Telegram Body Double — System Overview

What It Is

Your Brain's Co-Pilot

Not a chatbot. A body double — the friend who sits next to you and says "here's what you do next" when your brain won't start. It has access to your calendar, email, vault, and ideas. It leads with the next physical action, keeps answers phone-short, and doesn't ask unnecessary questions.

How It Works

📱

Your Phone (Telegram)

Send a message from anywhere

Telegram Bot API

🧠

Claude Code (Your Mac)

Running in background via launchd + screen

MCP connections

📅

Calendar

📧

Gmail

🗃

Vault

📓

NotebookLM

What You Can Say

"What's next?" Checks calendar, daily note, ideas pipeline. Gives you 1-3 actions right now.

"How's my day?" Calendar overview + open threads from yesterday.

"Idea: [anything]" Creates an idea note in your vault. Just say it — no structure needed.

"Prep me for [meeting]" Pulls calendar event + related notes. 30-second briefing.

"Remember: [thing]" Saves it to the right place in your vault or memory.

"Capture: [anything]" Quick-saves to the right vault location based on content.

"Daily" Compact daily process summary, phone-friendly.

Build Progress

Phase 1: Bot Creation Done

Telegram bot via BotFather, token saved securely

Phase 2: Persistence Done

launchd + screen = auto-start on login, restart on crash

Phase 3: Personality Done

ADHD body double persona, phone-optimized responses, natural language patterns

Phase 4: Proactive Next

Scheduled check-ins, calendar nudges, Plaud auto-process, Pixel Tasker automations

Security

🔒 Locked Down

Access policy set to allowlist. Only your Telegram user ID can interact with the bot. Strangers get no response. Token stored in a local file, never in chat history.

Key Files

~/.claude/body-double-start.sh Startup script
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.jared.claude-body-double.plist Auto-start rule
~/.claude/channels/telegram/.env Bot token
~/.claude/channels/telegram/access.json Access control
CLAUDE.md (Channel Mode section) Personality
SOPs/SOP - Telegram Body Double.md Usage guide

Pro Tips

Getting the Most Out of It

Use it for transitions. Coming back from lunch? Getting home? "What's next?" is your re-entry ramp.

Capture before you forget. Walking the dog with an idea? Voice-message "Idea: what if we..." before it fades.

Don't overthink wording. It understands natural language. "What do I do now" = "what's next?"

It leads with action. Want explanation? Ask. Otherwise it gives you the move, not the reasoning.