Security: - Bot registration restricted to BotFather (requires botfather_token) - Direct POST /v1/bot/register without BotFather auth → rejected Deploy: - systemd service reads /home/warzone/server.env for EXTRA_ARGS - deploy/warzone-server.env.mequ: no bots (default) - deploy/warzone-server.env.kh3rad3ree: --enable-bots - setup.sh copies per-hostname env file Docs updated: - LLM_HELP.md: BotFather flow, plaintext bot messaging, E2E option, bridge - LLM_BOT_DEV.md: botfather_token requirement, E2E mode, bridge section - BOT_API.md: full BotFather flow, ownership, numeric IDs, webhook delivery - SERVER.md: --enable-bots flag, per-instance config, bot system section - USAGE.md: bot messaging, BotFather, bridge tool Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
8.1 KiB
featherChat Bot Development Reference
Setup
Server: http://HOST:7700
All bot endpoints: /v1/bot/<TOKEN>/METHOD
Prerequisites: The server must be started with --enable-bots to activate bot functionality.
BotFather Registration
Bots can only be created through @botfather. On first server start, BotFather is auto-created and its token is printed in the server logs.
To create a bot:
- Message
@botfatherin the chat client (or use the BotFather token from server logs for programmatic access). - BotFather calls
/v1/bot/registerwith your request, including abotfather_tokenfield for authorization.
Registration request (sent by BotFather internally):
POST /v1/bot/register
{"name":"MyBot","fingerprint":"any_32_hex_chars","botfather_token":"<bf_token>"}
→ {"ok":true,"result":{"token":"TOKEN","alias":"@mybot_bot","owner":"<creator_fp>"}}
Bot names must end with Bot/bot/_bot. Token format: <fp_prefix>:<random_hex>.
E2E Bot Mode
Bots can optionally participate in E2E encryption. Pass additional fields during registration:
{
"name": "SecureBot",
"fingerprint": "...",
"botfather_token": "...",
"e2e": true,
"bundle": { "identity_key": "...", "signed_prekey": "...", "signature": "...", "one_time_prekeys": ["..."] },
"eth_address": "0x..."
}
An E2E bot registers a full prekey bundle and can establish X3DH sessions with users, receiving decryptable messages instead of raw_encrypted blobs.
Endpoints
getMe
GET /v1/bot/TOKEN/getMe
→ {"ok":true,"result":{"id":"fp","is_bot":true,"first_name":"MyBot","username":"MyBot"}}
getUpdates (long-poll)
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/getUpdates
{"offset":LAST_UPDATE_ID+1,"timeout":30,"limit":100}
→ {"ok":true,"result":[{"update_id":N,"message":{...}}]}
offset: skip updates with id < offset (acknowledge processed) timeout: long-poll seconds (max 30) limit: max updates to return (default 100)
sendMessage
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/sendMessage
{
"chat_id": "FINGERPRINT",
"text": "Hello!",
"parse_mode": "HTML", // optional
"reply_to_message_id": "MSG_ID", // optional
"reply_markup": { // optional, inline keyboard
"inline_keyboard": [
[{"text":"Yes","callback_data":"yes"},{"text":"No","callback_data":"no"}]
]
}
}
→ {"ok":true,"result":{"message_id":"UUID","delivered":true}}
answerCallbackQuery
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/answerCallbackQuery
{"callback_query_id":"ID","text":"Done!","show_alert":false}
→ {"ok":true,"result":true}
editMessageText
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/editMessageText
{"chat_id":"FP","message_id":"MSG_ID","text":"Updated text","reply_markup":{...}}
sendDocument
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/sendDocument
{"chat_id":"FP","document":"filename_or_url","caption":"optional"}
setWebhook / deleteWebhook / getWebhookInfo
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/setWebhook {"url":"https://mybot.example.com/webhook"}
POST /v1/bot/TOKEN/deleteWebhook
GET /v1/bot/TOKEN/getWebhookInfo
Update Types
Messages from users arrive in getUpdates as:
Plaintext (from other bots):
{"update_id":1,"message":{"message_id":"id","from":{"id":"fp","is_bot":true},"chat":{"id":"fp","type":"private"},"text":"Hello"}}
Encrypted (from users with E2E sessions):
{"update_id":2,"message":{"message_id":"id","from":{"id":"fp","is_bot":false},"chat":{"id":"fp"},"text":null,"raw_encrypted":"base64..."}}
Note: v1 bots cannot decrypt E2E messages. They see text=null + raw_encrypted blob.
