Troubleshooting

Running into issues with your Telegram bot on FPS.ms? This guide covers the most common problems and their solutions for both Python and Node.js bots.

Bot won't start

"No such file or directory: app.py"

1. Go to the Files tab in the panel
2. Make sure you have a file named exactly app.py in the root directory (not inside a subfolder)
3. If your main file has a different name, rename it to app.py

"Cannot find module" (Node.js)

1. Verify you have a package.json in the root directory
2. Make sure telegraf (or your bot framework) is listed under dependencies
3. Do not upload the node_modules folder — FPS.ms runs npm install automatically
4. Restart your server to trigger a fresh install

"ModuleNotFoundError" (Python)

1. Create a requirements.txt file in the root directory
2. Add your packages:

python-telegram-bot
python-dotenv

3. Restart your server — FPS.ms installs packages from requirements.txt on startup

Token errors

"Unauthorized" or "Not Found: 404"

1. Open your .env file in the Files tab on the FPS.ms panel
2. Check that BOT_TOKEN= contains your full token with no extra spaces or line breaks
3. If in doubt, get a fresh token from BotFather using /revoke and paste the new one

"Conflict: terminated by other getUpdates request"

• You're running the bot locally AND on FPS.ms
• The server restarted but the old process didn't stop cleanly

1. Stop any local instances of your bot
2. On FPS.ms, click Stop and wait a few seconds, then click Start
3. If it persists, wait 1-2 minutes — Telegram automatically drops stale polling connections

Bot not responding

Bot starts but doesn't reply to messages

1. Token is correct — send /start to your bot in Telegram and check the console for errors
2. Handlers are registered — make sure your command handlers are added before run_polling() (Python) or bot.launch() (Node.js)
3. Bot is polling — check the console output. You should see Bot is running... or similar
4. Privacy mode in groups — if your bot doesn't respond in groups, BotFather's privacy mode may be on. Type /setprivacy in BotFather and set it to Disable to let your bot see all messages in groups

Bot works in private but not in groups

1. Open @BotFather in Telegram
2. Type /setprivacy
3. Select your bot
4. Choose Disable
5. Remove and re-add the bot to the group for the change to take effect

Bot goes offline

Bot starts then immediately stops

1. Check the Console tab for error messages — the last few lines before it stops will tell you what went wrong
2. Common causes:

• Missing environment variable — see environment variables guide
• Syntax error in your code — fix and re-upload via SFTP or the panel
• Missing dependency — add it to requirements.txt or package.json

Bot runs for a while then disconnects

1. Memory limit: Free servers have limited RAM. If your bot caches a lot of data in memory, consider using a database or file storage instead.
2. Unhandled errors: Add error handling to prevent crashes:

from telegram.ext import ApplicationBuilder

app = ApplicationBuilder().token(os.environ['BOT_TOKEN']).build()

# Log errors instead of crashing
async def error_handler(update, context):
    print(f'Error: {context.error}')

app.add_error_handler(error_handler)

bot.catch((err, ctx) => {
    console.error(`Error for ${ctx.updateType}:`, err);
});

process.on('unhandledRejection', (error) => {
    console.error('Unhandled rejection:', error);
});

3. Network timeouts: Telegram polling connections can time out. The python-telegram-bot library handles reconnection automatically. For Telegraf, it also reconnects by default.

Bot goes offline at the same time every day

• Check your server renewal status on the panel
• Set up a schedule to auto-restart your bot

Dependency issues

Python package version conflicts

python-telegram-bot==21.10
python-dotenv==1.0.1

Node.js "ERESOLVE unable to resolve dependency tree"

1. Remove the node_modules folder and package-lock.json from your server files
2. Restart the server to trigger a fresh npm install
3. If the issue persists, update your package.json to use compatible versions

Still need help?

1. Check the Console tab on the FPS.ms panel — error messages usually tell you exactly what's wrong
2. Join the FPS.ms Discord server for community support
3. Review the official documentation for your bot library:

• Python: python-telegram-bot docs
• Node.js: Telegraf docs
• Telegram Bot API: Telegram Bot API docs