botfather

Getting Started with BotFather

Bots using BotFather

Name	Description
RadioArchiveBot	Listen your favorite radio stations right in the Telegram!
EPGBot	Electronic program guides (TV guides)

Want to add your bot? Please submit a pull request on GitHub to update this page!

Installing BotFather

$ cd MyBot
$ npm install botfather --save

Using BotFather

// We recommend storing the token as environment variable.
const TOKEN = process.env.TOKEN

const BotFather = require('botfather')
const bf = new BotFather(TOKEN)

Example #1 (Getting basic information about the bot)

bf.api('getMe')
  .then(json => {
    if(json.ok) {
      return json.result
    }
    console.error(json.description)
  })
  .then(bot => {
    console.info(`Your bot is @${bot.username}, right? :)`)
  })
  .catch(exception => {
    console.error(exception.stack)
  })

Example #2 (Sending file)

const fs = require("fs");
// ...
bf.api("sendDocument", {
  chat_id: CHAT_ID,
  document: fs.createReadStream(PATH_TO_FILE)
})
  .then(json => {
    if(json.ok) {
      return json.result
    }
    console.error(json.description)
  })
  .then(result => {
    console.info(result)
  })
  .catch(exception => {
    console.error(exception.stack)
  })

Example #3 (Extending your own class)

class MyBot extends BotFather {

  /**
   * @param {string} token
   * @see https://core.telegram.org/bots#6-botfather
   */
  constructor(token) {
    super(token)
    this.api('getMe')
      .then(json => {
        if(json.ok) {
          return json.result
        }
        console.error(json.description)
      })
      .then(bot => {
        console.info(`Your bot is @${bot.username}, right? :)`)
      })
      .catch(exception => {
        console.error(exception.stack)
      })
  }
}

new MyBot(TOKEN)

Example #4 (Getting updates recursively)

class MyBot extends BotFather {

  /**
   * @constructor
   * @param {string} token
   * @see https://core.telegram.org/bots#6-botfather
   */
  constructor(token) {
    super(token)
    this.getUpdates()
  }

  /**
   * @param {Object} parameters
   * @see https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#getupdates
   */
  getUpdates(parameters = {limit: 100, timeout: 60 * 2}) {
    this.api('getUpdates', parameters)
      .then(json => {
        if(json.ok) {
          return json.result
        }
        console.error(json.description)
        setTimeout(() => this.getUpdates(parameters), 5000)
      })
      .then(updates => {
        for(let update of updates) {
          this.onReceiveUpdate(update)
        }
        // offset = update_id of last processed update + 1
        if(updates.length > 0) {
          const identifiers = updates.map((update) => update.update_id)
          parameters.offset = Math.max.apply(Math, identifiers) + 1
        }
        this.getUpdates(parameters)
      })
      .catch(exception => {
        console.error(exception.stack)
        setTimeout(() => this.getUpdates(parameters), 5000)
      })
  }

  /**
   * @param {Object} update
   * @see https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#update
   */
   onReceiveUpdate(update) {
     console.log(update)
   }
}

new MyBot(TOKEN)