How to resolve the Openclaw (version v2026.03.24 cff6dc9) cron jobs error: “Outbound not configured for channel: telegram”

Tried for a long time before finding the correct way to create a cron job and send to a Telegram topic.
I saw a lot of people on GitHub had the same problem, so I’m sharing this in case it helps you.

TL;DR
sessionTarget -> isolated
to: telegram_group_id: telegram_topic_id

In .openclaw/cron/jobs.json,

      ....
      "sessionTarget": "isolated",
      ....
      "delivery": {
        "mode": "announce",
        "channel": "telegram",
        "to": "-10038316xxxxx:xxxx" //workable Telegram Group ID: Telegram Topic ID
      },

        "to": "-10038316xxxxx:topic:xxxx" //won't work
        "to": "channel:-10038316xxxxx:topic:2196" //won't work

A template using Openclaw CLI to add a cron job:

openclaw cron add \
   --name "Check current weather" \
   --cron "0 7 * * *" \
   --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
   --session isolated \
   --message "Check today's chance of precipitation." \
   --announce \
   --channel telegram \
   --to "telegram_group_id:telegram_topic"

For example, my Telegram group ID is 38316xxxxx (convert to -10038316xxxxx, you may add @IDBot to your group and use the /getgroupid@myidbot command to retrieve your Telegram group ID) and topic ID.

openclaw cron add \
   --name "Check current weather" \
   --cron "0 7 * * *" \
   --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
   --session isolated \
   --message "Check today's chance of precipitation." \
   --announce \
   --channel telegram \
   --to "-10038316xxxxx:2196"

Try to execute the cron job manually by

openclaw cron run your_job_id

openclaw cron run 226e39ac-2a6a-47b7-b1ad-ab050be926db


You should receive a message from the corresponding Topic on Telegram if everything works properly.

You may check the cron job status by

openclaw cron list