Call signal:
{"update_id":3,"message":{"text":"/call_Offer","call_signal":{"type":"Offer","payload":"..."}}}
File:
{"update_id":4,"message":{"document":{"file_name":"report.pdf","file_size":1234}}}
Python Examples
Echo Bot
import requests, time
TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"
API = f"http://localhost:7700/v1/bot/{TOKEN}"
offset = 0
while True:
resp = requests.post(f"{API}/getUpdates", json={"offset": offset, "timeout": 30}).json()
for update in resp.get("result", []):
offset = update["update_id"] + 1
msg = update.get("message", {})
chat_id = msg.get("chat", {}).get("id", "")
text = msg.get("text")
if text and chat_id:
requests.post(f"{API}/sendMessage", json={"chat_id": chat_id, "text": f"Echo: {text}"})
Inline Keyboard Bot
import requests
TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"
API = f"http://localhost:7700/v1/bot/{TOKEN}"
offset = 0
def send_menu(chat_id):
requests.post(f"{API}/sendMessage", json={
"chat_id": chat_id,
"text": "Choose an option:",
"reply_markup": {
"inline_keyboard": [
[{"text": "Option A", "callback_data": "a"}, {"text": "Option B", "callback_data": "b"}],
[{"text": "Help", "callback_data": "help"}]
]
}
})
while True:
resp = requests.post(f"{API}/getUpdates", json={"offset": offset, "timeout": 30}).json()
for update in resp.get("result", []):
offset = update["update_id"] + 1
msg = update.get("message", {})
text = msg.get("text", "")
chat_id = msg.get("chat", {}).get("id", "")
if text == "/start":
send_menu(chat_id)
elif text:
requests.post(f"{API}/sendMessage", json={"chat_id": chat_id, "text": f"You said: {text}"})
Node.js Echo Bot
const API = `http://localhost:7700/v1/bot/${process.env.BOT_TOKEN}`;
let offset = 0;
async function poll() {
while (true) {
try {
const res = await fetch(`${API}/getUpdates`, {
method: 'POST',
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
body: JSON.stringify({offset, timeout: 30})
});
const data = await res.json();
for (const update of data.result || []) {
offset = update.update_id + 1;
const msg = update.message;
if (msg?.text && msg?.chat?.id) {
await fetch(`${API}/sendMessage`, {
method: 'POST',
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
body: JSON.stringify({chat_id: msg.chat.id, text: `Echo: ${msg.text}`})
});
}
}
} catch (e) { console.error(e); await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 3000)); }
}
}
poll();
Differences from Telegram
| Feature | Telegram | featherChat |
|---|---|---|
| chat_id | numeric | hex fingerprint string OR numeric (both accepted) |
| getUpdates timeout | up to 50s | up to 50s |
| User messages | plaintext | E2E encrypted (text=null unless E2E bot) |
| Bot messages | plaintext | plaintext (no E2E) unless E2E bot mode |
| File upload | multipart form | JSON reference (v1) |
| Inline keyboards | full support | stored + delivered, no popup |
| Callback queries | full popup | acknowledged, no popup |
| Webhooks | full HTTPS | URL stored, updates delivered live (POST to webhook URL) |
| Media groups | supported | not yet |
| parse_mode | renders HTML/MD | HTML rendered (, , , ) |
Key Patterns
Always use offset — without it, the same messages are returned every poll.
chat_id is the sender's fingerprint — use msg.chat.id or msg.from.id. Note: from.id is now a numeric integer for TG compatibility; use from.id_str for the hex fingerprint.
Bot alias — users message bots via @mybot_bot which resolves to the bot's fingerprint.
Error handling — all responses have {"ok": bool}. Check ok before accessing result.
Rate limits — 200 concurrent server requests, no per-bot limit (be reasonable).
Bot Bridge (tools/bot-bridge.py)
The bot bridge provides a compatibility layer for existing Telegram bot libraries. It translates between featherChat's Bot API and standard TG libraries.
Supported libraries:
- python-telegram-bot — set
base_urltohttp://your-server:7700/v1/bot/ - aiogram — configure the bot session with the featherChat server URL
- Telegraf (Node.js) — set
telegram.apiRoottohttp://your-server:7700/v1/bot
Usage:
python tools/bot-bridge.py --token YOUR_BOT_TOKEN --server http://localhost:7700
The bridge handles differences like fingerprint-based chat_id, numeric ID translation, and webhook forwarding.