Telegram API support

Python Version support

API

The API is exposed via the telegram.Bot class.

To generate an Access Token you have to talk to BotFather and follow a few simple steps (described here).

For full details see the Bots: An introduction for developers.

To create an instance of the telegram.Bot:

>>> import telegram
>>> bot = telegram.Bot(token='token')

To see if your credentials are successful:

>>> print bot.getMe()
{"first_name": "Toledo's Palace Bot", "username": "ToledosPalaceBot"}

Bots can’t initiate conversations with users. A user must either add them to a group or send them a message first. People can use telegram.me/<bot_username> links or username search to find your bot.

To fetch text messages sent to your Bot:

>>> updates = bot.getUpdates()
>>> print [u.message.text for u in updates]

To fetch images sent to your Bot:

>>> updates = bot.getUpdates()
>>> print [u.message.photo for u in updates if u.message.photo]

To reply messages you’ll always need the chat_id:

>>> chat_id = bot.getUpdates()[-1].message.chat_id

To post a text message:

>>> bot.sendMessage(chat_id=chat_id, text="I'm sorry Dave I'm afraid I can't do that.")

To post an Emoji (special thanks to Tim Whitlock):

>>> bot.sendMessage(chat_id=chat_id, text=telegram.Emoji.PILE_OF_POO)

To post an image file via URL (right now only sendPhoto supports this):

>>> bot.sendPhoto(chat_id=chat_id, photo='https://telegram.org/img/t_logo.png')

To post a voice file:

>>> bot.sendVoice(chat_id=chat_id, voice=open('tests/telegram.ogg', 'rb'))

To tell the user that something is happening on bot’s side:

>>> bot.sendChatAction(chat_id=chat_id, action=telegram.ChatAction.TYPING)

To create Custom Keyboards:

>>> custom_keyboard = [[ telegram.Emoji.THUMBS_UP_SIGN, telegram.Emoji.THUMBS_DOWN_SIGN ]]
>>> reply_markup = telegram.ReplyKeyboardMarkup(custom_keyboard)
>>> bot.sendMessage(chat_id=chat_id, text="Stay here, I'll be back.", reply_markup=reply_markup)

To hide Custom Keyboards:

>>> reply_markup = telegram.ReplyKeyboardHide()
>>> bot.sendMessage(chat_id=chat_id, text="I'm back.", reply_markup=reply_markup)

There are many more API methods, to read the full API documentation:

$ pydoc telegram.Bot

Logging

You can get logs in your main application by calling logging and setting the log level you want:

>>> import logging
>>> logger = logging.getLogger()
>>> logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)

If you want DEBUG logs instead:

>>> logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

Examples

Here follows some examples to help you to get your own Bot up to speed:

• echobot replies back messages.

• roboed talks to Robô Ed.

• Simple-Echo-Telegram-Bot simple Python Telegram bot that echoes your input with Flask microframework, setWebhook method, and Google App Engine (optional) - by @sooyhwang.

• DevOps Reaction Bot sends latest or random posts from DevOps Reaction. Running on Google App Engine (billing has to be enabled for fully Socket API support).