Telegram Crabbox E2E Proof

Use this for Telegram PR review or bug reproduction when bot-to-bot proof is not enough. The goal is to let the agent keep a real Telegram user session open until it is satisfied, then attach visual proof.

Do not use personal accounts. Do not add credentials to the repo, prompt, or artifact bundle. The runner leases the shared burner account from Convex.

Start

Run from the OpenClaw repo and branch under test:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" start \
  --tdlib-url http://artifacts.openclaw.ai/tdlib-v1.8.0-linux-x64.tgz \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review

This starts one held session:

• leases the exclusive telegram-user Convex credential
• restores TDLib and Telegram Desktop with the same user account
• starts a mock OpenClaw Telegram SUT from the current checkout
• selects the configured Telegram chat in the visible Linux desktop
• starts a 24fps desktop recording
• writes .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json

Keep the session alive while investigating. It is valid for the agent to test for minutes, run several commands, use WebVNC, inspect transcripts, and only finish once the behavior is understood.

For deterministic visual repros, put the exact mock-model reply in a file and pass it to start:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" start \
  --tdlib-url http://artifacts.openclaw.ai/tdlib-v1.8.0-linux-x64.tgz \
  --mock-response-file .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/reply.txt \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review

When the scenario needs Telegram link previews explicitly enabled or disabled, set the SUT config before Gateway startup:

"$proof_cmd" start \
  --tdlib-url http://artifacts.openclaw.ai/tdlib-v1.8.0-linux-x64.tgz \
  --link-preview false \
  --mock-response-chunk-delay-ms 1200 \
  --mock-response-file .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/reply.txt \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review

Do not edit the generated config or restart the held-session Gateway to apply this setting; that bypasses the runner's lifecycle and cleanup ownership. The chunk delay splits the configured response into two streaming deltas so a recording can show the initial preview and a later in-place edit.

The runner defaults to --class standard, --record-fps 24, --preview-fps 24, and --preview-width 1920. Keep those defaults unless the proof needs something else.

While Testing

For visual proof, first send or identify a bottom marker message, then open the group/topic directly by message id:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" view \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json \
  --message-id <message-id>

This uses Telegram Desktop directly with tg://privatepost, not xdg-open. It also resizes Telegram to 650x1000 at the tested desktop position so the crop can isolate the chat pane even if Telegram keeps a split/sidebar layout. Do not press Escape after this; Escape can close the selected chat.

Bottom behavior matters:

• deep-linking to the newest message keeps Telegram pinned to the bottom, so later messages appear live in the recording
• deep-linking to an older message does not auto-scroll to new arrivals; link again to the newest/final marker instead of clicking the down-arrow
• the cropped GIF intentionally uses the chat pane, not the whole desktop or whole Telegram window

Send as the real Telegram user:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" send \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json \
  --text /status

For slash commands, omit the bot username; the runner targets the SUT bot.

Run arbitrary commands on the Crabbox:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" run \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json \
  -- bash -lc 'source /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/env.sh && python3 /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/user-driver.py transcript --limit 20 --json'

Useful remote user-driver commands:

source /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/env.sh
python3 /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/user-driver.py status --json
python3 /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/user-driver.py chats --json
python3 /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/user-driver.py transcript --limit 20 --json
python3 /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/user-driver.py send --text '/status@{sut}'
python3 /tmp/openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox/user-driver.py probe --text '@{sut} Reply exactly: USER-E2E-{run}' --expect USER-E2E-

Capture the current desktop without ending the session:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" screenshot \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json

Check lease state and get the WebVNC command:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" status \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json

Finish

Always finish or explicitly keep the box:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" finish \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json \
  --preview-crop telegram-window

finish stops recording, creates motion-trimmed MP4/GIF artifacts, captures a final screenshot and logs, releases the Convex credential, stops the local SUT, and stops the Crabbox lease. --preview-crop telegram-window also creates a fixed-geometry GIF from the tested Telegram proof window for clean side-by-side PR tables; the full desktop video/GIF remains in the artifact directory. Pass --keep-box only when a human needs to continue VNC debugging after the credential is released.

After any failure or interruption, verify cleanup:

crabbox list --provider aws

If a session file exists and the credential may still be leased, run finish with that session file before retrying.

Attach Proof

Attach only the useful visual artifact to the PR unless logs are needed. The runner is GIF-only by default:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" publish \
  --session .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-review/session.json \
  --pr <pr-number> \
  --summary 'Telegram real-user Crabbox session motion GIF'

This copies only the useful GIF into a temporary publish bundle and comments that GIF. If finish --preview-crop telegram-window produced a cropped GIF, publish uses that; otherwise it uses telegram-user-crabbox-session-motion.gif. Use --full-artifacts only when the PR needs logs or JSON output. Never publish credential payloads, local env files, TDLib databases, Telegram Desktop profiles, or raw session archives.

For before/after proof, run one session on main and one on the PR head, then publish only the intended GIFs from a clean bundle:

mkdir -p .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-123/comparison
cp <main-output>/telegram-user-crabbox-session-motion-telegram-window.gif \
  .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-123/comparison/main-before.gif
cp <pr-output>/telegram-user-crabbox-session-motion-telegram-window.gif \
  .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-123/comparison/pr-after.gif
crabbox artifacts publish \
  --repo openclaw/openclaw \
  --pr 123 \
  --dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/telegram-user-crabbox/pr-123/comparison \
  --summary 'Telegram before/after proof' \
  --no-comment

Then post a concise markdown table with those two URLs. Do not publish working directories that contain screenshots, raw videos, logs, session JSON, or crop experiments unless those artifacts are explicitly needed.

Quick Smoke

For a fast one-shot check, use:

proof_cmd="${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_USER_PROOF_CMD:-openclaw-telegram-user-crabbox-proof}"
"$proof_cmd" --text /status

This is a start/send/finish shortcut. Prefer the held session for PR review, issue reproduction, or any task where the agent may need several attempts.