Three things must be true: the CLI is installed, a bot token is stored, and an owner chat is claimed. telekit auth status tells you which are missing.

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1. Install

Mac app: download Telekit from telekit.io and complete the wizard. It can create the bot for you. From a source checkout: 
cd <telekit checkout>
./install.sh
telekit --help
The installer also sets up the Telekit harness, so /harness telekit works. On a fresh Mac install, Telekit also installs local speech tools and a model for Telegram voice notes. Setup shows download progress and verifies the model before enabling voice. Use ./install.sh --no-voice to skip voice and save that choice. On Linux and Windows, voice remains off; install ffmpeg and whisper-cli yourself, then run telekit voice setup --yes. See Voice notes.

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2. Create a Telegram bot

In Telegram, open @BotFather.
  • Existing bot: /mybots → API Token.
  • New bot: /newbot, then copy the token.

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3. Store the token

telekit auth set-token
The prompt hides the token. telekit stores it in the macOS Keychain. Never paste a token into chat or a shell history-friendly command line.

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4. Claim the owner chat

The owner is the only chat the default bot will answer until you grant others. 
telekit auth claim
It flushes queued updates first, then waits. Send /claim to your bot from a private chat. Confirm the identity telekit prints. If the bridge is already running, auth claim refuses — its getUpdates looks like another consumer. Pair from the Telegram tab in the Mac app, or telekit uninstall first. If you already know your numeric id: 
telekit auth set-owner <chat_id>
The id must be positive (a private user). Use /whoami later to confirm.

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5. Install and start the daemon

telekit install          # start the background service
telekit daemon status
A fresh telekit install on macOS also sets up voice if no voice choice is saved. Use --no-voice to turn it off and keep it off on later installs, or --voice to retry or re-enable it. If voice setup fails, Telekit reports the error and leaves the service usable; fix the issue and run telekit voice setup --yes again. telekit daemon run is the foreground loop. You do not run it by hand once the service is loaded.

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6. Optional passcode

telekit passcode set
See Lock.

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Check

telekit auth status
You should see a bot username, a masked owner id, and a loaded daemon. Then send a private message to the bot. If nothing comes back, see Troubleshooting.