# Telegram vs Slack for open-source AI agents: what a message proves

> Telegram ties a message to an id on an allowlist. Slack ties it to a linked account that is a project member. That decides where an approval settles: Telegram cannot name the member deciding, so an approval from Telegram is decided on Kortix's Review page. Kortix is the open-source CompanyOS, and one agent answers in Slack, Teams, Telegram and Discord.

URL: https://agentsfortelegram.com/telegram-vs-slack-for-ai-agents

## What a channel can prove about the sender

`Guide → Channels → account link`

```
In Slack and Teams, each person links their Kortix account once, so Kortix knows who asked and checks that this person may run the agent.
A Slack or Teams message carries no Kortix login. So each person links their Kortix account once, with /kortix login in Slack or /login in Teams.
Only you see the link. It works once and expires after 10 minutes.
Kortix checks that the sender is a project member who may start sessions.
Telegram has no account link.
The allowed-user list decides who may talk to the bot. Only an allowed user’s tap counts.
```

Source: https://kortix.com/docs/guide#channels

The account rules for Slack, Microsoft Teams and Telegram from the Kortix Guide.

## A chat is a thin surface over a session

Telegram and Slack both put an agent in a conversation and answer in the place you asked. The choice between them turns on something smaller and harder to fake: what the channel can say about the person who typed. Channels connect a project to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Telegram and Discord, and one agent serves them all.

## Telegram proves an id, and stops there

Telegram has no account link. The allowed-user list decides who may talk to the bot, and only an allowed user's tap counts. A stranger who messages it in a private chat gets their own user ID back and appears under Allowed users → Wants access, where a project manager allows them with one click. That list decides who reaches the bot at all, which is a real gate. In a group, only commands, replies to it and mentions reach it.

It does not place that id inside your company. An entry is a Telegram account, with no membership and no role behind it. Photos, files, voice notes and videos also reach the agent: Kortix downloads up to 8 MB of files per message into the session’s workspace.

## Slack and Teams prove a member

A Slack or Teams message carries no Kortix login either, and each person fixes that once. They send `/kortix login` in Slack or `/login` in Teams, open the link and sign in. Kortix then checks that the sender is a project member who may start sessions, and a person outside the project gets a card to request access. The link works once and expires after 10 minutes.

The same rule reaches the decision. When an agent asks for a decision, the card in a Slack or Teams thread shows the title, a summary, a risk note and buttons such as Approve and Deny, with View in Kortix beside them. A project manager, or the person who started the session, makes the call. In Slack and Teams that decider arrived through an account link, so the answer carries a name the project already holds.

## Where the two channels part

The two surfaces differ on what you need to connect, what a message proves, and how a session starts. Those are the points that settle the choice.

| What changes | Telegram | Slack and Microsoft Teams |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What you need to connect | A bot token and the allowed Telegram user ids | Add to Slack; tenant consent, then the app in Teams |
| Account link | None | `/kortix login` in Slack, `/login` in Teams |
| What a message proves | An allowed user id | A linked account that is a project member |
| How a chat maps to a session | One chat; each forum topic its own | One Slack thread; each Teams channel post |
| Who may join a session | Anyone on the allowed-user list | Join policy: Open, Approval, or Owner only |
| Where an approval is decided | Kortix's Review page, decided by a project manager | The card in the thread, or the Review page |

## Where the work lands

One chat is one session on Telegram, and each topic in a forum group is a session of its own. A Slack thread is one session. On Teams, each channel post starts one. The chat holds none of the work. One isolated sandbox per session. Each session has its own isolated machine and branch, and the reply comes back to the thread that asked.

One approval settles one action, and in Slack or Teams it is given on the card in the thread. A Telegram request waits on Kortix’s Review page instead, because a tap in the chat carries no project member. Either way it does not put anything on `main`. Session work reaches `main` through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents. View in Kortix on the card opens that page, where a reviewer sees the diff and merges it.

## Choosing between them

Pick Telegram when the people who ask are few, sit on a list you control, and the work is mostly reading, reporting and quick jobs from a phone. An action that needs permission still goes to Kortix's Review page, where a project manager decides it. Pick Slack or Microsoft Teams when that decision has to trace back to a member of the project, because the account link is what makes the trace possible. Approval gates you set. Off until you set them.

A project can hold both at once. Telegram keeps its allowed-user list, and each Slack or Teams channel keeps a join policy of Open, Approval, or Owner only. A chat’s agent writes only in that chat and its topics, so work asked for in one place answers there. [Approvals in Telegram](/approvals-in-telegram) covers the button in the chat and the approval it cannot decide, and [the setup behind it](/telegram-agent-with-company-tools) covers the token and the connector logins.

## Two questions buyers ask before they connect one

### What is the difference between Telegram and Slack?

Telegram ties a message to an allowed user id, and one chat is one session. Slack links each person to a Kortix account, checks that they are a project member, and treats one thread as one session.

### Which platform is best for making AI agents?

Neither one makes the agent; both are front ends for one that runs on a cloud computer. Choose Telegram for reach and a phone-first team, Slack or Teams when an approval must trace to a project member.

## Pick the channel by who can decide its approvals.

Connect Telegram, Slack or Teams to one project, and the same agent answers in each with the rules that channel can enforce.

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