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Telegram Bots

Creating your bot with BotFather

CanerAkar Mar 17, 2026

Before you can host your Telegram bot on FPS.ms, you need to create it through Telegram's BotFather and get your bot token. BotFather is Telegram's official tool for creating and managing bots — it runs as a bot itself inside Telegram.

What is BotFather?

BotFather is Telegram's official bot for creating and managing other bots. Think of it as the admin panel for your bot — you use it to create bots, generate tokens, set names, descriptions, and profile pictures. Every Telegram bot starts with BotFather.

Step 1: Open BotFather

  1. Open Telegram on your phone, desktop, or web browser
  2. Search for @BotFather in the search bar
  3. Click on the verified BotFather account (it has a blue checkmark)
  4. Click Start or type /start
Verify it's the real BotFather
Make sure you're talking to the official BotFather with the blue verification checkmark. There are fake accounts that try to steal bot tokens.

Step 2: Create your bot

  1. Type /newbot or click the command in the menu
  2. BotFather asks for a display name — this is what users see (e.g., My Cool Bot). You can change this later.
  3. BotFather asks for a username — this must end in bot (e.g., my_cool_bot or MyCoolBot). This cannot be changed later, so choose carefully.
Choosing a username
The username must be unique across all of Telegram and must end in bot. Short, descriptive usernames like weather_alert_bot are better than generic ones like mybot123bot.

Step 3: Get your bot token

After creating the bot, BotFather sends you a message containing your bot token. It looks something like this: 
7123456789:AAHdqTcvCH1vGWJxfSeofSAs0K5PALDsaw
Copy this token immediately — you'll need it to connect your code to Telegram.
Keep your token secret
Anyone with your bot token can control your bot. Never share it in screenshots, public repos, or messages. If your token is compromised, revoke it immediately with /revoke in BotFather.

Step 4: Set bot description and about text

While still in BotFather, configure your bot's profile:
  1. Type /setdescription — this text appears when users first open a chat with your bot (before pressing Start)
  2. Select your bot from the list
  3. Enter a description explaining what your bot does
Then set the about text:
  1. Type /setabouttext — this appears on your bot's profile page
  2. Select your bot
  3. Enter a short summary (up to 120 characters)

Step 5: Set bot commands

Setting commands through BotFather makes them appear in the Telegram menu when users type /:
  1. Type /setcommands
  2. Select your bot
  3. Send your commands in this format (one per line):
start - Start the bot
help - Show available commands
settings - Change bot settings
These are just labels
Setting commands in BotFather only creates the menu labels — you still need to handle them in your code. See our adding commands guide for the code side.

Step 6: Add the token to FPS.ms

Now that you have your token, add it to your FPS.ms server using a .env file:
  1. Go to panel.fps.ms and select your Telegram bot server
  2. In the Files tab, create a file named .env in the root directory
  3. Add your token: BOT_TOKEN=your-token-here
  4. Save the file and restart your server
For more details on managing your token securely, see our environment variables guide.

Useful BotFather commands

Here are all the BotFather commands you might need:
CommandWhat it does
`/newbot`Create a new bot
`/setname`Change your bot's display name
`/setdescription`Set the description users see before starting
`/setabouttext`Set the short bio on your bot's profile
`/setuserpic`Upload a profile picture for your bot
`/setcommands`Set the command menu
`/deletecommands`Remove the command menu
`/setprivacy`Toggle group privacy mode (whether bot reads all messages or only commands)
`/token`Show your bot's current token
`/revoke`Revoke the token and generate a new one
`/setinline`Enable inline mode
`/deletebot`Permanently delete your bot

How to reset your token

If your token is compromised or you need a new one:
  1. Open BotFather in Telegram
  2. Type /revoke
  3. Select your bot
  4. BotFather generates a new token — copy it
  5. Update the token in your .env file on FPS.ms
  6. Restart your server
Old token stops immediately
After revoking, the old token stops working instantly. Your bot will go offline until you update the .env file and restart.

Next steps

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