01Four things live in BotFather, not in FlowCastle
Your bot has a profile in Telegram, just like a person. It has four parts:
| What | Where people see it | BotFather command | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | At the top of the chat and in the chat list | /setname | 64 characters |
| Description | In an empty chat with the bot, under "What can this bot do?", before anyone presses Start | /setdescription | 512 characters |
| About text | On the bot's profile page, and next to the link when someone shares the bot | /setabouttext | 120 characters |
| Profile picture | Next to the bot's name everywhere | /setuserpic | a photo; Telegram crops it to a circle |
Telegram keeps these in its own settings for your bot. FlowCastle does not change them, and publishing your flows never overwrites them. So you change them yourself in @BotFather, the official Telegram bot that created your bot.
02Change one of them
- Open Telegram and find @BotFather (the one with the blue verified check).
- Send the command for what you want to change, for example
/setdescription. - BotFather shows your bots. Pick the one you want.
- Send the new text, or the photo for
/setuserpic.
BotFather answers "Success!" and the change is live. Some Telegram apps show the old text for a few minutes.
If you prefer buttons: send /mybots, pick your bot, then tap Edit Bot. Every part above has its own button there.
Only the Telegram account that created the bot can change it. If someone else created it for you, they have to do it, or move the bot to you in BotFather (/mybots → your bot → Transfer Ownership).
03The description is not your welcome message
These two are easy to mix up:
- The description is what people read before they press Start. Telegram shows it only while the chat is still empty. Once someone has started the bot, they no longer see it.
- The welcome message is what your bot sends after Start. It is the first message in the flow that answers
/start. You change it in the editor, or by asking the AI assistant.
A good description says in one or two lines what the bot does and why it is worth pressing Start. For example:
✨ Telegram Premium, Stars and crypto in one place.
Pick what you need, leave a request, and we will help with the rest.
Press Start to see the options.
The AI assistant can help you write the text. You then paste it into BotFather yourself.
04The command menu is the one exception
The list of /commands people see in Telegram is set by FlowCastle. Each time you publish, it is updated from the command triggers in your flows, so you do not need /setcommands. It keeps commands you added in BotFather. The details are in Test and Deploy.
05Next up
See how publishing works and what it changes in Telegram: