A simple, but extensible Python implementation for the Telegram Bot API.
- Getting started.
- Writing your first bot
- General API Documentation
- Advanced use of the API
- F.A.Q.
- The Telegram Chat Group
- More examples
- Bots using this API
This API is tested with Python 2.6, Python 2.7, Python 3.4, Pypy and Pypy 3. There are two ways to install the library:
- Installation using pip (a Python package manager)*:
$ pip install pyTelegramBotAPI
- Installation from source (requires git):
$ git clone https://github.com/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI.git
$ cd pyTelegramBotAPI
$ python setup.py install
It is generally recommended to use the first option.
*While the API is production-ready, it is still under development and it has regular updates, do not forget to update it regularly by calling pip install pytelegrambotapi --upgrade
It is presumed that you have obtained an API token with @BotFather. We will call this token TOKEN
.
Furthermore, you have basic knowledge of the Python programming language and more importantly the Telegram Bot API.
The TeleBot class (defined in _init_.py) encapsulates all API calls in a single class. It provides functions such as send_xyz
(send_message
, send_document
etc.) and several ways to listen for incoming messages.
Create a file called echo_bot.py
.
Then, open the file and create an instance of the TeleBot class.
import telebot
bot = telebot.TeleBot("TOKEN")
Note: Make sure to actually replace TOKEN with your own API token.
After that declaration, we need to register some so-called message handlers. Message handlers define filters which a message must pass. If a message passes the filter, the decorated function is called and the incoming message is passed as an argument.
Let's define a message handler which handles incoming /start
and /help
commands.
@bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
def send_welcome(message):
bot.reply_to(message, "Howdy, how are you doing?")
A function which is decorated by a message handler can have an arbitrary name, however, it must have only one parameter (the message).
Let's add another handler:
@bot.message_handler(func=lambda m: True)
def echo_all(message):
bot.reply_to(message, message.text)
This one echoes all incoming text messages back to the sender. It uses a lambda function to test a message. If the lambda returns True, the message is handled by the decorated function. Since we want all messages to be handled by this function, we simply always return True.
Note: all handlers are tested in the order in which they were declared
We now have a basic bot which replies a static message to "/start" and "/help" commands and which echoes the rest of the sent messages. To start the bot, add the following to our source file:
bot.polling()
Alright, that's it! Our source file now looks like this:
import telebot
bot = telebot.TeleBot("TOKEN")
@bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
def send_welcome(message):
bot.reply_to(message, "Howdy, how are you doing?")
@bot.message_handler(func=lambda message: True)
def echo_all(message):
bot.reply_to(message, message.text)
bot.polling()
To start the bot, simply open up a terminal and enter python echo_bot.py
to run the bot! Test it by sending commands ('/start' and '/help') and arbitrary text messages.
All types are defined in types.py. They are all completely in line with the Telegram API's definition of the types, except for the Message's from
field, which is renamed to from_user
(because from
is a Python reserved token). Thus, attributes such as message_id
can be accessed directly with message.message_id
. Note that message.chat
can be either an instance of User
or GroupChat
(see How can I distinguish a User and a GroupChat in message.chat?).
The Message object also has a content_type
attribute, which defines the type of the Message. content_type
can be one of the following strings:
text
, audio
, document
, photo
, sticker
, video
, video_note
, voice
, location
, contact
, new_chat_members
, left_chat_member
, new_chat_title
, new_chat_photo
, delete_chat_photo
, group_chat_created
, supergroup_chat_created
, channel_chat_created
, migrate_to_chat_id
, migrate_from_chat_id
, pinned_message
.
You can use some types in one function. Example:
content_types=["text", "sticker", "pinned_message", "photo", "audio"]
All API methods are located in the TeleBot class. They are renamed to follow common Python naming conventions. E.g. getMe
is renamed to get_me
and sendMessage
to send_message
.
Outlined below are some general use cases of the API.
A message handler is a function that is decorated with the message_handler
decorator of a TeleBot instance. Message handlers consist of one or multiple filters.
Each filter much return True for a certain message in order for a message handler to become eligible to handle that message. A message handler is declared in the following way (provided bot
is an instance of TeleBot):
@bot.message_handler(filters)
def function_name(message):
bot.reply_to(message, "This is a message handler")
function_name
is not bound to any restrictions. Any function name is permitted with message handlers. The function must accept at most one argument, which will be the message that the function must handle.
filters
is a list of keyword arguments.
A filter is declared in the following manner: name=argument
. One handler may have multiple filters.
