Telegram Bot via Webhook (Flask)

Using Webhook method to setup Telegram Bot through Flask.

Pre-requisite

• Python 3
• Flask
• Telegram
• Request
• Ngrok (optional)

Note: It is recommended to use Ngrok to speed up development prior to hosting it on Heroku or any cloud services.

Getting Started

Create a bot handle on Telegram and get your bot unique secret token.

1. Go to @botfather on Telegram to create a bot handle.
2. Type /newbot to create a new bot.
3. Name your bot e.g. EXAMPLE
4. Username of your bot e.g EXAMPLEBOT - This is the @username handle that can be search by users on Telegram
5. Once done, copy the token generated and add to the script TOKEN variable.

Setup the script

1. Change WEBHOOK_URL to the hosting URL (this must be HTTPS).
2. Update Telegram by browsing to {webook_url}/setwebhook e.g. webhook_url = https:///setwebhook/

To enable bot for group chat

1. Go to @botfather on Telegram
2. Type /mybot, and select on your created bot e.g. EXAMPLEBOT
3. Go to 'Bot Settings' -> 'Group Privacy', and select on 'Turn off'

Usage

After installing Ngrok, run ./ngrok http 5000 (with 5000 being the default port for Flask). Ngrok will return provide a publicly accessible URL for the running script, add the URL to the script WEBHOOK_URL variable.

Run python3 bot.py to start running and using the bot.