Your First Bot¶
Let's get something working on Telegram in the next few minutes. No Logic, no databases, no "what's a callback query?" — just a bot that says hello when someone sends /start.
If you can fill in two fields and click Save, you can build a bot. Spoiler: that's literally all we're doing.
What you're building¶
A single command: user sends /start, bot replies with a welcome message. That's it. Everything else in this section builds on top of this.
Open the command editor¶
Dashboard → your bot → Commands → Add Command.
Everything your bot does lives here. One command = one row in this list.
Fill in two fields¶
Command: /start
Answer:
Save it. Launch the bot from the dashboard if you haven't already. Congratulations — you're a bot developer now. (Technically.)
What happens when someone types /start¶
Telegram delivers the update. TBL matches /start, sends the Answer, and stops. The answer goes out before any Logic runs — so for simple replies you often don't need a Logic field at all.
Pipeline details when you're curious: Execution Flow.
Formatting the answer¶
The Answer field accepts Telegram Markdown by default. Bold, italic, line breaks — nice for welcome text.
Start plain. Add formatting once the message sends reliably. Broken asterisks are harder to debug than plain text.
Test it¶
Open your bot in Telegram, send /start. You should see the hello message right away.
Nothing comes back?
- Check the bot is launched in the dashboard
- Confirm you're messaging the correct
@username - Wait a few seconds and try again — sometimes Telegram is slow, not you
What's next¶
Adding a Keyboard — give users buttons so they don't have to type commands.
Or read Command Flow for the full structured guide when you're ready to go deeper.