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Chatbots have evolved as useful tools for both organizations and individuals in the quickly expanding world of technology.
Telegram distinguishes out among the various platforms accessible as a popular chat software with a wide variety of features and a significant user base.
In this post, I’ll delve into the interesting world of creating an AI Telegram chatbot from scratch. I will go over both codeless and Python code tutorials.
Let’s start!
Building a Chatbot with ManyChat
ManyChat is a robust platform that allows you to build chatbots for use in a variety of messaging platforms, including Telegram.
I will walk you through the process of creating a Telegram chatbot using ManyChat in this step-by-step tutorial.
By the conclusion of this course, you will have a working chatbot that can interact with Telegram users.
Registering for ManyChat
Begin by visiting the ManyChat website and creating an account.
You can select the free plan or look into the premium alternatives for more features and capabilities.
Connecting Telegram to ManyChat
After creating your ManyChat account, go to the “Channels” section and pick “Telegram.” Follow the on-screen instructions to link ManyChat to your Telegram account.
ManyChat can connect with your Telegram chatbot thanks to this integration.
Creating the Bot with BotFather
BotFather is a bot that serves as a command center for all bot-related duties. It includes several instructions for controlling and customizing your bots.
I used the “/newsbot” command and followed the steps to create a new bot. I gave my bot the name “trying_a_new_bot,” and then I gave it a username that ended in “bot.”
BotFather provided a one-of-a-kind HTTP API token for me, which I wanted to securely keep because it allows me to operate the bot.
After I finished building my new bot, BotFather gives us the bot’s Telegram connection.
To make my bot more appealing and informative, I could include a description, an about section, and a profile image.
BotFather also advised me to contact Bot Support if I wanted a better name for my bot.
BotFather exposed me to numerous commands for managing my bot throughout the session.
Among these commands were those for updating the bot’s name, description, information, and profile photo.
I could also change the command list, remove the bot if necessary, and change bot settings like inline mode, privacy mode in groups, and more.
BotFather provides functionality for online apps and games in addition to developing and maintaining bots. You can use easy instructions to change or delete current online applications and games, as well as build new ones.
Copying the API Token
Make sure to keep your API token secret and only provide it to yourself after you’ve generated it. The ManyChat API token should be copied.
As this token allows access to your Telegram account, it is essential to keep it secure.
Pasting the API Token in ManyChat
Go to the Telegram integration settings in ManyChat by opening the account.
Copy the API token, then put it into the “manychat-telegram-bot-token” section that you found before. Your ManyChat account and Telegram are now linked.
Connecting ManyChat and Telegram
Your ManyChat account is now linked to your Telegram account once the API token was copied successfully.
ManyChat can connect with your Telegram chatbot thanks to this integration.
Making a New Flow for Auto-Responses
Access the “Automation” feature in ManyChat to respond automatically to specified words or phrases.
Click “New flow” to build a new flow for dealing with these automated responses.
Creating the First Step (Trigger)
Add a “Starting Step” (also known as a Trigger) to the new flow.
When a specified word or phrase is stated in a user’s message, this trigger starts the flow. To define the trigger, click the “Add Trigger” button.
Using Telegram as a Trigger Source
On the left side, pick “Telegram” from the trigger options.
Then, beneath the Telegram settings, select the “Telegram keyword” as the exact trigger.
Identifying the Keyword
Click the keyword option and type in the relevant word or phrase to activate the automated response. After entering the term trigger, click “Create” to store it.
Creating the First Flow Step
Select “Telegram” as the first step of the flow to indicate that the response be communicated through Telegram.
This specifies the channel over which the automated response will be sent.
Message for Automatic Reply
Add the content of the message that will be delivered as an automated reply to the Telegram step.
Provide information about the course, such as its name and a brief description, in this example. You can optionally provide a link to a webpage linked to the course.
Including a Button
To include a button in the automated response, select “Add button.” Set the title of the button to “Open website.”
Provide the URL of the webpage to which you wish to connect, such as a page where users can sign up for the course or learn more.
Confirming the Configuration
Examine the flow to confirm that the automated response and optional button are properly configured.
As needed, change the message content or button details.
Complete the Automatic Reply Flow
Save the flow settings, and your chatbot will automatically respond with the pre-defined answer, offering information about the course and a link to the corresponding webpage, anytime a user sends a message containing the given term or phrase.
Building a Telegram Chatbot with Python
Python includes a comprehensive range of tools and packages for creating chatbots. This article will lead you through the steps of creating a Telegram chatbot with Python.
You will have a basic grasp of how to develop a working chatbot that can communicate with Telegram users by the conclusion of this lesson.
Creating the Environment
Before you begin coding, make sure that Python is installed on your machine.
Python can be downloaded and installed from the Python website.
We’ll also be utilizing the python-telegram-bot library, so make sure it’s installed by typing the following command in your command-line interface.
For this code, however, I used Jupyter Notebook. You can select any of them that fits you.
pip install python-telegram-bot
How to Get a Telegram Bot Token
A bot token is required to establish a chatbot on Telegram.
Open the Telegram client and, as before, search for the BotFather bot. To build a new bot and receive the API token, follow the steps.
Developing the Python Script
Open your preferred code editor and start a new Python script, such as telegram_chatbot.py.
Import the required libraries and construct a function to process incoming user messages.
Configuring the Bot Handler
Set up the telegram. Using your bot token, create a bot object. Create an Updater object to handle Telegram updates.
To process incoming messages, attach a message handler to the Updater.
Create the Message Handler
Access the message content and extract pertinent information from the message handler function.
You can examine the message text, sender information, and any other message properties. Create a response using the bot.send_message() function based on the content or user information.
Launch the Bot
Start the bot in the main portion of the script by executing the start_polling() function on the Updater object.
This will continually scan Telegram for new updates and call the message handler method when a new message is received.
Putting the Chatbot to the Test
In your terminal or command prompt, run the Python script.
Begin a discussion with your chatbot on Telegram and watch how it replies based on the logic you’ve set up. Make any required changes to the bot’s behavior.
Increasing Functionality
You can enhance your chatbot’s functionality by including extra features.
You can, for example, handle particular instructions, supply data from external APIs, or integrate natural language processing (NLP) capabilities.
Here is the entire code block for your to check on:
By following this short tutorial, you’ve learned the fundamentals of building a Telegram chatbot with Python.
You can create more sophisticated chatbots that cater to specific use cases and deliver a smooth user experience with additional investigation and modification.
Conclusion
Finally, a Telegram chatbot provides several opportunities to improve user experiences and expedite communication.
You can automate customer service, provide real-time information and updates, distribute tailored content, run surveys and polls, interface with external APIs for data retrieval, provide interactive games or quizzes, and much more with a Telegram chatbot.
Telegram chatbots’ adaptability enables organizations and people to communicate with users comfortably and interactively and grow their digital presence.
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