Telegram Bot with python-telegram-bot

A starter Telegram bot project built with python-telegram-bot, environment-based configuration, Docker support, and Railway deployment setup.

Features

• Persistent chat menu buttons after /start
• /start, /help, /about, and /ping commands
• Echo replies for normal text messages
• Fallback handler for unknown commands
• Error logging
• Bot token loaded from a local .env file or Railway variables
• Ready to run with Docker and Railway

Chat Menu Buttons

The bot shows a persistent reply keyboard after /start with these buttons:

Button	Action
Help	Show available commands
About	Show short bot information
Ping	Check whether the bot is running

Telegram bots cannot display custom buttons before a user starts or messages the bot. The keyboard appears after the bot replies, then stays available in supported Telegram clients.

Bot Commands

Command	Description
/start	Show the welcome message
/help	Show available commands
/about	Show short bot information
/ping	Check whether the bot is running

Project Structure

.
├── bot/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── config.py
│   ├── handlers.py
│   └── main.py
├── .env
├── .env.example
├── .dockerignore
├── .gitignore
├── Dockerfile
├── LICENSE
├── railway.json
├── README.md
└── requirements.txt

Set Up the Bot Token

1. Create a bot with Telegram @BotFather.
2. Copy the bot token.
3. Add the token to .env:

Environment Variables

Name	Required	Default	Description
BOT_TOKEN	Yes	-	Bot token from @BotFather
LOG_LEVEL	No	INFO	Logging level, such as DEBUG, INFO, or ERROR

Install and Run Locally

Make sure Python 3.10 or newer is installed.

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m bot.main

For Windows PowerShell:

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m bot.main

Run with Docker

docker build -t telegram-bot .
docker run --env-file .env telegram-bot

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.