Creating simple telegram bot in Node.js and Telegraf.js (step by step)

We will learn how to create a simple bot in Node.js and Telegraf.js. It's very easy. Let’s first learn what Node.js is.

What is Node.js?

Node.js is a runtime application. It allows you to use the JS programming language outside the browser. With Node.js you can work with data analysis or write a telegram bot and create HTTP servers.

What is Telegraf.js?

Telegraf.js is a framework for Node.js that allows you to create awesome bots in Node.js runtime.

Step 1: Download Node.js

Step 2: Creating file for our simple telegram bot

mkdir bot-app
cd bot-app

Step 3: With the help of Botfather we will create our new bot

When we create a bot in Botfather, it provides us with a bot token. The bot token, on the other hand, helps us write logic to it in node.js.

Step 4: We download Telegraf.js via NPM.

npm install telegraf

We start creating the bot by downloading Telegraf.js.

Step 5: Creating bot in Node.js and Telegraf.js

Let's first create a file called bot.js. Importing Telegraf in bot.js file:

// bot.js
const { Telegraf } = require('telegraf'); // importing telegraf.js

Now we declare a variable named bot and add to it the token of the bot we created in botfather.

// bot.js
var bot = new Telegraf('1928550358:AAH9Y4Bscfu2-y_OptOkzi3VyhbLaV84a8Q') // We saved our bot token to the bot variable

We write down what our bot will do when it receives the start command.

// bot.js
bot.start(ctx => ctx.reply(`
   Hi, I'm a simple bot
`))

bot.launch();

Let's check it out now:

We’ll add some options to our boat.

// bot.js
bot.start(ctx => ctx.reply(`
   Hi, I'm a simple bot (please write /help)
`))

Enter what the bot will do when the word /help is typed.

// bot.js
bot.help(ctx => ctx.reply(`
   Hello, world!!!
`))

All codes:

const { Telegraf } = require('telegraf'); // importing telegraf.js
var bot = new Telegraf('1928550358:AAH9Y4Bscfu2-y_OptOkzi3VyhbLaV84a8Q') // We saved our bot token to the bot variable 
bot.start(ctx => ctx.reply(`
Hi, I'm a simple bot (please write /help)
`))

bot.help(ctx => ctx.reply(`
   Hello world!
`))

bot.launch();