How do I make a Telegram bot?

Open @BotFather in Telegram, send /newbot, choose a name and a username, and BotFather gives you a token. Paste that token in your panel's Telegram alerts page. Then press Start in your new bot, so the panel can find your chat and send to it.

Where to find it

The bot is made in the Telegram app. Its token goes in Admin › Administration › Settings › Telegram alerts. Only the store owner (Super Admin) sees this page.

Step by step

In Telegram, search for @BotFather (the official one has a blue tick) and open it.
Send /newbot.
Send a name for the bot, for example "Rangdhanu Fashion alerts". People see this name.
Send a username. It must be unique and end in bot, for example rangdhanu_alerts_bot.
BotFather replies with a token that looks like 123456789:AAH…. Copy the whole token.
In the panel, open Telegram alerts, paste it in Bot token and press Save. The panel checks the token with Telegram straight away.
Press Open it in Telegram → on the page and press Start in the bot.
Back on the page, press Find who pressed Start, then Add next to your name. The bot sends you a hello message.

Good to know

The token is the key to your bot. Do not share it. The panel keeps it encrypted and never shows it again.
Make one bot just for your shop. Each store uses its own bot.
A group works too. Add the bot to the Telegram group, send a message in the group (for example /start), then press Find who pressed Start and Add the group.
Several people can each open the bot and press Start; you then find and add each of them.
Lost the token? In @BotFather, send /mybots, choose your bot and open its API token. If you make a new token there, the old one stops working, so paste the new one in Bot token.

Common problems

"That does not look like a bot token." Copy the whole token, including the numbers before the colon, with no spaces.
"Telegram did not accept this token: …" The token is wrong or was replaced in BotFather. Copy the current one again.
"Nobody yet." Open the bot, press Start or send "hi", then press Find who pressed Start again.
Find shows an error about a webhook. The bot is already used by another service. Make a new bot just for your shop.

Still need help? Ask in our Facebook group — the team and other shop owners answer there.

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