Telegram Support Bot

A lightweight, efficient Telegram bot for customer support that enables seamless two-way communication between users and support administrators. This bot allows support staff to respond to user inquiries directly through Telegram, with proper message threading and media support.

Features

• Two-way Communication: Users message the bot and administrators reply from a designated admin chat
• Proper Message Threading: Maintains conversation context with threaded replies in both directions
• Media Support: Handles all types of attachments (photos, videos, documents, voice messages, etc.)
• Start/Restart Button: Convenient button for users to restart conversations
• No Database Required: Lightweight implementation that doesn't require a database
• Easy to Deploy: Simple setup as a systemd service for 24/7 operation

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• python-telegram-bot (v20+)
• python-dotenv

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/telegram-support-bot.git
   cd telegram-support-bot

2. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Create a .env file with your configuration:

   TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_bot_token_from_botfather
   ADMIN_CHAT_ID=your_admin_group_chat_id
   

5. Run the bot:

   python main.py

Setting up as a Service

1. Create a systemd service file:

   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/support-tg-bot.service

2. Add the following content (adjust paths as needed):

   [Unit]
   Description=Telegram Support Bot
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   User=root
   WorkingDirectory=/opt/support-tg-bot
   ExecStart=/opt/support-tg-bot/.venv/bin/python /opt/support-tg-bot/main.py
   Restart=always
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

3. Enable and start the service:

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable support-tg-bot.service
   sudo systemctl start support-tg-bot.service

4. Check the status:

   sudo systemctl status support-tg-bot.service

Setup Guide

Bot Setup

1. Create a new bot using @BotFather on Telegram
2. Copy the bot token provided by BotFather
3. Add the token to your .env file

Admin Chat Setup

1. Create a group chat in Telegram
2. Add your bot to the group
3. Send any message to the group
4. Visit https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates in your browser
5. Find the chat object with "type":"group" and copy the id value
6. Add this ID to your .env file as ADMIN_CHAT_ID

How It Works

1. User Interaction:

   • Users send messages to the bot
   • The bot forwards these messages to the admin group
   • Each message includes user info and unique IDs for tracking

2. Admin Responses:

   • Admins reply to forwarded messages in the group
   • The bot sends these replies back to the corresponding user
   • Replies maintain proper threading and context

3. Message Threading:

   • Each message contains hidden tags to maintain the conversation context
   • This allows for proper reply chains without requiring a database

Customization

You can customize the bot's messages by editing these variables in the main.py file:

• WELCOME_MESSAGE: Sent when a user first starts the bot
• CONFIRMATION_MESSAGE: Sent after a user submits a message

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.