Telegram chatbot


Use Telegram on your mobile or desktop device to send and receive messages or commands to/from your Home Assistant.

This component creates notification services to send, or edit previously sent, messages from a Telegram Bot account configured either with the polling method or with the webhooks one, and trigger events when receiving messages.

If you don’t need to receive messages, you can use the broadcast platform instead.

Notification services

Available services: send_message, send_photo, send_document, send_location, edit_message, edit_replymarkup, edit_caption, answer_callback_query.

Service telegram_bot/send_message

Send a notification.

Service data attribute Optional Description
message no Message body of the notification.
title yes Optional title for your notification. Will be composed as ‘%title\n%message’.
target yes An array of pre-authorized chat_ids or user_ids to send the notification to. Defaults to the first allowed chat_id.
parse_mode yes Parser for the message text: html or markdown.
disable_notification yes True/false for send the message silently. iOS users and web users will not receive a notification, Android users will receive a notification with no sound. Defaults to False.
disable_web_page_preview yes True/false for disable link previews for links in the message.
keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom keyboard. Example: ["/command1, /command2", "/command3"]
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/send_photo

Send a photo.

Service data attribute Optional Description
url no Remote path to an image.
file no Local path to an image.
caption yes The title of the image.
username yes Username for a URL which require HTTP basic authentication.
password yes Password for a URL which require HTTP basic authentication.
authentication yes Define which authentication method to use. Set to digest to use HTTP digest authentication. Defaults to basic.
target yes An array of pre-authorized chat_ids or user_ids to send the notification to. Defaults to the first allowed chat_id.
disable_notification yes True/false for send the message silently. iOS users and web users will not receive a notification, Android users will receive a notification with no sound. Defaults to False.
keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom keyboard. Example: ["/command1, /command2", "/command3"]
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/send_video

Send a video.

Service data attribute Optional Description
url no Remote path to a video.
file no Local path to a video.
caption yes The title of the video.
username yes Username for a URL which requires HTTP basic authentication.
password yes Password for a URL which requires HTTP basic authentication.
authentication yes Define which authentication method to use. Set to digest to use HTTP digest authentication. Defaults to basic.
target yes An array of pre-authorized chat_ids or user_ids to send the notification to. Defaults to the first allowed chat_id.
disable_notification yes True/false to send the message silently. iOS users and web users will not receive a notification. Android users will receive a notification with no sound. Defaults to False.
keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom keyboard. Example: ["/command1, /command2", "/command3"]
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/send_document

Send a document.

Service data attribute Optional Description
url no Remote path to a document.
file no Local path to a document.
caption yes The title of the document.
username yes Username for a URL which require HTTP basic authentication.
password yes Password for a URL which require HTTP basic authentication.
authentication yes Define which authentication method to use. Set to digest to use HTTP digest authentication. Defaults to basic.
target yes An array of pre-authorized chat_ids or user_ids to send the notification to. Defaults to the first allowed chat_id.
disable_notification yes True/false for send the message silently. iOS users and web users will not receive a notification, Android users will receive a notification with no sound. Defaults to False.
keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom keyboard. Example: ["/command1, /command2", "/command3"]
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/send_location

Send a location.

Service data attribute Optional Description
latitude no The latitude to send.
longitude no The longitude to send.
target yes An array of pre-authorized chat_ids or user_ids to send the notification to. Defaults to the first allowed chat_id.
disable_notification yes True/false for send the message silently. iOS users and web users will not receive a notification, Android users will receive a notification with no sound. Defaults to False.
keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom keyboard. Example: ["/command1, /command2", "/command3"]
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/edit_message

Edit a previously sent message in a conversation.

Service data attribute Optional Description
message_id no Id of the message to edit. When answering a callback from a pressed button, the id of the origin message is in: ``. You can use "last" to refer to the last message sent to chat_id.
chat_id no The chat_id where to edit the message.
message no Message body of the notification.
title yes Optional title for your notification. Will be composed as ‘%title\n%message’.
parse_mode yes Parser for the message text: html or markdown.
disable_web_page_preview yes True/false for disable link previews for links in the message.
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/edit_caption

Edit the caption of a previously sent message.

Service data attribute Optional Description
message_id no Id of the message to edit. When answering a callback from a pressed button, the id of the origin message is in: ``. You can use "last" to refer to the last message sent to chat_id.
chat_id no The chat_id where to edit the caption.
caption no Message body of the notification.
disable_web_page_preview yes True/false for disable link previews for links in the message.
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/edit_replymarkup

Edit the inline keyboard of a previusly sent message.

