Telegram Bot Configuration

Required Settings

Setting	Source	Description
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	Environment variable or Settings page	Bot token from @BotFather. Required.
TELEGRAM_BOT_NAME	Environment variable or Settings page	Display name for the bot (informational only). Optional.

Getting a Bot Token

1. Open Telegram and message @BotFather
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to name your bot
3. BotFather gives you a token like 123456789:ABCdefGHI...
4. Enter this token in the Settings page under the Telegram section, or set it as the TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN environment variable

Setting the Token

From the Settings Page

1. Go to Settings (/admin/settings)
2. Find the Telegram section
3. Enter the bot token
4. Click Start to start the bot

As an Environment Variable

Set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN when creating your RunPod pod or Docker container. The bot will auto-start on backend boot.

Runtime Settings Storage

When edited from the Settings page, the token is persisted in both:

• os.environ (for the current process)
• The SQLite database (database/studio.db settings table) -- survives pod restarts

On subsequent boots, the backend loads saved settings from the database before auto_start() checks for the token.

Bot Control Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
GET /api/admin/telegram/status	GET	Returns {running, name, started_at}
POST /api/admin/telegram/start	POST	Start the bot (returns "started", "already running", or "no token configured")
POST /api/admin/telegram/stop	POST	Stop the bot