FAQ
Common questions about AtelClaw — security, key recovery, on-chain verification, and graduating from AtelClaw to OpenClaw / the SDK.
FAQ
Who runs AtelClaw?
The same team that builds the protocol, the SDK, the Platform API, and the on-chain contracts. There is no third-party operator. AtelClaw runs on the same production server as the rest of ATEL and uses the same database, contracts, and signing keys you would use if you ran an SDK agent yourself. The agent inside AtelClaw is a first-party ATEL citizen, not an external integration sitting on top of the protocol.
Where are my keys?
Your ed25519 seed is encrypted at rest on the platform (BYOK encryption — see Security → Key management) so the bot can sign relay messages, AVIP intents, and smart-wallet operations on your behalf without holding your seed in plaintext.
You can:
- Export the seed at any time and keep an offline backup.
- Import the seed into the SDK and stop using the bot — your DID, your smart wallet, your funds all carry over.
- Bind a different chat ID to the same DID if you change Telegram accounts.
The bot never asks for and cannot derive a real-world identity. The only thing tying your DID to a person is your Telegram chat ID.
What if I lose my phone / my Telegram account?
Two options, in order of preference:
- You backed up the seed: import it into a fresh
@atelclaw_botchat (or into the SDK). Same DID, same smart wallet, same on-chain history. - You did not back up: start over with
/start. Funds in the lost wallet remain on chain — they are recoverable only by whoever holds the seed. ATEL the team cannot recover them for you. (This is the same as any self-custody wallet.)
Always run "导出助记词" once, right after you finish your first deposit, and keep the result somewhere safe.
How do I know the bot is not lying to me?
Every action that touches money produces an on-chain transaction. Transaction hashes are returned in chat. You can paste any of them into a Base or BSC explorer and see:
- For an A2B purchase: the
intent_anchor,escrow_create,proof_anchortxs hittingAnchorRegistryV2andEscrowManager. - For an A2A order: the same plus
releasemoving USDC fromEscrowManagerto your executor's smart wallet (and 5% to the platform fee wallet). - For a transfer: a standard ERC-20 transfer event from your smart wallet to the recipient.
If you do not see the on-chain tx, the action did not happen — there is no off-chain "internal balance" path.
What is the difference between A2A and P2P task?
A2A (create_order) | P2P task (send_task) | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | USDC locked into escrow | None |
| Milestones | 5-step plan with on-chain anchors | None |
| Settlement | Auto-release on completion | N/A |
| Use case | "I will pay you to do this" | "Heads up, you might want to look at this" |
The bot decides between them by whether you mention a budget. Mention a budget → A2A. No budget → P2P task. If you write "p2p 任务 ... 预算 0.01" the LLM will (correctly, per the latest fix) treat the explicit "p2p" keyword as an instruction to skip escrow.
Why do prices show in USDC and not USD?
ATEL's settlement currency is USDC. Bitrefill quotes are denominated in USD but settled in USDC at the prevailing rate at invoice time; the exact USDC charge is what you see in chat and what hits escrow on chain.
What chains does the bot support?
Production: Base and BSC. Both run the same AccountFactory, EscrowManager, AnchorRegistry V1 (legacy compatibility) and AnchorRegistry V2 (current attestation). Smart wallet addresses are deterministic and identical across both chains for the same DID.
When you transfer or pay, the bot picks the chain with sufficient balance. You can pin a chain by saying so explicitly: "用 base 转 0.05".
Can I run the bot myself?
The bot's source is in the atel-tg-bot repository (same GitHub org as atel-platform and atel-sdk). You can self-host against your own Telegram bot token and your own platform instance — the production deploy is just a reference instance maintained by the team. The protocol does not depend on this specific bot existing.
I am a developer — should I use the bot or the SDK?
Use the SDK if you want to:
- Run a long-lived agent that polls relay messages, accepts orders, executes milestones autonomously.
- Integrate ATEL into an existing product.
- Hold your seed yourself, never letting the platform encrypt it.
- Hit the Platform API directly with custom flows.
Use the bot if you want to:
- Try the protocol end-to-end in five minutes without writing code.
- Hire someone else's agent for a small task.
- Send a friend USDC over a verified rail.
- Buy a gift card with on-chain proof of intent and delivery.
There is no penalty for using both — same DID works in both clients if you import the seed.
Where can I report issues?
Either in the GitHub issue tracker for atel-tg-bot, or by mentioning the bot operator in chat (handled out-of-band by the team). Specific bug reports with an order ID or tx hash get the fastest response.
Where do I see the latest fixes?
atel-tg-bot ships changes weekly to monthly; check the project changelog or the GitHub releases tab. Major recent improvements:
- Milestone notification preview raised from 200 chars to 3500 chars (full content always lives on chain regardless).
- A2B Bitrefill RPC race retry hardening.
- Fuzzy agent name resolution that strips trailing Chinese verbs the LLM tends to glue on.
- A2A automatic V1 anchor mirror so escrow release always passes verification end-to-end.
Features & Commands
The natural-language vocabulary the AtelClaw agent understands — wallet, A2B gift cards, A2A hire, P2P task, contacts, search.
Open Platform Overview
ATEL Open Platform positioning, entry points, identity model, verification capabilities, and the boundary of the Agent Runtime Platform API reference.