Service data attribute Optional Description
message_id no Id of the message to edit. When answering a callback from a pressed button, the id of the origin message is in: ``. You can use "last" to refer to the last message sent to chat_id.
chat_id no The chat_id where to edit the reply_markup.
disable_web_page_preview yes True/false for disable link previews for links in the message.
inline_keyboard yes List of rows of commands, comma-separated, to make a custom inline keyboard with buttons with associated callback data. Example: ["/button1, /button2", "/button3"] or [[["Text btn1", "/button1"], ["Text btn2", "/button2"]], [["Text btn3", "/button3"]]]

Service telegram_bot/answer_callback_query

Respond to a callback query originated by clicking on an online keyboard button. The answer will be displayed to the user as a notification at the top of the chat screen or as an alert.

Service data attribute Optional Description
message no Unformatted text message body of the notification.
callback_query_id no Unique id of the callback response. In the telegram_callback event data: ``
show_alert yes True/false for show a permanent notification. Defaults to False.

Service telegram_bot/delete_message

Delete a previously sent message in a conversation.

Service data attribute Optional Description
message_id no Id of the message to delete. When answering a callback from a pressed button, the id of the origin message is in: ``. You can use "last" to refer to the last message sent to chat_id.
chat_id no The chat_id where to delete the message.

Telegram notification platform

The Telegram notification platform requires the telegram_bot component to work with, and it’s designed to generate a customized shortcut (notify.USERNAME) to send notifications (messages, photos, documents and locations) to a particular chat_id with the old syntax, allowing backward compatibility.

The required yaml configuration now reduces to:

notify:
  - name: NOTIFIER_NAME
    platform: telegram
    chat_id: USER_CHAT_ID

Event triggering

A command looks like /thecommand, or /othercommand with some args.

When received by Home Assistant it will fire a telegram_command event on the event bus with the following event_data:

command: "/thecommand"
args: "<any other text following the command>"
from_first: "<first name of the sender>"
from_last: "<last name of the sender>"
user_id: "<id of the sender>"
chat_id: "<origin chat id>"
chat: "<chat info>"

Any other message not starting with / will be processed as simple text, firing a telegram_text event on the event bus with the following event_data:

text: "some text received"
from_first: "<first name of the sender>"
from_last: "<last name of the sender>"
user_id: "<id of the sender>"
chat_id: "<origin chat id>"
chat: "<chat info>"

if the message is sent from a press from an inline button, for example, a callback query is received, and Home Assistant will fire a telegram_callback event with:

data: "<data associated to action callback>"
message: <message origin of the action callback>
from_first: "<first name of the sender>"
from_last: "<last name of the sender>"
user_id: "<id of the sender>"
id: "<unique id of the callback>"
chat_instance: "<chat instance>"
chat_id: "<origin chat id>"

Configuration samples

Simple ping pong example.

alias: 'Telegram bot that reply pong to ping'
hide_entity: true
trigger:
  platform: event
  event_type: telegram_command
  event_data:
    command: '/ping'
action:
  - service: notify.notify
    data:
      message: 'pong'

Example that show keyboard interaction with notify.telegram

trigger:
  platform: event
  event_type: telegram_command
  event_data:
    command: '/start'
action:
  - service: notify.telegram
    data:
      message: 'commands'
      data:
        keyboard:
          - '/ping, /alarm'
          - '/siren'

and an automation to trigger a related command “/siren”.

trigger:
  platform: event
  event_type: telegram_command
  event_data:
    command: '/siren'
action:
  - service: homeassistant.turn_on
    entity_id: switch.vision_zm1601eu5_battery_operated_siren_switch_9_0
  - delay:
      seconds: 10
  - service: homeassistant.turn_off
    entity_id: switch.vision_zm1601eu5_battery_operated_siren_switch_9_0

An example to show the use of event_data in the action:

- alias: 'Kitchen Telegram Speak'
  trigger:
    platform: event
    event_type: telegram_command
    event_data:
      command: '/speak'
  action:
    - service: notify.kitchen_echo
      data_template:
        message: >
          Message from {{ trigger.event.data["from_first"] }}. {% for state in trigger.event.data["args"] %} {{ state }} {% endfor %}

Sample automations with callback queries and inline keyboards

Quick example to show some of the callback capabilities of inline keyboards with a dumb automation consisting in a simple repeater of normal text that presents an inline keyboard with 3 buttons: ‘EDIT’, ‘NO’ and ‘REMOVE BUTTON’:

  • Pressing ‘EDIT’ changes the sent message.
  • Pressing ‘NO’ only shows a brief notification (answering the callback query).
  • Pressing ‘REMOVE BUTTON’ changes the inline keyboard removing that button.

