Group Chat Bot Setup

Overview

Make your AI assistant work in group conversations:

• Mention triggers — Respond when @mentioned
• Keyword triggers — Respond to specific phrases
• Permission control — Limit who can use the bot
• Context awareness — Understand group dynamics

WhatsApp Groups

Enable Group Mode

clawdbot config set whatsapp.groups.enabled true

Set Trigger Mode

Option A: Respond to mentions

clawdbot config set whatsapp.groups.trigger "mention"
clawdbot config set whatsapp.groups.botName "AI"

Now the bot responds when someone writes “AI, what is…”

Option B: Respond to all messages

clawdbot config set whatsapp.groups.trigger "all"

⚠️ Not recommended for active groups — can be noisy.

Option C: Keyword trigger

clawdbot config set whatsapp.groups.trigger "keyword"
clawdbot config set whatsapp.groups.keyword "/ask"

Users type /ask what is the weather? to get a response.

Telegram Groups

Add Bot to Group

1. Open your Telegram group
2. Add your bot as a member
3. Make it admin if you want it to see all messages

Configure Permissions

# Respond to /commands only
clawdbot config set telegram.groups.commandsOnly true

# Or respond to mentions (@botname)
clawdbot config set telegram.groups.respondToMentions true

Set Up Commands

clawdbot config set telegram.commands '[
  {"command": "ask", "description": "Ask the AI a question"},
  {"command": "summarize", "description": "Summarize recent messages"},
  {"command": "help", "description": "Show available commands"}
]'

Discord Servers

Bot Permissions

When adding to a server, ensure these permissions:

• Read Messages
• Send Messages
• Read Message History
• Use Slash Commands (optional)

Channel Restrictions

# Only respond in specific channels
clawdbot config set discord.allowedChannels "general,ai-chat,support"

# Or exclude certain channels
clawdbot config set discord.excludedChannels "announcements,rules"

Trigger Configuration

# Respond to @mentions
clawdbot config set discord.trigger "mention"

# Or use a prefix
clawdbot config set discord.trigger "prefix"
clawdbot config set discord.prefix "!ai"

Group-Specific Personalities

Different Prompts per Group

Create a config file for group-specific behavior:

clawdbot config set groups.customPrompts '{
  "work-team": "You are a professional assistant. Be formal and concise.",
  "friends": "You are a fun, casual assistant. Use emojis occasionally.",
  "family": "You are a helpful family assistant. Be warm and patient."
}'

Permission Control

Admin-Only Commands

clawdbot config set groups.adminCommands "reset,config,mute"

User Allowlist

# Only specific users can trigger the bot
clawdbot config set groups.allowedUsers "+1234567890,+0987654321"

Rate Limiting

Prevent spam:

# Max 10 messages per user per minute
clawdbot config set groups.rateLimit.perUser 10
clawdbot config set groups.rateLimit.window 60

Context & Memory

Remember Group Context

# Keep last 20 messages for context
clawdbot config set groups.contextLength 20

Per-Group Memory

# Separate conversation history per group
clawdbot config set groups.isolateMemory true

Best Practices

Do’s

• ✅ Use triggers instead of responding to everything
• ✅ Set rate limits to prevent spam
• ✅ Give the bot a clear role in the group
• ✅ Test in a private group first

Don’ts

• ❌ Don’t enable “reply to all” in active groups
• ❌ Don’t give the bot admin powers unless needed
• ❌ Don’t share sensitive info in groups with the bot

Troubleshooting

Bot Not Responding in Groups

1. Check if groups are enabled: clawdbot config get whatsapp.groups.enabled
2. Verify trigger mode is set correctly
3. Ensure the bot has read permissions

Bot Responding Too Much

1. Switch to mention/keyword trigger mode
2. Enable rate limiting
3. Restrict to specific channels

Context Issues

1. Increase context length
2. Enable isolated memory per group
3. Check if the AI model supports longer context

Next Steps

• Voice Assistant — Add voice support
• Multi-Platform Setup — Connect more platforms