Create a minimal Telegram bot with three enabled features

After OpenClaw kept crashing, a developer switched to a custom Telegram bot that only handles tasks, calendar entries, and weather.

Done with OpenClaw· Intermediate· Oct 2026

What they did
They tested OpenClaw in a separate VM with very restricted file access, but it repeatedly tried to reconfigure itself and then failed. They then built their own Telegram bot for chatting over Telegram and manually switched on just three abilities: adding to a TODO list, adding calendar items, and returning weather in a format they prefer. New functions will be added only when they are actually needed.
How it went
They said this gave them a clear view of how the workflow operates from start to finish. They also reported that OpenClaw’s soul.md, heartbeat, and memory features never worked as intended, and they are still looking for a method to allow the LLM to browse websites.
Tips
A smaller feature set is easier to reason about and less likely to break in surprising ways. If you try this, keep each capability separate and require approval before anything that could change data or connect to another service.

Try it yourself with OpenClaw

Help me design a Telegram bot with only three active abilities: add an item to [to-do system], create an event in [calendar service], and fetch the weather for [place] in [format]. Put each capability in its own module, keep all other behavior off unless I explicitly enable it, and explain how to set it up and store secrets. Test one command at a time, and before any step that would send, delete, submit, or otherwise change data, stop and ask me to confirm. Finish once all three features are working.

Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.

Read the original on news.ycombinator.com ↗

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