
)
bot.start_polling()

try:
    while bot.running:
        time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    bot.stop_polling()

That's it. Send any message in Telegram and Claude Code responds. Built-in commands:

Command	What it does
Free text	Chat with Claude Code (read-only mode)
Voice msg	Transcribed via Whisper, then routed to Claude
/claude	Interactive menu: model switcher, session info, flush, approve/reject
/approve	Execute Claude's pending plan (allows file edits)
/reject	Discard the pending plan
/session	Session management (/session pin <id>, /session clear)
/context	Check Claude Code availability (rate-limit detection)
/restart	Restart the bot process (picks up code changes)
/help	Show all available commands

Add your own commands

Subclass TeleClaudeBot and override domain_commands() to register custom /commands:

import subprocess
from teleclaude import ClaudeSession, TeleClaudeBot, kill_previous

class MyBot(TeleClaudeBot):
    def domain_commands(self):
        return {
            "/status": (self.cmd_status, "Show git status"),
        }

    def cmd_status(self):
        result = subprocess.run(
            ["git", "log", "--oneline", "-5"],
            capture_output=True, text=True, cwd=self._project_dir,
        )
        self.send(f"<pre>{result.stdout or 'No git history.'}</pre>")

Other hooks you can override:

Hook	Purpose
on_domain_callback(data, message_id)	Handle inline keyboard callbacks
help_text()	Customize /help output
on_restart()	Customize restart behavior
plan_prompt_wrapper(text)	Customize the prompt sent to Claude in plan mode

Features

Voice messages

Send a voice message in Telegram and it gets auto-transcribed via OpenAI Whisper, then routed to Claude. Install the optional dependency:

pip install openai-whisper

The Whisper model (base) is lazy-loaded on first voice message. If not installed, the bot replies with install instructions.

Session handoff

The /claude menu includes Flush & New Session, which:

1. Asks Claude to write a .handoff.md summary of the current session context
2. Clears the session pin
3. On the next message, a new session bootstraps from .handoff.md automatically

To enable automatic handoff bootstrap, pass bootstrap_file to ClaudeSession:

session = ClaudeSession(project_dir=".", bootstrap_file=".handoff.md")

Rate-limit detection

When Claude returns a rate-limit error, the bot automatically starts background polling (every 5 min, up to 12 h) and notifies you when Claude is back online. You can also manually check via /context or the /claude menu.

Configuration reference

ClaudeSession options

session = ClaudeSession(
    project_dir=".",              # repo root (resolved to absolute path)
    model="opus",                 # "opus", "sonnet", or "haiku"
    output_format="json",         # "json" or "stream-json"
    bootstrap_file=".handoff.md", # auto-inject on new sessions (None to disable)
    auto_pin=True,                # auto-save session ID on first use
    session_name_prefix="mybot",  # generates mybot-1, mybot-2, etc.
    plan_max_turns=25,            # max turns in plan (read-only) mode
    edit_max_turns=25,            # max turns in edit mode
    plan_tools=["Read", "Grep"], # override default plan-mode tools
    edit_tools=["Read", "Edit"], # override default edit-mode tools
    on_session_fallback=callback, # called when pinned session expires
)

Development

git clone https://github.com/ofir5300/teleclaude.git
cd teleclaude
pip install -e .
cd example && cp .env.example .env  # fill in your tokens
python main.py

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Open an issue or PR on GitHub.

License

MIT - Ofir Cohen