fix(telegram): wrap markdown pipe tables in fenced code blocks

Telegram does not support markdown pipe tables. Detect pipe tables (header + separator + body rows) in both the MarkdownV2 and HTML parsers and wrap them in fenced code blocks so they render with monospace alignment.

Also adds a kernel identity instruction telling the LLM to avoid pipe tables in Telegram output.

pkg/agent/context.go

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func (cb *ContextBuilder) getIdentity() string {
 	version := config.FormatVersion()
 
 	return fmt.Sprintf(
-		`# picoclaw 🦞 (%s)
+			`# picoclaw 🦞 (%s)
 
 You are picoclaw, a helpful AI assistant.
 
@@ -134,7 +134,9 @@ Your workspace is at: %s
 
 3. **Memory** - When interacting with me if something seems memorable, update %s/memory/MEMORY.md
 
-4. **Context summaries** - Conversation summaries provided as context are approximate references only. They may be incomplete or outdated. Always defer to explicit user instructions over summary content.`,
+4. **Context summaries** - Conversation summaries provided as context are approximate references only. They may be incomplete or outdated. Always defer to explicit user instructions over summary content.
+
+5. **Telegram output** — Telegram does not support markdown tables. If you need to present tabular data, use a fenced code block or a structured list instead. Markdown pipe tables will be automatically wrapped in code blocks, but it is better to avoid them entirely.`,
 		version, workspacePath, workspacePath, workspacePath, workspacePath, workspacePath)
 }
 

pkg/channels/telegram/parse_markdown_to_md_v2.go

@@ -5,6 +5,22 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 )
 
+// reTable matches a markdown pipe table (header line + separator line + at least one body row).
+// The (?m) flag makes ^ match at line boundaries.
+// Trailing newline(s) are deliberately excluded from the match so that blank lines
+// between the table and following content are preserved.
+var reTable = regexp.MustCompile(`(?m)^(\|[^\n]+\|\r?\n\|[-:\|\s]+\|\r?\n(?:\|[^\n]+\|\r?\n?)+)`)
+
+// wrapTablesInCodeBlocks wraps each pipe table in a fenced code block so that
+// Telegram renders it with monospace alignment. This must run before any entity
+// processing so the ``` delimiters are recognized as code blocks.
+func wrapTablesInCodeBlocks(text string) string {
+	return reTable.ReplaceAllStringFunc(text, func(match string) string {
+		match = strings.TrimRight(match, "\r\n")
+		return "```\n" + match + "\n```"
+	})
+}
+
 // mdV2SpecialChars are all characters that must be escaped in Telegram MarkdownV2
 var mdV2SpecialChars = map[rune]bool{
 	'*':  true,
@@ -89,6 +105,9 @@ var verbatimEntities = map[string]bool{
 //
 // Reference: https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#formatting-options
 func markdownToTelegramMarkdownV2(text string) string {
+	// 0. Wrap pipe tables in fenced code blocks so Telegram renders them legibly.
+	text = wrapTablesInCodeBlocks(text)
+
 	// 1. Convert Markdown headings → *escaped heading text*
 	text = reHeading.ReplaceAllStringFunc(text, func(match string) string {
 		sub := reHeading.FindStringSubmatch(match)

pkg/channels/telegram/parse_markdown_to_md_v2_test.go

@@ -56,6 +56,34 @@ func Test_markdownToTelegramMarkdownV2(t *testing.T) {
 			input:    "<Market Capitalization>",
 			expected: "\\<Market Capitalization\\>",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "pipe table is wrapped in code block",
+			input: "| Header 1 | Header 2 |\n" +
+				"|----------|----------|\n" +
+				"| Cell 1   | Cell 2   |\n" +
+				"| Cell 3   | Cell 4   |",
+			expected: "```\n" +
+				"| Header 1 | Header 2 |\n" +
+				"|----------|----------|\n" +
+				"| Cell 1   | Cell 2   |\n" +
+				"| Cell 3   | Cell 4   |\n" +
+				"```",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "pipe table surrounded by text",
+			input: "Some text\n\n" +
+				"| A | B |\n" +
+				"|---|---|\n" +
+				"| 1 | 2 |\n\n" +
+				"More text",
+			expected: "Some text\n\n" +
+				"```\n" +
+				"| A | B |\n" +
+				"|---|---|\n" +
+				"| 1 | 2 |\n" +
+				"```\n" +
+				"More text",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range cases {

pkg/channels/telegram/parser_markdown_to_html.go

@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ func markdownToTelegramHTML(text string) string {
 		return ""
 	}
 
+	// Wrap pipe tables in fenced code blocks so Telegram renders them legibly.
+	text = wrapTablesInCodeBlocks(text)
+
 	codeBlocks := extractCodeBlocks(text)
 	text = codeBlocks.text
 

pkg/channels/telegram/parser_markdown_to_html_test.go

@@ -70,6 +70,16 @@ func Test_markdownToTelegramHTML(t *testing.T) {
 			input:    "```json\n{\n  \"path\": \"README.md\"\n}\n```",
 			expected: "<pre><code>{\n  \"path\": \"README.md\"\n}\n</code></pre>",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "pipe table is wrapped in code block",
+			input: "| Header 1 | Header 2 |\n" +
+				"|----------|----------|\n" +
+				"| Cell 1   | Cell 2   |",
+			expected: "<pre><code>| Header 1 | Header 2 |\n" +
+				"|----------|----------|\n" +
+				"| Cell 1   | Cell 2   |\n" +
+				"</code></pre>",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range cases {