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Overview
This article explains how to configure a Telegram bot in the Maker so its messages can be handled as Telegram interactions. For how advisors then handle those conversations in the Banner, see Telegram in the messaging pool.
Connecting a Telegram bot lets your organisation receive the bot’s Telegram messages and route them through a Smart Routing, exactly like the other messaging channels. Configuration is done in the Maker, under Entry points > Telegram bots.
1. Prerequisites
This section requires the Telegram bots right. Reading the list needs the read right; adding, editing and deleting a bot need the create, modify and delete rights in the role.
To connect a bot you need:
- a Telegram bot and its token. You create the bot in Telegram with @BotFather, which gives you a bot token to paste into the configuration;
- a messaging Smart Routing already created, to which the bot will be linked. A bot with no Smart Routing linked has its incoming messages ignored.
2. Adding a bot
- Go to Entry points > Telegram bots.
- Click New Telegram bot.
- Fill in the fields below, then save with Add the Telegram bot. On success you see “The bot has been successfully created.”
The available fields are:
- Name: the display name of the bot (required).
- Telegram bot token: the token provided by @BotFather (required). It is entered in a masked field, with a button to reveal it.
- Session duration: the delay between two messages during which they are considered to belong to the same interaction. It is entered in seconds and must be between 10 seconds and 259 200 seconds (72 hours / 3 days); the default is 259 200. Each new customer message resets this window; if the customer sends nothing before it expires, the interaction is closed and a later message starts a new one.
- Time zone: the time zone applied to the bot, or By default (the customer account time zone).
- Language: the language used by the Smart Routing actions, or By default.
- Smart routing: the messaging Smart Routing that qualifies and distributes the bot’s incoming messages. When one is selected, choose its Smart routing version: Production or Test.
- End-of-interaction Smart routing: an optional Smart Routing run at the end of the interaction, also with a Production / Test version.
Note: the Smart routing must already exist to appear in the list, so create it first. Selecting it here is the only step needed to route the bot’s messages: there is nothing to configure on the Smart Routing side.
3. The list of bots
Each bot appears as a row. The columns are:
- Name: the bot name.
- Time zone: the bot’s time zone, or By default.
- Language: the language used by the Smart Routing actions, or By default.
- Session time: the configured session window (see section 2).
- Smart routing: the linked messaging Smart Routing, with a Production or Test tag.
- End-of-interaction Smart routing: the Smart Routing run when the interaction ends, if one is linked.
4. Managing a bot
The actions below are available from a bot’s row in the list.
4.1. Editing a bot
Click Modify to reopen the bot’s settings. You can change any of the fields described in section 2, then save with Modify the Telegram bot.
4.2. History and tags
Each row has an Options menu (the cog icon) that gives access to:
- History: the record of changes made to the bot, including who created it and who last modified it.
- Tags: a side panel to attach or detach tags on the bot, to organise and filter your entries. Managing tags requires the modify right.
Note: a Dependencies entry also appears in this menu when the bot is referenced by other elements.
4.3. Deleting a bot
Use the Delete row action to remove a bot. A confirmation is asked, and the action cannot be reversed. Once deleted, the bot no longer receives messages. You can also select several bots and delete them together.