WatchDog Robot Chat Guard

A group chat grows, and so does the junk: shady links, sticker packs that fill three screens, files from strangers. Cleaning it by hand gets old within a week. WatchDog Robot takes over that chore. 🐕

Telegram describes it modestly as a bot to manage chat groups. In practice it is a moderator that cleans a chat according to rules you set.

What it removes

The main job is deleting messages of banned types. The admin decides what counts as clutter.

• Links. The most common route for spam and scams.
• Stickers and GIFs. Useful in work or study chats where pictures flood the feed.
• Files. Stops strangers from dropping attachments.
• Voice messages and photos. For chats that only need text.

The block lists can be tuned to each community. A developer chat and a meme chat should not live by the same rules.

Setup in five minutes

The scheme is the same as for most moderators.

1. Open the bot and press /start.
2. Add it to your chat and make it an administrator.
3. Grant permission to delete messages and ban users.
4. Turn on the blocks for the content types you want gone, following the project guide.

Without admin rights the bot cannot delete anything. That is a Telegram rule, not a bug, so check permissions first.

Who is behind it

The bot belongs to the tgdev family, a project that builds tools for managing Telegram chats. It has documentation and a FAQ in English and Russian, plus support groups. The link to the docs sits in the bot's own profile.

If a setting behaves unexpectedly, start with the docs. They explain the commands and how the filters work.

Do not build a fortress

Strict filters stop spam, but they can annoy real people. If every link is banned, members cannot share a useful article. That is a fair trade for a public chat with thousands of people, and too much for a private circle of friends.

• Start small. Switch on one or two filters and watch how people react.
• Post the rules. Pin a message that says what gets deleted and why.
• Keep human moderators. Automation does not replace judgment.

Where it earns its place

It shines where newcomers keep arriving: open topic groups, channel discussion chats, study cohorts. Spammers show up there daily, and removing their posts by hand is thankless work.

In a small private chat these tools are rarely needed. When everyone knows each other, a simple agreement is enough. 🙂

Safety habits

Give the bot only the rights it needs. Deleting messages and banning members is enough. It has no reason to ask for the power to add new admins.

Check your group's admin list now and then and remove anyone who no longer belongs. That advice applies to any bot, not only this one.