How to create a Telegram chatbot

Why you need it

A chatbot is a channel where people talk to you wherever it suits them. It keeps the conversation going with a guest after the event, answers common questions around the clock and builds your audience.

The bot lives in your Telegram account. AOA only manages it with the token you give us, so the chats panel, the command menu and broadcasts run on top of your bot, not ours.

Step 1. Create a bot in @BotFather

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather. The official bot has a blue checkmark next to its name: check for it, because there are plenty of lookalike bots.
2. Tap "Start".
3. Send the /newbot command.
4. Enter a name: people will see it in the chat. For example, "Podil Coffee".
5. Enter a username: people find the bot by it in search. It has to be unique and end in bot: for example, kava_podil_bot.

BotFather will then send a message with a link to the bot and a token: a long string like 1234567890:AAH…. It's the key to the bot: whoever has the token controls the bot. Don't forward it to chats or publish it.

If you already have a bot

You get an existing bot's token in @BotFather too: send /token, pick the bot from the list and copy what it replies.

Step 2. Connect the bot in AOA

1. Turn on the module: Settings, then Modules in the organization dashboard (for a venue, Settings, then Display), the "Chatbots" toggle.
2. Open the Chatbots tab.
3. Paste the token into the field and tap "Connect".

The token is stored encrypted. We don't read your personal chats: the bot only sees what people write to it.

Step 3. Test the bot on yourself

Tap "Open in Telegram" and send the bot /start. You'll get "✅ Бот активований" (bot activated) in reply, which means the whole chain works: your bot, our server, the reply. You'll also become its first subscriber and can test everything you set up next on yourself.

One detail that often surprises people: a bot can't message first. That's how Telegram works: until a person taps Start, the chat doesn't exist. So it's worth putting a link to the bot everywhere people read you: in your profile, on posters, in the confirmation email.

What to set up first

• The command menu: what Telegram shows in the "/" list. At a minimum: /start and /help. Everyone sees the descriptions, so write them for the guest, not for yourself.
• The default reply: what the bot says when it doesn't understand a question. If it's empty, the bot stays silent and the person will think you're ignoring them.
• Chats: the tab where you reply manually. It works right away, with no scenarios: the bot simply becomes one more inbox people write to.

Chats with subscribers

Everyone who has written to the bot appears in the "Chats" tab. There you can reply, react to a message and quote-reply to a specific message. If you have several bots, the switch at the top shows either all chats together or the chats of one bot.

When you reply manually, automated flows pause for a while so the robot doesn't interrupt a real person. You set the pause length in the bot's general settings.

Broadcasts

You can send a message to all subscribers or to a segment: for example, only to people who left a phone number. You see the number of recipients before sending. The broadcast runs in the background, so you can close the tab right away.

Keep in mind where spam begins: people subscribed to the bot for a specific reason. Two or three relevant broadcasts a month work better than daily ones, which get you blocked.

If the bot doesn't reply

• The bot card shows a red status and an error message: tap "Retry". Most often it's a temporary network glitch during connection.
• The "Disconnected" status means the token was revoked in @BotFather. Get a new token (/token) and connect the bot again.
• The bot is "Paused": you or someone on your team stopped it. Tap "Resume".