Before You Start
This entire setup happens in the terminal. The terminal is a text-based window where you type commands instead of clicking buttons. Every developer uses one. By the end of this course, you will too.
How to Open the Terminal
Mac: Press Command + Space to open Spotlight. Type “Terminal” and press Enter.
Windows: Press the Windows key. Type “PowerShell” and press Enter.
Linux: Press Ctrl + Alt + T. Or search for “Terminal” in your applications.
Keep this window open. You will use it for every lesson.
Why Claude Code?
Claude Code is one of the most powerful AI tools available right now. It runs Claude Opus 4.6 — the strongest model Anthropic makes. But here is what most people miss:
Claude Code is not just for developers. It is your personal infrastructure. It reads files, runs commands, connects to your tools, and executes complex tasks — all through natural conversation. You tell it what you want. It figures out how to do it.
Think of it as the operating system for your AI-powered life. The Telegram bot you are about to build is just one thing it can do. Email management, research, writing, data analysis, automation — Claude Code handles all of it.
The best investment you can make in AI right now is learning Claude Code. This course is your first step.
What You Need
Two tools need to be installed before anything else.
- Bun. The engine that runs the bot code. Free and open source.
- Claude Code: For the mini-setup, you need a subscription starting at $20/month (Pro plan) — good to get started. The Max plan ($100-200/month) is where the full power is — access to the best models and higher usage limits. For 24/7 server deployment (covered in Module 12), you can alternatively use an Anthropic API key with pay-per-token pricing that varies by usage and model selection — no subscription required.
The next lesson walks you through installing both.
The Code
Your bot lives in a GitHub repository — a folder of code hosted online. Here it is:
github.com/godagoo/claude-telegram-relay
Hundreds of people have already starred this repo, forked it, and built on top of it. You are joining a community of builders, not starting from scratch.
You do not need to download it yourself right now. In the “Create Your Bot” lesson, you paste one command into the terminal and Claude Code handles the rest.
Inside the repo is a file called CLAUDE.md. When Claude Code opens the project, it reads that file automatically. The file contains all setup instructions. Claude Code follows them and asks you simple questions along the way. You answer in plain English. It does the technical work.
What You Will Build
- A Telegram bot powered by Claude Code that responds to your text messages, understands your images, and can send and receive voice messages
- Persistent memory — it remembers your name, goals, and past conversations across every session
- A personal profile so your AI knows who you are and how you communicate
- Smart check-ins — your bot reaches out with morning briefings and timely reminders, without you asking
- Background services — your bot runs even if you close the terminal, as long as your computer is on and not in sleep mode
Five lessons to set it up — but also to understand how it is built. Should not take longer than 10 to 15 minutes. At the end, you will have a working AI assistant on your phone, desktop, or tablet that connects directly to your Claude Code.
What the Full Version Adds
This mini setup gives you a real, working bot. The full version inside the Autonomee community takes it much further:
- Call & Command. Call your bot, tell it what to do, hang up — it executes your tasks and reports back with live progress.
- Live Progress & Control. Watch your AI work step by step in real time. Approve, reject, or change direction mid-task. You stay in the driver’s seat.
- Specialized Agents. Six AI agents with different expertise — research, content, finance, strategy, and more. Each one thinks differently. The right brain for each job.
- Tool Integrations. Connect your email, calendar, task manager, and more. Send photos — your AI stores and remembers them.
- Production Deployment. Run it on a server for about $5 a month (server cost only — API costs for the AI models are additional and vary by usage and model selection). Smart routing with Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus automatically picks the right model for each message, keeping API costs optimized.
- Never Goes Down. If one AI model is unavailable, your bot automatically switches to a backup. Three layers of fallback so you are never without your assistant.
Even if you start with this free setup and decide to upgrade later — no problem at all. The full version has an automated setup that detects your existing bot, analyzes your configuration, and builds on top of it without breaking anything. It upgrades your system automatically.
Start free, experience what your AI assistant can do, and get a taste of the features you might want next. We actively build the full version in the community and add new features as members come up with ideas and use cases.
If you want to go deeper into Claude Code, learn how to build your own assistant, or just be around people who are building with AI — we would love to have you in the Autonomee community.
Time: 2 minutes to read. Then move to the next lesson.