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your first bot ​

here's the smallest bot you can write with puregram — it echoes every message back to the sender

the code ​

create a file bot.js (or bot.ts if you're using typescript):

ts
import { Telegram } from 'puregram'

const tg = Telegram.fromToken(process.env.TOKEN!)

tg.onMessage(message => message.send('hello!'))

await tg.startPolling()

running it ​

pass your token as an environment variable:

sh
TOKEN=your_token_here node bot.js

send your bot a message — it will reply with hello!

what's happening ​

three lines do all the work:

Telegram.fromToken(process.env.TOKEN!) creates the client. it reads sensible defaults so you don't have to configure anything upfront. the ! tells typescript the env var is present — in production, validate this before it reaches fromToken

tg.onMessage(message => message.send('hello!')) registers a handler for the message update kind. message.send(...) is a shortcut that fills in the chat_id from the incoming message automatically — you don't specify it

await tg.startPolling() starts long-polling getUpdates, dispatches each update through your handlers, and loops forever. it resolves only when you call tg.stopPolling()

what to do next

  • swap message.send('hello!') for message.send(message.text ?? '') to build a real echo bot
  • handle other update kinds: tg.onCallbackQuery(...), tg.onInlineQuery(...), tg.onChatMember(...)
  • add a plugin: tg.extend(session()) gives every handler a per-user session store
  • explore more patterns in the examples

typescript note

if you're using typescript, install tsx or compile with tsc first. tsx is the fastest path for development:

sh
npx tsx bot.ts

see also ​