Telegram has opened a platform for bots

Instant messaging services are used not only by people, but also by bots. The creators of the IM client Telegram took this fact into account and were the first among the competitors to open an API for bots . Now third-party developers can safely create their own bots and connect them to the Telegram.

For botovodov opened a special section with background information on the creation of bots.

Bots are regular Telegram accounts that are not controlled by people, but by programs, and they often have AI elements. They can do anything - teach, play, search for information, broadcast messages to a wide audience, remind of events, connect to other services, even transfer commands to the Internet of things, say the developers of Telegram.


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In the latest version of Telegram, working with bots has become especially simple. In some cases, you don’t even have to type anything: bots support working with buttons, for each you can make your own special buttons.





Here are some examples of bots made by beta testers in a couple of hours.

@ImageBot - send the keyword to the bot, and it returns the relevant image.
@TriviaBot is a quiz, you can play alone or join a group and compete with friends.
@PollBot - create polls for group parts.
@RateStickerBot - we are looking for and evaluating new stickers.
@AlertBot - if you set the time, this bot will send a reminder.
@HotOrBot is a Tinder-type bot for searching friends / girlfriends and dating.
@GithubBot - tracking Github updates.
@StoreBot - search for new bots and their evaluation.

Make your bot is no difficulty, say the developers. Simply generate the key using the @BotFather bot and use simple http API to control the bot.

In the Telegram interface, bots will be different from ordinary people: the profile screen and the chat window have a slightly different look. They do not have default access to all messages when they join a new group. In addition, all bots have usernames ending in bot letters.

Each bot has a URL like https://telegram.me/your_bot . Opening such a link initiates a chat session with the bot, if you have Telegram installed.

The bot owner can pass to him some parameters such as authentication keys with a link like https://telegram.me/your_bot?start=value (see deep linking ).

“From today, you’ll see links like this in Telegram and everywhere else. Meet them with tenderness, these are bots! - write the developers of Telegram. - They will provide you with all the necessary services: news, games, polls, integration, photos of cats. With bots, all dreams come true. ”

see also
Introduction to bots
Bot API Manual