Creating your bot with BotFather

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

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.

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.

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

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:

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

Next steps#

• Install your bot on FPS.ms — deploy with Python or Node.js
• Set up environment variables — manage your token securely
• Add commands — handle user commands in your code