DEV Community

Cover image for A Telegram Chat-Bot using Python
Rohan Salunkhe
Rohan Salunkhe

Posted on • Edited on

A Telegram Chat-Bot using Python

Telegram Chat-Bot

A is a simple Telegram bot that responds to users automatically when they communicate with it.

Latest Update (v0.1.0)

26/04/2022

Click on badge to run it on repl.it 👉🚀
Run on Repl.it

Changes to the bot now allow you to host fully on Replit.com without having to configure anything. Simply replace the scretes.

Also added new commands:

  • /tldr - Get a tldr news
  • /devto - Get a dev.to top 5 posts of the day
  • /quotes - Get a random quote

Demo

Test the bot here 👉 Chat-Bot

https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/luocata9aopbnrfspp2v.jpg

Create Bot

The first thing you need to do is tell Telegram that you want to create a bot. For this, you’ll need a Telegram account – install their app on your phone, and get it set up.

Next, start a conversation with the “BotFather”. This is a bot that Telegram themselves run, and it controls the creation and registration of bots on their platform. On the Android version of their app, here’s what you do (other platforms are similar)

  • To start a new chat, tap the start conversation button in the bottom right corner.
  • Tap the magnifying glass “Search” icon near the top right.
  • Type “botfather”. or click on @botfather
  • Tap on the “@botfather” that appears. Make sure it has a blue checkmark next to it.
  • It will show a greeting message.
  • Click the “Start” button.
  • Send it a message “/newbot”
  • It will prompt you to give your bot a name. I'm going to title mine "amrohanbot," but you should come up with something original.
  • It will then ask for a username, which I will use as "amrohanbot."
  • If everything goes well, it will print a message stating that the bot has been created. There's one crucial piece of information in there that you'll need later: the HTTP API access token. It'll be a long string of alphanumeric characters, possibly including a colon. I copied the message to my phone and then emailed it to myself to save it for later — not super-secure, but probably safe enough if you're not going to put anything sensitive into your bot.

So, even if your bot isn't very vocal right now, let's double-check that it's been made. Start a conversation with it by following the same steps that you did with the BotFather. Hopefully, you'll be able to find it and start a chat, but nothing happens when you hit the "Start" button.

No big surprise there. Let’s make it do something.

Begin the installation process after the bot has been created.

Installation

The steps to execute this on your local machine are as follows:

  1. Clone the given repo :
  git clone https://github.com/amrohan/ChatBot
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. After that install requirement.txt
pip install install requirement.txt
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

OR

You can manually install packages by using the commands listed below.

pip install python-telegram-bot
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Because with dot env installed, we can save and import our telegram bot api key.

pip install python-dotenv
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Create .env file in the root folder of your cloned GitHub repo and add your botfather telegram bot token.

API_KEY = {Telegram Bot Token}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now just run the main.py in terminal.

Now that your python bot is fully functional, simply modify the file in responses.py to add responses, and in main.py, you'll notice def functions that are used in the telegram bot. Simply build the function and add it to the command handeler.

Deploying bot on Heroku :

  1. If you don't already have one, create one on Heroku Login
  2. Now just create new app on Heroku.
  3. Connect your GitHub repository, which is where you have uploaded your code.
  4. After connecting it just click on deployed
  5. Simply go to settings and add config variables while it's being deployed. Add API Key and your Telegram bot token in value by clicking on it.
  6. Go to dyno and turn it on; your bot will now be fully functional.
  7. Now all you have to do is go to Telegram and start using it.

Deploying tutorial :

Python Telegram Bot Video
That's how you got your Telegram bot up and running on Heroku.

Contact

If you have any questions or don't understand any of the instructions, please let me know. 👉hello@rohan.ml

Top comments (5)

Collapse
 
socr102 profile image
Eric

Excellent ❤❤❤
Thank you for your post
Could you post how to deploy the Rasa Chatbot into the facebook?

Collapse
 
amrohan profile image
Rohan Salunkhe

I appreciate it ❤, but to be honest, I haven't found out how to install a bot on Facebook yet. If I do, I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Collapse
 
socr102 profile image
Eric

Thank you for your reply
I solved that problem
I depolied rasa chat bot using the ngrok into the facebook
It is a piece of cake
thank you
I will wait for your next post
Your post is very interesting for me
I will check every day and response
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Elina

Thread Thread
 
amrohan profile image
Rohan Salunkhe

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. I will do my best to provide you with useful information.🔥

Thread Thread
 
socr102 profile image
Eric

I appreciate it ❤