- To create a free Telegram account, download the app for Android / iPhone and sign up using your phone number.
- To create a Telegram bot, add @BotFather on Telegram, press Start, and follow the below steps:
- Send a
/newbot
command and fill in the requested details, including a bot name and username. - Take a note of the API token, which looks something like
123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11
. - Access the link
t.me/<username>
to your new bot given by BotFather and press Start. - Access the link
api.telegram.org/bot<token>/getUpdates
, replacing<token>
with the bot's API token. This gives a list of the bot's activity, including messages sent to the bot. - The result section should contain at least one message, due to us pressing the Start button. If not, sending a
/start
command to the bot should do the trick. Take a note of the"id"
number in the"chat"
section of this message. - One bot is enough for now, but you can repeat these steps to create more bots.
- Send a
At the end, you should have:
- A Telegram account
- A Telegram bot (at least one)
- The Telegram bot's API token (at least one)
- The chat ID of your chat with the bot (at least one)