I use this mini project to learn how to use telegram bot. Click on this link to test my bot @CardiRonaBot - idea inspired from this video.

The functionalities are simple:

1. Echoes whatever the user says
2. Typing /audio sends back a random audio file

Much of the source code originates from python-telegram-bot. However, instead of polling, I used webhook instead. This is because polling is inefficient and the data is not real-time while webhook can act as a push notification, removing the need to constantly check for updates on the Telegram server.

1. Get the Telegram bot API token from BotFather
2. Download source code and install requirements: pip3 install -r requirements.txt

• You may also consider creating a virtual python environment.

3. Create an environment file: touch .env.

• Copy the contents over, similar to the template below.
• Use your own credentials. Remember to keep your token information private!

TOKEN=1456236133:BAEMGzl4H-ii69FLhmM799cegl2CnRULffk
URL=https://0511a20g14a3.ngrok.io

1. Download ngrok.
2. Run ./ngrok http 5000 on one terminal. Copy the link and replace the value for the URL field in the .env file.

• This opens up your local port to the public, which allows for external requests to be forwarded to your localhost endpoint. This is very useful for quick debugging.
• localhost should work fine too if you are testing on the same network.

3. Run python3 bot.py on another terminal.

• Your bot should be working now.

For production, I used heroku instead of ngrok. This way, you don't have to leave your terminal running. And the best part is that heroku is free to use!

• Make sure to add the Config Vars key-value pairs, namely TOKEN and URL.
• The value in the URL field will take the form like so: https://cardib-rona-telebot.herokuapp.com.