From 7e401edac7ca6449c4f549fda9e1b43385496bef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Noah Zweben <noahz@anthropic.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:47:13 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(telegram): retry polling on all transient errors, not
 just 409 (#1397)
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A single ETIMEDOUT/ECONNRESET/DNS failure during long-polling rejected
bot.start(); the catch block returned and polling stopped permanently.
The MCP server process stayed alive (stdin keeps it running), so outbound
reply/react tools kept working — but the bot was deaf to inbound messages
until a full restart. Users see 'typing...' then nothing, indistinguishable
from the harness-side gate bug.

Now all errors retry with the same capped backoff (max 15s). attempt resets
to 0 in onStart so backoff doesn't accumulate across a long-running session.

Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .../telegram/.claude-plugin/plugin.json       |  2 +-
 external_plugins/telegram/server.ts           | 43 +++++++++----------
 2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/external_plugins/telegram/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/external_plugins/telegram/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index 9e3c96a..e1edd21 100644
--- a/external_plugins/telegram/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/external_plugins/telegram/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "telegram",
   "description": "Telegram channel for Claude Code \u2014 messaging bridge with built-in access control. Manage pairing, allowlists, and policy via /telegram:access.",
-  "version": "0.0.5",
+  "version": "0.0.6",
   "keywords": [
     "telegram",
     "messaging",
diff --git a/external_plugins/telegram/server.ts b/external_plugins/telegram/server.ts
index 6a07e35..bfc551f 100644
--- a/external_plugins/telegram/server.ts
+++ b/external_plugins/telegram/server.ts
@@ -985,14 +985,17 @@ bot.catch(err => {
   process.stderr.write(`telegram channel: handler error (polling continues): ${err.error}\n`)
 })
 
-// 409 Conflict = another getUpdates consumer is still active (zombie from a
-// previous session, or a second Claude Code instance). Retry with backoff
-// until the slot frees up instead of crashing on the first rejection.
+// Retry polling with backoff on any error. Previously only 409 was retried —
+// a single ETIMEDOUT/ECONNRESET/DNS failure rejected bot.start(), the catch
+// returned, and polling stopped permanently while the process stayed alive
+// (MCP stdin keeps it running). Outbound tools kept working but the bot was
+// deaf to inbound messages until a full restart.
 void (async () => {
   for (let attempt = 1; ; attempt++) {
     try {
       await bot.start({
         onStart: info => {
+          attempt = 0
           botUsername = info.username
           process.stderr.write(`telegram channel: polling as @${info.username}\n`)
           void bot.api.setMyCommands(
@@ -1008,28 +1011,22 @@ void (async () => {
       return // bot.stop() was called — clean exit from the loop
     } catch (err) {
       if (shuttingDown) return
-      if (err instanceof GrammyError && err.error_code === 409) {
-        if (attempt >= 8) {
-          process.stderr.write(
-            `telegram channel: 409 Conflict persists after ${attempt} attempts — ` +
-            `another poller is holding the bot token (stray 'bun server.ts' process or a second session). Exiting.\n`,
-          )
-          return
-        }
-        const delay = Math.min(1000 * attempt, 15000)
-        const detail = attempt === 1
-          ? ' — another instance is polling (zombie session, or a second Claude Code running?)'
-          : ''
-        process.stderr.write(
-          `telegram channel: 409 Conflict${detail}, retrying in ${delay / 1000}s\n`,
-        )
-        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay))
-        continue
-      }
       // bot.stop() mid-setup rejects with grammy's "Aborted delay" — expected, not an error.
       if (err instanceof Error && err.message === 'Aborted delay') return
-      process.stderr.write(`telegram channel: polling failed: ${err}\n`)
-      return
+      const is409 = err instanceof GrammyError && err.error_code === 409
+      if (is409 && attempt >= 8) {
+        process.stderr.write(
+          `telegram channel: 409 Conflict persists after ${attempt} attempts — ` +
+          `another poller is holding the bot token (stray 'bun server.ts' process or a second session). Exiting.\n`,
+        )
+        return
+      }
+      const delay = Math.min(1000 * attempt, 15000)
+      const detail = is409
+        ? `409 Conflict${attempt === 1 ? ' — another instance is polling (zombie session, or a second Claude Code running?)' : ''}`
+        : `polling error: ${err}`
+      process.stderr.write(`telegram channel: ${detail}, retrying in ${delay / 1000}s\n`)
+      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay))
     }
   }
 })()