TeleBot supports the following filters:
name | argument(s) | Condition |
---|---|---|
content_types | list of strings (default ['text'] ) |
True if message.content_type is in the list of strings. |
regexp | a regular expression as a string | True if re.search(regexp_arg) returns True and message.content_type == 'text' (See Python Regular Expressions |
commands | list of strings | True if message.content_type == 'text' and message.text starts with a command that is in the list of strings. |
func | a function (lambda or function reference) | True if the lambda or function reference returns True |
Here are some examples of using the filters and message handlers:
import telebot
bot = telebot.TeleBot("TOKEN")
# Handles all text messages that contains the commands '/start' or '/help'.
@bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
def handle_start_help(message):
pass
# Handles all sent documents and audio files
@bot.message_handler(content_types=['document', 'audio'])
def handle_docs_audio(message):
pass
# Handles all text messages that match the regular expression
@bot.message_handler(regexp="SOME_REGEXP")
def handle_message(message):
pass
#Handles all messages for which the lambda returns True
@bot.message_handler(func=lambda message: message.document.mime_type == 'text/plain', content_types=['document'])
def handle_text_doc(message):
pass
#Which could also be defined as:
def test_message(message):
return message.document.mime_type == 'text/plain'
@bot.message_handler(func=test_message, content_types=['document'])
def handle_text_doc(message)
pass
# Handlers can be stacked to create a function which will be called if either message_handler is eligible
# This handler will be called if the message starts with '/hello' OR is some emoji
@bot.message_handler(commands=['hello'])
@bot.message_handler(func=lambda msg: msg.text.encode("utf-8") == SOME_FANCY_EMOJI)
def send_something(message):
pass
Important: all handlers are tested in the order in which they were declared
Same as Message handlers
Same as Message handlers
Same as Message handlers
In bot2.0 update. You can get callback_query
in update object. In telebot use callback_query_handler
to process callback_querys.
@bot.callback_query_handler(func=lambda call: True)
def test_callback(call):
logger.info(call)
import telebot
TOKEN = '<token_string>'
tb = telebot.TeleBot(TOKEN) #create a new Telegram Bot object
# Upon calling this function, TeleBot starts polling the Telegram servers for new messages.
# - none_stop: True/False (default False) - Don't stop polling when receiving an error from the Telegram servers
# - interval: True/False (default False) - The interval between polling requests
# Note: Editing this parameter harms the bot's response time
# - timeout: integer (default 20) - Timeout in seconds for long polling.
tb.polling(none_stop=False, interval=0, timeout=20)
# getMe
user = tb.get_me()
# setWebhook
tb.set_webhook(url="http://example.com", certificate=open('mycert.pem'))
# unset webhook
tb.remove_webhook()
# getUpdates
updates = tb.get_updates()
updates = tb.get_updates(1234,100,20) #get_Updates(offset, limit, timeout):
# sendMessage
tb.send_message(chatid, text)
# forwardMessage
tb.forward_message(to_chat_id, from_chat_id, message_id)
# All send_xyz functions which can take a file as an argument, can also take a file_id instead of a file.
# sendPhoto
photo = open('/tmp/photo.png', 'rb')
tb.send_photo(chat_id, photo)
tb.send_photo(chat_id, "FILEID")
# sendAudio
audio = open('/tmp/audio.mp3', 'rb')
tb.send_audio(chat_id, audio)
tb.send_audio(chat_id, "FILEID")
## sendAudio with duration, performer and title.
tb.send_audio(CHAT_ID, file_data, 1, 'eternnoir', 'pyTelegram')
# sendVoice
voice = open('/tmp/voice.ogg', 'rb')
tb.send_voice(chat_id, voice)
tb.send_voice(chat_id, "FILEID")
# sendDocument
doc = open('/tmp/file.txt', 'rb')
tb.send_document(chat_id, doc)
tb.send_document(chat_id, "FILEID")
# sendSticker
sti = open('/tmp/sti.webp', 'rb')
tb.send_sticker(chat_id, sti)
tb.send_sticker(chat_id, "FILEID")
# sendVideo
video = open('/tmp/video.mp4', 'rb')
tb.send_video(chat_id, video)
tb.send_video(chat_id, "FILEID")
# sendVideoNote
videonote = open('/tmp/videonote.mp4', 'rb')
tb.send_video_note(chat_id, videonote)
tb.send_video_note(chat_id, "FILEID")
# sendLocation
tb.send_location(chat_id, lat, lon)
# sendChatAction
# action_string can be one of the following strings: 'typing', 'upload_photo', 'record_video', 'upload_video',
# 'record_audio', 'upload_audio', 'upload_document' or 'find_location'.
tb.send_chat_action(chat_id, action_string)
# getFile
# Downloading a file is straightforward
# Returns a File object
import requests
file_info = tb.get_file(file_id)
file = requests.get('https://api.telegram.org/file/bot{0}/{1}'.format(API_TOKEN, file_info.file_path))
All send_xyz
functions of TeleBot take an optional reply_markup
argument. This argument must be an instance of ReplyKeyboardMarkup
, ReplyKeyboardRemove
or ForceReply
, which are defined in types.py.
