Build a Telegram Bot with Node.js in 10 Minutes

Telegram bots are superior to Discord bots for personal utility because they live in your pocket. You can text your bot "Add $5 for coffee" or "Remind me to buy milk".

The Setup

Open Telegram and message @BotFather.
Send /newbot.
Name it (e.g., MyToDoBot).
Copy the HTTP API Token.

The Code

We use the telegraf library, which is a modern wrapper around the Telegram API.

npm install telegraf dotenv

require('dotenv').config();
const { Telegraf } = require('telegraf');

const bot = new Telegraf(process.env.BOT_TOKEN);

// 1. Start Command
bot.start((ctx) => ctx.reply('Welcome! I am your personal assistant.'));

// 2. Help Command
bot.help((ctx) => ctx.reply('Send me a sticker'));

// 3. Handling specific text
bot.on('sticker', (ctx) => ctx.reply('👍'));
bot.hears('hi', (ctx) => ctx.reply('Hey there'));

// 4. Echo function
bot.on('text', (ctx) => {
    // Access user message
    const userMessage = ctx.message.text; 
    ctx.reply(`You said: ${userMessage}`);
});

bot.launch();

// Enable graceful stop
process.once('SIGINT', () => bot.stop('SIGINT'));
process.once('SIGTERM', () => bot.stop('SIGTERM'));

Middleware (The Power Feature)

Telegraf uses middleware (like Express.js). You can run logic before every message.

bot.use(async (ctx, next) => {
  const start = new Date();
  await next();
  const ms = new Date() - start;
  console.log('Response time: %sms', ms);
});

Deployment

Don't run this on your laptop. Deploy it to a $5 VPS using Docker (see our DevOps course!).

Quiz

Quick Quiz

What is the role of @BotFather in the Telegram ecosystem?

Conclusion

This is just the "Hello World". You can connect this to OpenAI to make a ChatGPT wrapper, or to Google Sheets to track spending. The API is limitless.