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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.

Telegram Support Bot Python License

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.