Building Telegram Bots: From Simple Commands to Complex AI Assistants

Building Telegram Bots: From Simple to Complex

Telegram bots have evolved from simple command handlers to sophisticated AI-powered assistants. Here's how to build production-grade bots in 2026.

Why Telegram Bots?

• 1 billion+ monthly active users on Telegram
• Rich API — inline keyboards, payments, games, web apps
• No app store approval — instant deployment
• Free — no platform fees for bot operation

Architecture Options

Simple: Polling (grammY / node-telegram-bot-api)

Best for small bots. The bot constantly polls Telegram for new messages.

import { Bot } from "grammy";

const bot = new Bot("BOT_TOKEN");

bot.command("start", (ctx) => {
  ctx.reply("Welcome!");
});

bot.start();

Production: Webhooks + Queue

For high-traffic bots, use webhooks with a message queue:

Telegram → Webhook → Redis Queue → Worker(s) → Response

This architecture handles thousands of messages per second and provides fault tolerance.

Adding AI Capabilities

Modern Telegram bots increasingly use LLMs for:

1. Natural language understanding — Parse user intent without rigid command structures
2. Content generation — Create summaries, translations, answers
3. Image analysis — Process photos sent by users
4. Conversation memory — Maintain context across messages

Payment Integration

Telegram's built-in payment system supports:

• Stripe, Yookassa, and other providers
• Subscription models via pre_checkout_query
• Stars (Telegram's digital currency)

Deployment Best Practices

• Use PM2 for process management
• Implement graceful shutdown to avoid message loss
• Store state in Redis for fast access
• Use PostgreSQL for persistent data
• Monitor with Telegram admin notifications

Testing

Create a separate test bot with @BotFather for development. Use Telegram's Bot API local server for offline testing.

Originally published on IceCat Studio Blog. Based on production bot development experience.