🏛Private Telegram channel with join requests via a bot — free

What's inside

• ProfileThe text before Start and the line in the profile.
• Chat accessA private chat or channel: the bot handles join requests and lets people in by rules — Premium, a Stars payment.

Screens

1. This is a private channel's bot. Request to join via the author's link — the bot handles it by the rules.

How to make a private Telegram channel with join requests

A request-only channel is a private Telegram channel that a subscriber joins not straight from the link but after their request is approved. The person opens the invite link, sees the channel's name, description and a “Request to join” button. The request goes to the channel's admins, and until someone approves it, the person sees no posts.

Approving requests by hand is harder in a channel than in a group: there are usually more subscribers, and they arrive in waves — after a mention, an ad, a newsletter. The “Private channel” template hands this job to a bot. The bot becomes an admin of the channel, creates the join-request link and answers every request itself: with no rule it approves everyone, with the “Premium only” rule it lets in Telegram Premium users only.

Such a channel fits when the audience should be kept apart from a public one: a channel for clients, for course students, for staff, for members of a closed club, drafts and early access for the most engaged readers. The link can be shared openly — entry still goes through the bot.

How to create a channel bot without BotFather or a token

The bot is created from the template page in one tap. The button opens Telegram's “Create bot” window — a built-in Telegram feature — where you only confirm the name. The bot appears on your account and belongs to you. No BotFather, token, code or sign-up on the site is needed: everything usually done by hand — creating the bot, connecting it to a server, configuring it — is already done.

Hosting is ours; the bot runs from the moment it is created and answers requests at any hour. Creating it is free, and a free bot carries the “Made with @catalogue_app” signature.

How to connect the bot to a private channel

The bot sends its owner the admin panel as its first message; later, /admin opens it. The “Link a chat or channel” button offers to pick a group or a channel — for this template, pick a channel where you are an admin. Once picked, the bot becomes an admin of the channel with the right to invite. The rights are granted in the same Telegram window; there is no need to open the channel settings and look for the bot in a list.

Right after that, the bot creates an invite link with join requests and sends it to your DMs. Share that link: in a public channel, in a bio, on a website, in a newsletter, in an email to a client. The channel's older invite links keep working as before, so if entry should go through the bot only, revoke them in the channel settings.

One more condition is the channel type. A public channel with a username can be joined directly, by name from search, bypassing the join-request link. For all entry to go through the bot, the channel has to be private: the type is changed in the channel settings in Telegram itself, and posts and subscribers are kept.

A channel for Telegram Premium users only

The “Premium only” toggle in the admin panel turns on a filter by Telegram Premium. Telegram includes the Premium flag in every request, so the bot asks the person nothing. Premium present — the request is approved. Not present — the bot declines the request and sends the person a DM saying entry is for Telegram Premium users only.

The toggle applies to new requests and does not touch existing subscribers. It can be turned on for a while — say, for a week of early access — and turned off again; the link stays the same.

Bot texts, broadcasts and stats

The bot's texts are edited by hand in the admin panel — for example, the screen a person sees when opening the bot before requesting to join. The language switches between Russian and English. “Stats” shows a summary for the bot. “Broadcast” sends a message to everyone who has started the bot — a separate line of contact besides the posts in the channel itself.

“Edit with AI” rebuilds the bot from a description in plain words. The site has a visual node editor where screens, buttons and the entry rule are shown as a diagram and edited with the mouse.

Free private channel or paid one

The “Private channel” template is free for subscribers by default: the bot lets in everyone or Premium users only. If entry should cost money, the same admin panel sets a price in Telegram Stars per 30 days, and the bot starts sending the person a payment button. That flow is covered in full in the “Paid subscription channel” template. For groups where members write themselves, there is the “Private chat” template.

How to launch

1. Tap “Create bot” on this page and confirm the name in Telegram's “Create bot” window.
2. Open the admin panel — the bot's first message; later, the /admin command brings it up.
3. Tap “Link a chat or channel” and pick the channel — the bot becomes its admin with the right to invite.
4. If needed, turn on “Premium only” and revoke the channel's older invite links.
5. Share the join-request link from the bot's message — it handles the requests itself.

FAQ

Updated 01.11.2026