Text repeater:

- alias: 'Telegram bot that repeats text'
  hide_entity: true
  trigger:
    platform: event
    event_type: telegram_text
  action:
    - service: telegram_bot.send_message
      data_template:
        title: '*Dumb automation*'
        target: '{{ trigger.event.data.user_id }}'
        message: 'You said: {{ trigger.event.data.text }}'
        disable_notification: true
        inline_keyboard:
          - "Edit message:/edit_msg, Don't:/do_nothing"
          - "Remove this button:/remove button"

Message editor:

- alias: 'Telegram bot that edits the last sent message'
  hide_entity: true
  trigger:
    platform: event
    event_type: telegram_callback
    event_data:
      data: '/edit_msg'
  action:
    - service: telegram_bot.answer_callback_query
      data_template:
        callback_query_id: ''
        message: 'Editing the message!'
        show_alert: true
    - service: telegram_bot.edit_message
      data_template:
        message_id: '{{ trigger.event.data.message.message_id }}'
        chat_id: '{{ trigger.event.data.chat_id }}'
        title: '*Message edit*'
        inline_keyboard:
          - "Edit message:/edit_msg, Don't:/do_nothing"
          - "Remove this button:/remove button"
        message: >
          Callback received from {% raw %}{{ trigger.event.data.from_first }}.
          Message id: {{ trigger.event.data.message.message_id }}.
          Data: {{ trigger.event.data.data }}

Keyboard editor:

- alias: 'Telegram bot that edits the keyboard'
  hide_entity: true
  trigger:
    platform: event
    event_type: telegram_callback
    event_data:
      data: '/remove button'
  action:
    - service: telegram_bot.answer_callback_query
      data_template:
        callback_query_id: '{{ trigger.event.data.id }}'
        message: 'Callback received for editing the inline keyboard!'
    - service: telegram_bot.edit_replymarkup
      data_template:
        message_id: 'last'
        chat_id: '{{ trigger.event.data.chat_id }}'
        inline_keyboard:
          - "Edit message:/edit_msg, Don't:/do_nothing"

Only acknowledges the ‘NO’ answer:

- alias: 'Telegram bot that simply acknowledges'
  hide_entity: true
  trigger:
    platform: event
    event_type: telegram_callback
    event_data:
      data: '/do_nothing'
  action:
    - service: telegram_bot.answer_callback_query
      data_template:
        callback_query_id: '{{ trigger.event.data.id }}'
        message: 'OK, you said no!'

For a more complex usage of the telegram_bot capabilities, using AppDaemon is advised.

This is how the previous 4 automations would be through a simple AppDaemon app:

import appdaemon.appapi as appapi

class TelegramBotEventListener(appapi.AppDaemon):
    """Event listener for Telegram bot events."""

    def initialize(self):
        """Listen to Telegram Bot events of interest."""
        self.listen_event(self.receive_telegram_text, 'telegram_text')
        self.listen_event(self.receive_telegram_callback, 'telegram_callback')

    def receive_telegram_text(self, event_id, payload_event, *args):
        """Text repeater."""
        assert event_id == 'telegram_text'
        user_id = payload_event['user_id']
        msg = 'You said: ``` %s ```' % payload_event['text']
        keyboard = [[("Edit message", "/edit_msg"),
                     ("Don't", "/do_nothing")],
                    [("Remove this button", "/remove button")]]
        self.call_service('telegram_bot/send_message',
                          title='*Dumb automation*',
                          target=user_id,
                          message=msg,
                          disable_notification=True,
                          inline_keyboard=keyboard)

    def receive_telegram_callback(self, event_id, payload_event, *args):
        """Event listener for Telegram callback queries."""
        assert event_id == 'telegram_callback'
        data_callback = payload_event['data']
        callback_id = payload_event['id']
        chat_id = payload_event['chat_id']
        # keyboard = ["Edit message:/edit_msg, Don't:/do_nothing",
        #             "Remove this button:/remove button"]
        keyboard = [[("Edit message", "/edit_msg"),
                     ("Don't", "/do_nothing")],
                    [("Remove this button", "/remove button")]]

        if data_callback == '/edit_msg':  # Message editor:
            # Answer callback query
            self.call_service('telegram_bot/answer_callback_query',
                              message='Editing the message!',
                              callback_query_id=callback_id,
                              show_alert=True)

            # Edit the message origin of the callback query
            msg_id = payload_event['message']['message_id']
            user = payload_event['from_first']
            title = '*Message edit*'
            msg = 'Callback received from %s. Message id: %s. Data: ``` %s ```'
            self.call_service('telegram_bot/edit_message',
                              chat_id=chat_id,
                              message_id=msg_id,
                              title=title,
                              message=msg % (user, msg_id, data_callback),
                              inline_keyboard=keyboard)

        elif data_callback == '/remove button':  # Keyboard editor:
            # Answer callback query
            self.call_service('telegram_bot/answer_callback_query',
                              message='Callback received for editing the '
                                      'inline keyboard!',
                              callback_query_id=callback_id)

            # Edit the keyboard
            new_keyboard = keyboard[:1]
            self.call_service('telegram_bot/edit_replymarkup',
                              chat_id=chat_id,
                              message_id='last',
                              inline_keyboard=new_keyboard)

        elif data_callback == '/do_nothing':  # Only Answer to callback query
            self.call_service('telegram_bot/answer_callback_query',
                              message='OK, you said no!',
                              callback_query_id=callback_id)