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brian austin
brian austin

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Build a Telegram bot powered by Claude AI for $2/month (full code)

#tutorial #python #ai #telegram

Build a Telegram bot powered by Claude AI for $2/month (full code)

I've been paying $20/month for ChatGPT Plus to power a few internal Telegram bots. Last month I switched to SimplyLouie — a flat-rate Claude API wrapper at $2/month — and the bots still run fine.

Here's the full working code. Copy-paste and go.

What you'll need

Install dependencies 

pip install python-telegram-bot httpx
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The full bot (60 lines) 

import os
import httpx
from telegram import Update
from telegram.ext import Application, CommandHandler, MessageHandler, filters, ContextTypes

TELEGRAM_TOKEN = os.environ["TELEGRAM_TOKEN"]
SIMPLYLOUIE_API_KEY = os.environ["SIMPLYLOUIE_API_KEY"]
API_URL = "https://simplylouie.com/api/chat"

# Store conversation history per user
conversations = {}

async def start(update: Update, context: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
    await update.message.reply_text(
        "Hi! I'm a Claude-powered bot. Ask me anything."
    )

async def chat(update: Update, context: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
    user_id = update.effective_user.id
    user_message = update.message.text

    # Initialize conversation history
    if user_id not in conversations:
        conversations[user_id] = []

    # Add user message to history
    conversations[user_id].append({
        "role": "user",
        "content": user_message
    })

    # Keep last 10 messages to avoid context bloat
    if len(conversations[user_id]) > 10:
        conversations[user_id] = conversations[user_id][-10:]

    # Call SimplyLouie API
    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
        response = await client.post(
            API_URL,
            headers={
                "Authorization": f"Bearer {SIMPLYLOUIE_API_KEY}",
                "Content-Type": "application/json"
            },
            json={
                "messages": conversations[user_id],
                "system": "You are a helpful assistant. Be concise — this is a Telegram bot."
            },
            timeout=30.0
        )

        data = response.json()
        reply = data["content"][0]["text"]

    # Add assistant reply to history
    conversations[user_id].append({
        "role": "assistant",
        "content": reply
    })

    await update.message.reply_text(reply)

def main():
    app = Application.builder().token(TELEGRAM_TOKEN).build()
    app.add_handler(CommandHandler("start", start))
    app.add_handler(MessageHandler(filters.TEXT & ~filters.COMMAND, chat))
    app.run_polling()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()
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Run it 

export TELEGRAM_TOKEN="your-bot-token-here"
export SIMPLYLOUIE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
python bot.py
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That's it. The bot is live.

What it does

  • Multi-turn conversations — each user gets their own conversation history
  • Context window management — keeps last 10 messages, drops older ones automatically
  • Async throughout — handles multiple users simultaneously without blocking
  • System prompt — tells the model it's a Telegram bot so answers stay concise

Deploy it for free (or near-free)

Railway (free tier):

# Push to GitHub, connect repo to Railway
# Add env vars in Railway dashboard
# Done — bot runs 24/7
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Fly.io (free tier):

fly launch
fly secrets set TELEGRAM_TOKEN=your-token SIMPLYLOUIE_API_KEY=your-key
fly deploy
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VPS (cheapest option for Nigeria/Philippines/Kenya/India):

# On a $4/month Hetzner or $5/month DigitalOcean VPS
nohup python bot.py &
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Add a custom system prompt for your use case

Change the system parameter to specialize the bot:

# Customer support bot
"system": "You are a support agent for AcmeCo. Only answer questions about our products. If you don't know, say so."

# Code review bot
"system": "You are a senior Python developer. Review code, identify bugs, suggest improvements. Be direct."

# Language learning bot (great for Tagalog/Swahili/Hausa/Urdu practice)
"system": "You are a language tutor. The user is learning Tagalog. Respond in English first, then give the Tagalog equivalent. Correct their mistakes gently."
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The math

Service Monthly cost API calls/month
ChatGPT Plus $20 Unlimited (Claude 3.5 Sonnet)
Anthropic direct Pay-per-token ~1,000 calls at $3-15
SimplyLouie $2 Unlimited

For a personal bot or small team bot: $2/month flat beats per-token billing almost every time.

For developers outside the US

This bot costs:

  • Nigeria: N3,200/month (vs N32,000+ for ChatGPT)
  • Philippines: P112/month (vs P1,120+ for ChatGPT)
  • Kenya: KSh260/month (vs KSh2,600+ for ChatGPT)
  • India: Rs165/month (vs Rs1,600+ for ChatGPT)
  • Indonesia: Rp32,000/month (vs Rp320,000+ for ChatGPT)

Same Claude model. Flat rate. No per-token billing anxiety.

What are you building?

Drop your use case in the comments — I'm curious what people are actually using Claude-powered bots for. Customer support? Language learning? WhatsApp/Telegram automation for local markets?

Full API docs: simplylouie.com/developers

Get your key (7-day free trial): simplylouie.com

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