How to Build a Telegram Bot in Python (Complete 2026 Guide)

Telegram bots are one of the fastest ways to build a user-facing automation tool. This guide goes from zero to a working bot with commands, keyboards, and webhook support.

Create Your Bot

1. Open Telegram, search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot
3. Choose a name and username (must end in 'bot')
4. Copy the API token BotFather gives you

Install python-telegram-bot

pip install python-telegram-bot --upgrade

Basic Bot With Commands

from telegram import Update
from telegram.ext import Application, CommandHandler, ContextTypes

async def start(update: Update, ctx: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
    await update.message.reply_text('Hello! I am your bot 🤖')

async def help_cmd(update: Update, ctx: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
    await update.message.reply_text('Commands: /start /help')

app = Application.builder().token('YOUR_BOT_TOKEN').build()
app.add_handler(CommandHandler('start', start))
app.add_handler(CommandHandler('help', help_cmd))
app.run_polling()

Inline Keyboards

from telegram import InlineKeyboardButton, InlineKeyboardMarkup

keyboard = [[
    InlineKeyboardButton('Option A', callback_data='a'),
    InlineKeyboardButton('Option B', callback_data='b'),
]]
reply_markup = InlineKeyboardMarkup(keyboard)
await update.message.reply_text('Choose:', reply_markup=reply_markup)

Message Handlers

from telegram.ext import MessageHandler, filters

async def handle_text(update: Update, ctx: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
    user_msg = update.message.text
    await update.message.reply_text(f'You said: {user_msg}')

app.add_handler(MessageHandler(filters.TEXT & ~filters.COMMAND, handle_text))

Webhook Deployment (Production)

app.run_webhook(
    listen='0.0.0.0',
    port=8443,
    secret_token='YOUR_SECRET',
    webhook_url='https://yourdomain.com/webhook'
)

Set the webhook with: https://api.telegram.org/bot{TOKEN}/setWebhook?url=https://yourdomain.com/webhook

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