from telebot import types
# Using the ReplyKeyboardMarkup class
# It's constructor can take the following optional arguments:
# - resize_keyboard: True/False (default False)
# - one_time_keyboard: True/False (default False)
# - selective: True/False (default False)
# - row_width: integer (default 3)
# row_width is used in combination with the add() function.
# It defines how many buttons are fit on each row before continuing on the next row.
markup = types.ReplyKeyboardMarkup(row_width=2)
itembtn1 = types.KeyboardButton('a')
itembtn2 = types.KeyboardButton('v')
itembtn3 = types.KeyboardButton('d')
markup.add(itembtn1, itembtn2, itembtn3)
tb.send_message(chat_id, "Choose one letter:", reply_markup=markup)
# or add KeyboardButton one row at a time:
markup = types.ReplyKeyboardMarkup()
itembtna = types.KeyboardButton('a')
itembtnv = types.KeyboardButton('v')
itembtnc = types.KeyboardButton('c')
itembtnd = types.KeyboardButton('d')
itembtne = types.KeyboardButton('e')
markup.row(itembtna, itembtnv)
markup.row(itembtnc, itembtnd, itembtne)
tb.send_message(chat_id, "Choose one letter:", reply_markup=markup)
The last example yields this result:
# ReplyKeyboardRemove: hides a previously sent ReplyKeyboardMarkup
# Takes an optional selective argument (True/False, default False)
markup = types.ReplyKeyboardRemove(selective=False)
tb.send_message(chat_id, message, reply_markup=markup)
# ForceReply: forces a user to reply to a message
# Takes an optional selective argument (True/False, default False)
markup = types.ForceReply(selective=False)
tb.send_message(chat_id, "Send me another word:", reply_markup=markup)
ForceReply:
More information about Inline mode.
Now, you can use inline_handler to get inline_query in telebot.
@bot.inline_handler(lambda query: query.query == 'text')
def query_text(inline_query):
# Query message is text
Use chosen_inline_handler to get chosen_inline_result in telebot. Don't forgot add the /setinlinefeedback command for @Botfather.
More information : collecting-feedback
@bot.chosen_inline_handler(func=lambda chosen_inline_result: True)
def test_chosen(chosen_inline_result):
# Process all chosen_inline_result.
@bot.inline_handler(lambda query: query.query == 'text')
def query_text(inline_query):
try:
r = types.InlineQueryResultArticle('1', 'Result', types.InputTextMessageContent('Result message.'))
r2 = types.InlineQueryResultArticle('2', 'Result2', types.InputTextMessageContent('Result message2.'))
bot.answer_inline_query(inline_query.id, [r, r2])
except Exception as e:
print(e)
This object represents one special entity in a text message. For example, hashtags, usernames, URLs, etc. Attributes:
type
url
offset
length
user
Here's an Example:message.entities[num].<attribute>
Here num
is the entity number or order of entity in a reply, for if incase there are multiple entities in the reply/message.
message.entities
returns a list of entities object.
message.entities[0].type
would give the type of the first entity
Refer Bot Api for extra details
There exists an implementation of TeleBot which executes all send_xyz
and the get_me
functions asynchronously. This can speed up you bot significantly, but it has unwanted side effects if used without caution.
To enable this behaviour, create an instance of AsyncTeleBot instead of TeleBot.
tb = telebot.AsyncTeleBot("TOKEN")
Now, every function that calls the Telegram API is executed in a separate Thread. The functions are modified to return an AsyncTask instance (defined in util.py). Using AsyncTeleBot allows you to do the following:
import telebot
tb = telebot.AsyncTeleBot("TOKEN")
task = tb.get_me() # Execute an API call
# Do some other operations...
a = 0
for a in range(100):
a += 10
result = task.wait() # Get the result of the execution
Note: if you execute send_xyz functions after eachother without calling wait(), the order in which messages are delivered might be wrong.
Sometimes you must send messages that exceed 5000 characters. The Telegram API can not handle that many characters in one request, so we need to split the message in multiples. Here is how to do that using the API:
from telebot import util
large_text = open("large_text.txt", "rb").read()
# Split the text each 3000 characters.
# split_string returns a list with the splitted text.
splitted_text = util.split_string(large_text, 3000)
for text in splitted_text:
tb.send_message(chat_id, text)
The TeleBot constructor takes the following optional arguments:
- threaded: True/False (default True). A flag to indicate whether TeleBot should execute message handlers on it's polling Thread.
