Telegram inline bots: avatar template picker with aiogram 3

#api #python #tutorial #ux

Inline mode is underused. Most bots ignore it. For a template-selection flow, it is the best UX Telegram offers.

How it works

When a user types @LiveAvaBot query in any chat, Telegram sends an inline_query to your bot. You respond with up to 50 results.

The aiogram 3 handler

from aiogram import Router
from aiogram.types import InlineQuery, InlineQueryResultCachedMpeg4Gif

router = Router()
TEMPLATES = [...]  # list of (file_id, title) tuples

@router.inline_query()
async def handle_inline(query: InlineQuery):
    q = query.query.lower().strip()
    results = [
        InlineQueryResultCachedMpeg4Gif(
            id=str(i),
            mpeg4_file_id=fid,
            title=title,
        )
        for i, (fid, title) in enumerate(TEMPLATES)
        if not q or q in title.lower()
    ]
    await query.answer(results[:25], cache_time=300, is_personal=False)