slimbot

Slimbot

A fuss-free, thin wrapper around Telegram Bot API for Node.js. No frills.

Updated for Bot API 2.3.1.

Getting started

npm i slimbot

const Slimbot = require('slimbot');
const slimbot = new Slimbot(process.env['TELEGRAM_TOKEN']);

// Register listeners

slimbot.on('message', message => {
  slimbot.sendMessage(message.chat.id, 'Message received');
});

// Call API

slimbot.startPolling();

Now go ahead and type a message to your bot in Telegram. It should reply you with 'Message received' in the chat.

All methods return a promise. This means you can inspect the returned objects if you want to:

slimbot.sendMessage('123456789', 'Message received').then(message => {
  console.log(message);
});

In this case, the sendMessage method returns a Message object as stated in the documentation.

Events

Events you can listen to:

• 'message'
• 'edited_message'
• 'channel_post'
• 'edited_channel_post'
• 'callback_query'
• 'inline_query'
• 'chosen_inline_result'

Take note that inline_query and chosen_inline_result only works if you have sent /setinline and /setinlinefeedback commands to @BotFather. Read the docs for more information.

slimbot.on('message', message => {
  // do something with message
});

slimbot.on('edited_message', message => {
  // do something with message
});

slimbot.on('channel_post', post => {
  // do something with post
});

slimbot.on('edited_channel_post', post => {
  // do something with post
});

slimbot.on('callback_query', query => {
  // do something with query
});

slimbot.on('inline_query', query => {
  // do something with query
});

slimbot.on('chosen_inline_result', result => {
  // do something with result
});

Methods

All methods found in the Telegram Bot API Documentation have been implemented.

Use them as they are described in the docs, providing the required parameters and if you wish, the optional parameters:

slimbot.sendMessage('123456789', 'hello');

let optionalParams = {
  parse_mode: true,
  disable_web_page_preview: true,
  disable_notification: true,
  reply_to_message_id: 1234,
  reply_markup: {
    inline_keyboard: [[
      { text: 'Today', callback_data: 'pick_today' },
      { text: 'Pick a date', callback_data: 'pick_date' }
    ]]
  }
}

slimbot.sendMessage('123456789', 'hello', optionalParams);

Sending files

There are 3 ways to send files:

• Using a file_id when the the file already exists on Telegram's servers
• Using a HTTP URL
• Uploading a file to Telegram's servers

Check out the full example to learn how it works.

const fs = require('fs');

// Method 1
slimbot.sendPhoto(chat_id, 'AgADBQADqacxG2gbbxCWBkgvcmeAgxVPyjIABBlug37DKyhDEU0AAgI');

// Method 2
slimbot.sendPhoto(chat_id, 'https://fbatwork.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/govtech-logo.jpg');

// Method 3
let inputFile = fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/bulb.png');
slimbot.sendPhoto(chat_id, inputFile).then(message => {
  // once successful, you can grab the file_id of the file
  console.log(message.result.photo[0].file_id);
});

Additional methods implemented

These are actually convenience methods that use the same underlying editMessageText method in the API.

• editInlineMessageText
• editInlineMessageCaption
• editInlineMessageReplyMarkup

Call these additional methods with inline_message_id rather than chat_id and message_id.

// slimbot.editMessageText(chat_id, message_id, 'edited message');
slimbot.editMessageText('123456789', 1234, 'edited message');

// slimbot.editInlineMessageText(inline_message_id, 'edited message');
slimbot.editInlineMessageText('4321', 'edited message');

Webhook

If you're familiar with the Telegram Bot API, you'd have realised by now that this library defaults to using getUpdates for simplicity and ease of use.

Assuming you already have a domain name with SSL:

const Slimbot = require('slimbot');
const slimbot = new Slimbot(process.env['TELEGRAM_TOKEN']);

// Register listeners

slimbot.on('message', message => {
  slimbot.sendMessage(message.chat.id, 'Message received');
});

// Setup webhook integration
slimbot.setWebhook('https://www.example.com');

// Get webhook status
slimbot.getWebhookInfo();

// Teardown webhook integration
slimbot.deleteWebhook();