Description

After upgrading from 2026.2.23 to 2026.2.26, Telegram bots stopped receiving group messages. DMs continued to work fine, and the bot could still send messages to groups, but incoming group messages were not being received/processed.

Environment

• OpenClaw version (broken): 2026.2.24, 2026.2.25, 2026.2.26
• OpenClaw version (working): 2026.2.23
• OS: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0 arm64)
• Node: v25.6.0

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure a Telegram bot with group support (multi-account setup with family account)
2. Add bot to a group with requireMention: false
3. Disable privacy mode in BotFather (/setprivacy → Disable)
4. Make bot admin in the group
5. Upgrade to 2026.2.26
6. Send a message in the group

Expected: Bot receives and processes the group message
Actual: No response, no logs showing message received

Verification

• getMe API shows can_read_all_group_messages: true (privacy mode off)
• getChatMember confirms bot is admin
• getWebhookInfo shows no webhook conflict
• Bot can successfully send messages to the group via message tool
• DMs to the same bot work fine
• Gateway status shows works for the Telegram account

Config (redacted)

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": true,
      "accounts": {
        "family": {
          "enabled": true,
          "groups": {
            "-1003703340043": { "requireMention": false }
          },
          "groupPolicy": "allowlist"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Workaround

Downgrade to 2026.2.23:

npm install -g openclaw@2026.2.23
openclaw gateway restart

Notes

• The group migrated from a regular group to supergroup during debugging (ID changed), but this was not the root cause
• OpenClaw auto-detected the migration and logged it correctly
• No relevant changes in the 2026.2.24-2026.2.26 changelog mention Telegram