OpenClaw Agent Relay Plugin Fixes Telegram Delivery in Multi-Agent Setups

A developer has released openclaw-agent-relay, a plugin that solves the problem where sessions_send in multi-agent setups fails to deliver responses to Telegram users.

The Problem with sessions_send

When using sessions_send to pass messages between agents, the target agent's response goes to channel=webchat (an internal channel) instead of reaching the user on Telegram. This happens because sessions_send preserves session and conversation history but doesn't properly handle delivery. The issue is documented in closed ticket #13374 marked as NOT_PLANNED. Additionally, it can corrupt the session's delivery context, flipping it from telegram to webchat permanently (referenced in #44153 and #31671).

Existing Workarounds and Their Limitations

Developers have tried two main approaches:

• Explicit message tool usage: The target agent calls message with channel: "telegram" and explicit to/threadId, then returns ANNOUNCE_SKIP. This is documented in #47971 and #28603. Problems include needing to embed delivery instructions in every sessions_send payload and agents forgetting to use the workaround, especially in longer sessions.
• Relying on announce step: Using timeout=0 to get an announce step where the agent can write a user-facing response. However, models tend to return ANNOUNCE_SKIP instead of writing content (#43295). Announce delivery also has issues: drops threadId for Telegram topics (#47971, #45878), silently fails with multi-channel setups (#47524), and ANNOUNCE_SKIP text can leak to users (#45084).

The Solution: openclaw-agent-relay

The plugin bypasses both sessions_send and announce entirely. It uses the same gateway WebSocket RPC that subagents use internally (callGateway({ method: "agent" })) to trigger an agent turn in the existing session with deliver: true. The agent responds normally without special instructions, ANNOUNCE_SKIP, or message tool workarounds, and the response goes directly to Telegram.

How to Use It

Two methods are available:

• Tool wake_agent: Any agent can call it to wake another agent in their session:
  wake_agent({ sessionKey: "agent:my-agent:telegram:direct:123456", message: "Hey, remind the client about the contract" })
• HTTP POST /notify: For cron jobs, scripts, or external triggers:
  

  curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18790/notify \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-secret-token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sessionKey":"agent:my-agent:telegram:direct:123456", "message":"Reminder: client asked for the contract"}'

Installation

Install with: openclaw plugins install openclaw-agent-relay

The developer notes that implementing the gateway RPC authentication involved working with Ed25519 device identity, challenge-response protocols, and undocumented protocol quirks.