Telegram's hidden beta lets you plug in your own AI keys

Telegram's macOS beta 13.1.0 (build 283365) contains a hidden Agent feature. Users pick a provider, paste their own API key, and then call the model with an @agent command. The five providers in the code are OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and OpenRouter. The provider list loads from Telegram's servers, so it can grow without an app update.

Several providers can be connected at once, with one active at a time, and the settings sync across devices. Keys are validated through Telegram's servers. Telegram stores only the date a connection was added and the last four characters of the key. You pay your provider directly; Telegram isn't offering free access.

This comes from code analysis by beta-leak watchers, not an announcement. The feature is switched off for regular users and has no launch date. Even how @agent will work is unknown (private chat, inline mode, or something else), and the design may change before release.

Why it matters: a bring-your-own-key model layer would put multi-model chat inside an app with a billion-plus users, without Telegram having to run any models itself.