mcpbeat

Using Telegram Bot

besoeasy/using-telegram-bot

Build and run Telegram bots in Node.js using Telegraf with practical command patterns.

620 tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
127
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/besoeasy/open-skills --skill using-telegram-bot

The instruction itself

8 sections, as written by the author

Telegram (Telegraf) Skill — Node.js

Short guide to build Telegram bots with telegraf (Node.js).

Overview

  • Library: https://github.com/telegraf/telegraf
  • Install: npm install telegraf
  • Get a bot token from BotFather and store it in BOT_TOKEN.

Minimal polling bot

// bot.js
const { Telegraf, Markup } = require('telegraf');
const bot = new Telegraf(process.env.BOT_TOKEN);

bot.start(ctx => ctx.reply('Welcome! I can help with commands.'));

bot.command('echo', ctx => {
  const text = ctx.message.text.split(' ').slice(1).join(' ');
  ctx.reply(text || 'usage: /echo your message');
});

bot.on('text', ctx => ctx.reply(`You said: ${ctx.message.text}`));

bot.launch();

process.once('SIGINT', () => bot.stop('SIGINT'));
process.once('SIGTERM', () => bot.stop('SIGTERM'));

Run:

BOT_TOKEN=123:ABC node bot.js

Send media and files

// send photo
await ctx.replyWithPhoto('https://example.com/image.jpg', { caption: 'Nice pic' });

// send document
await ctx.replyWithDocument('https://example.com/file.pdf');

Inline keyboards and callbacks

// show inline buttons
await ctx.reply('Choose:', Markup.inlineKeyboard([
  Markup.button.callback('OK', 'ok'),
  Markup.button.callback('Cancel', 'cancel')
]));

bot.action('ok', ctx => ctx.reply('You pressed OK'));
bot.action('cancel', ctx => ctx.reply('Cancelled'));

Webhook (Express) example

const express = require('express');
const { Telegraf } = require('telegraf');
const bot = new Telegraf(process.env.BOT_TOKEN);
const app = express();

app.use(bot.webhookCallback('/telegraf'));
bot.telegram.setWebhook(`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/telegraf`);

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000);

Use webhooks for production deployments (faster, lower resource use).

Error handling

bot.catch((err, ctx) => {
  console.error('Bot error', err);
});

Tips

  • Use environment variables for tokens and URLs.
  • Respect Telegram rate limits (avoid flooding large groups).
  • For local testing, use polling; for deployment use webhooks behind HTTPS.
  • Add NODE_ENV=production and graceful shutdown hooks for reliability.

This doc shows the most common Telegraf patterns: start/command handlers, text handlers, media, inline buttons, webhook setup, and error handling.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take besoeasy/using-telegram-bot from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

Install what it needs

The instructions reference npm. Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.