Token Savings
Agent Chat uses approximately 50% fewer tokens than connecting your agent to Telegram or Discord. This means faster responses and lower costs — without sacrificing quality.
The Numbers
Here is a real comparison from the same agent, same workspace, same tools — only the chat channel is different:
| Metric | Agent Chat | Telegram |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokens per message | ~4,000 | ~63,000 |
| Context used | ~20% | ~50% |
| Response speed | Faster | Slower |
| Cost per conversation | ~50% less | Baseline |
These numbers come from production usage with the same workspace and tools. Your savings will vary based on conversation length and tool usage, but the pattern is consistent.
Why the Difference?
Telegram / Discord: One Big Thread
When your agent connects to Telegram or Discord, every message goes into a single conversation. Over time, the context grows:
- Message 1: “Check the build status” + response
- Message 2: “Create a GitHub issue” + response
- Message 3: “What is the latest deployment?” + response
- …
- Message 50: “Review this PR” + all 49 previous messages still in context
By message 50, the agent is processing tens of thousands of tokens of old, irrelevant context just to answer a simple question.
Agent Chat: Fresh Conversations
With Agent Chat, each conversation starts fresh. When you open a new chat:
- Only the workspace context (available tools, your settings) is loaded
- Only the messages in this specific conversation are included
- No leftover context from other conversations or other team members
When you ask “Review this PR”, the agent processes ~4,000 tokens — your workspace context plus this conversation’s messages. Not the 50 other things you asked about last week.
How It Adds Up
For a team of 5 people, each having 10 conversations per day:
| Telegram | Agent Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily input tokens | ~3.1M | ~1.3M |
| Monthly input tokens | ~65M | ~27M |
| Monthly savings | — | ~38M tokens |
The savings grow with team size and usage. More conversations = more savings, because each conversation stays small instead of accumulating context.
Additional Performance Benefits
Faster Responses
Less input context means the agent processes your message faster. With ~4K tokens instead of ~63K, the agent starts generating a response almost immediately.
Better Answers
When the context is focused on the current conversation, the agent is less likely to get confused by unrelated previous messages. Fewer distractions = more accurate responses.
Cache Efficiency
Agent Chat uses prompt caching for the workspace context (available tools, settings). This shared prefix is cached and reused across conversations, further reducing processing time and cost.
When to Use Telegram Instead
Agent Chat does not replace Telegram or Discord for every use case:
| Use Agent Chat when | Use Telegram/Discord when |
|---|---|
| Working from the dashboard | You need mobile access on the go |
| Team needs separate conversations | You want a shared group discussion |
| Cost and speed matter | You need platform-specific features (buttons, inline bots) |
| You want approvals + activity monitoring | You need notifications pushed to your phone |
Both can connect to the same workspace simultaneously. Use whichever fits the situation.
Next Steps
- Connect OpenClaw — get started with Agent Chat
- Team Access — multiply the savings across your team
- Approvals — add approval gates at no extra token cost