As an alternative to the message handlers, one can also register a function as a listener to TeleBot. Example:
def handle_messages(messages):
for message in messages:
# Do something with the message
bot.reply_to(message, 'Hi')
bot.set_update_listener(handle_messages)
bot.polling()
When using webhooks telegram sends one Update per call, for processing it you should call process_new_messages([update.message]) when you recieve it.
There are some examples using webhooks in the examples/webhook_examples directory.
You can use the Telebot module logger to log debug info about Telebot. Use telebot.logger
to get the logger of the TeleBot module.
It is possible to add custom logging Handlers to the logger. Refer to the Python logging module page for more info.
import logging
logger = telebot.logger
telebot.logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG) # Outputs debug messages to console.
You can use proxy for request. apihelper.proxy
object will use by call requests
proxies argument.
from telebot import apihelper
apihelper.proxy = {'http', 'http://10.10.1.10:3128'}
If you want to use socket5 proxy you need install dependency pip install requests[socks]
.
proxies = {
'http': 'socks5://user:pass@host:port',
'https': 'socks5://user:pass@host:port'
}
April 9,2016 Telegram release new bot 2.0 API, which has a drastic revision especially for the change of method's interface.If you want to update to the latest version, please make sure you've switched bot's code to bot 2.0 method interface.
More information about pyTelegramBotAPI support bot2.0
Telegram Bot API support new type Chat for message.chat.
- Check the
type
attribute inChat
object:
if message.chat.type == “private”:
# private chat message
if message.chat.type == “group”:
# group chat message
if message.chat.type == “supergroup”:
# supergroup chat message
if message.chat.type == “channel”:
# channel message
Get help. Discuss. Chat.
- Join the pyTelegramBotAPI Telegram Chat Group
- We now have a Telegram Channel as well! Keep yourself up to date with API changes, and join it.
- SiteAlert bot (source) by ilteoood - Monitors websites and sends a notification on changes
- TelegramLoggingBot by aRandomStranger
- Send to Kindle Bot by GabrielRF - Send to Kindle files or links to files.
- Telegram LMGTFY_bot (source) by GabrielRF - Let me Google that for you.
- Telegram UrlProBot (source) by GabrielRF - URL shortener and URL expander.
- Telegram Proxy Bot by Groosha - A simple BITM (bot-in-the-middle) for Telegram acting as some kind of "proxy".
- Telegram Proxy Bot by mrgigabyte -
Credits for the original version of this bot goes to
Groosha, simply added certain features which I thought were needed
. - RadRetroRobot by Tronikart - Multifunctional Telegram Bot RadRetroRobot.
- League of Legends bot (source) by i32ropie
- NeoBot by neoranger
- TagAlertBot by pitasi
- ComedoresUGRbot (source) by alejandrocq - Telegram bot to check the menu of Universidad de Granada dining hall.
- picpingbot - Fun anonymous photo exchange by Boogie Muffin.
- TheZigZagProject - The 'All In One' bot for Telegram! by WebShark025
- proxybot - Simple Proxy Bot for Telegram. by p-hash
- DonantesMalagaBot- DonantesMalagaBot facilitates information to Malaga blood donors about the places where they can donate today or in the incoming days. It also records the date of the last donation so that it helps the donors to know when they can donate again. - by vfranch
- DuttyBot by Dmytryi Striletskyi - Timetable for one university in Kiev.
- dailypepebot by Jaime - Get's you random pepe images and gives you their id, then you can call this image with the number.
- DailyQwertee by Jaime - Bot that manages a channel that sends qwertee daily tshirts every day at 00:00
- wat-bridge by rmed - Send and receive messages to/from WhatsApp through Telegram
- flibusta_bot by Kurbezz
- EmaProject by halkliff - Ema - Eastern Media Assistant was made thinking on the ease-to-use feature. Coding here is simple, as much as is fast and powerful.
- filmratingbot(source) by jcolladosp - Telegram bot using the Python API that gets films rating from IMDb and metacritic
- you2mp3bot(link) - This bot can convert a Youtube video to Mp3. All you need is send the URL video.
- areajugonesbot(link) - The areajugonesbot sends news published on the videogames blog Areajugones to Telegram.
- Send2Kindlebot (source) by GabrielRF - Send to Kindle service.
- RastreioBot (source) by GabrielRF - Bot used to track packages on the Brazilian Mail Service.
- filex_bot(link)
- Spbu4UBot(link) by EeOneDown - Bot with timetables for SPbU students.
- SmartySBot(link) by 0xVK - Telegram timetable bot, for Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University students.
- yandex_music_bot- Downloads tracks/albums/public playlists from Yandex.Music streaming service for free.
Want to have your bot listed here? Send a Telegram message to @eternnoir or @pevdh.