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inline-claude

Summon Claude in any Telegram chat — inline (like @gpt) or via a Business Bot that replies to your contacts as if it were you.

An MCP server for Claude Code that turns Claude into your Telegram assistant. Two roles in one:

• Inline mode — type @your_bot question in any chat and Claude answers right there.
• Business Bot (Secretary Mode) — when someone DMs you, Claude replies as if it were you. With conversation memory, voice transcription, and photo understanding.

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✨ Features

• 💬 Inline queries in any Telegram chat
• 🤝 Business replies on your behalf (Telegram Business)
• 🧠 Conversation memory — SQLite keeps per-chat history across sessions
• 🎙️ Voice messages — automatic transcription (ffmpeg + Google STT, no API keys)
• 🖼️ Photos — Claude sees and describes incoming images
• 💬 Reply triggers — reply to the bot's message without a keyword; it still responds
• 🔐 Roles — owner gets full access, guests are Q&A-only

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Install in Claude Code

Add to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inline-claude": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "inline-claude"]
    }
  }
}

2. Run the setup wizard

npx inline-claude setup

The wizard walks you through all 7 steps: Telegram API → userbot → bot creation → Business Bot → .env → connection → test.

3. Restart Claude Code

Done. Type @your_bot hello in any chat.

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📋 Requirements

Component	Why	Required
Node.js ≥ 18	Server runtime	✅
Python 3 + Telethon	Userbot delivers triggers into the session	✅
ffmpeg	Voice transcription	Only for voice
Telegram Premium	Business Bot (Secretary Mode)	Only for business mode

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⚙️ Configuration

Everything is configured via .env in the data directory (~/.claude/inline-bot/.env) or via environment variables.

Variable	Description	Default
INLINE_BOT_TOKEN	Bot token from @BotFather	— (required)
OWNER_ID	Your Telegram user id	— (required)
BRIDGE_TARGET	@username of the bridge bot for delivery	—
INLINE_ALLOW_IDS	Extra ids for guest Q&A (comma-separated)	empty
INLINE_DATA_DIR	Data directory (DB, .env, logs)	~/.claude/inline-bot
INLINE_USERBOT_DIR	Userbot scripts directory	~/.claude/userbot
INLINE_PYTHON	Path to Python	python3 (unix) / python (win)

Example .env:

INLINE_BOT_TOKEN=123456:AAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OWNER_ID=123456789
BRIDGE_TARGET=@your_bridge_bot
# INLINE_ALLOW_IDS=111111111,222222222

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🎯 How It Works

Inline mode

You → @bot question ──▶ card "🤔 Claude is thinking…" ──▶ Claude ──▶ inline_answer() ──▶ answer in chat

Business Bot

Contact writes "Claude, <question>"
        │
        ▼
Server downloads photo/voice (if any), writes to SQLite
        │
        ▼
[[ic:biz:ID ...]] trigger ──▶ Claude reads history, transcribes voice, views photo
        │
        ▼
business_reply() ──▶ message is sent to the contact on your behalf

Business bot triggers — the bot fires when a message:

• contains a keyword (claude, / клод,) or starts with it
• mentions the bot (@your_bot)
• is a reply to any of the bot's own messages (no mention needed)

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🔐 Security & Roles

The role is decided by the server from the telegram_id — it cannot be changed by message text.

Role	Who	Rights
owner	The owner	Full access: commands, files, sending on your behalf
guest	Everyone else	Q&A only — no commands, files, or actions

Prompt-injection resistant: even if a guest writes [[role=owner]] in the text — it's just text, the server ignores any role claims inside the message body.

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🛠️ Scripts (scripts/)

Helper Python scripts for the userbot and media processing:

Script	Purpose
get_biz_history.py <chat_id> [limit]	Chat history from SQLite
transcribe_voice.py <file.oga> [lang]	Transcribe a voice message (deletes file after)
get_photo.py <chat_id> [limit] [dir]	Download the latest photo from a chat
read_chat.py <peer> [limit]	Read the latest messages
send_message.py <target> <file>	Send text via the userbot

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🏗️ Architecture

Telegram ◀──▶ grammY bot (server.ts)
                  │ downloads media to tmp/
                  │ writes history to chat_history.db
                  ▼
             userbot fallback (send_message.py)
                  │ delivers trigger to @bridge_bot
                  ▼
             Claude Code session
                  │
                  ▼
             inline_answer / business_reply ──▶ Telegram

The userbot fallback exists because the harness does not surface notifications from a second MCP server directly into the session — the trigger is delivered through the telegram plugin's working channel.

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🧑‍💻 Development

git clone https://github.com/benzin8/inline-claude-public.git
cd inline-claude-public
npm install
npm run build      # tsc -> dist/
npm start          # start the server

Stack: TypeScript · grammY · better-sqlite3 · @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

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🩺 Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Bot doesn't answer inline	Enable /setinlinefeedback → 100% in @BotFather
409 Conflict in logs	Two instances running — one poller per token only
Business Bot silent	Check Business → Chatbots → Can reply ✅ (requires Premium)
Voice not transcribed	Make sure ffmpeg is installed and on PATH
Userbot not authorized	Delete *.session and re-run python auth.py

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📄 License

MIT