Getting started

Every @BotFather command, and what each one is actually for

By the Botable team

@BotFather is Telegram's official bot for creating and configuring bots. It handles registration, tokens, profile details, the command menu, privacy mode, group permissions, inline mode and deletion. It does not host or run your bot's logic.

The short version

@BotFather is the control panel for a bot's identity, and understanding its boundary saves a lot of confusion: it manages what Telegram knows about your bot, and nothing about what your bot does. Registration, the token, the display name, the avatar, the description, the command menu, privacy mode, whether the bot can be added to groups, and inline mode are all BotFather's. The handlers, the storage, the scheduling and the hosting are not — BotFather cannot make your bot reply to anything. Most settings can be changed at any time and take effect immediately; the two exceptions worth knowing are the username, which is permanent once chosen, and privacy mode, where a change only applies to groups the bot joins afterwards, so existing groups need the bot removed and re-added. Every command can also be reached through the menus under /mybots.

Step by step

Which commands create and manage bots?

/newbot creates one and returns a token. /mybots opens a menu-driven view of everything you own and is generally easier than remembering individual commands. /token displays an existing token, /revoke replaces it, and /deletebot removes the bot permanently and frees its username.

Which commands set up the profile?

/setname changes the display name. /setdescription writes the text shown on the empty chat screen before someone presses Start — this is the one people actually read. /setabouttext fills the short blurb on the profile card. /setuserpic sets the avatar. /setcommands defines the command menu next to the message box.

Which commands control behaviour in groups?

/setjoingroups controls whether the bot can be added to groups at all. /setprivacy controls how much it sees once there: with privacy on, which is the default, it receives only commands, replies to its own messages, mentions of itself, and service messages. Turn it off only if the bot genuinely needs to read everything.

Which commands relate to inline mode and apps?

/setinline enables inline mode, where people use the bot by typing @yourbot in any chat, and sets the placeholder text. /setinlinegeo requests location for inline results, /setinlinefeedback controls result-selection reporting. /newapp and /myapps manage Mini Apps attached to the bot.

What catches people out

  • The username is permanent — everything else on the profile can be changed later
  • A privacy-mode change does not apply to groups the bot is already in; remove and re-add it
  • /deletebot is irreversible, and the freed username can then be taken by anyone

Questions

Is @BotFather the only way to create a bot?

Yes. Every Telegram bot is registered through BotFather, whatever platform you use to build it — a builder that creates bots for you is still going through BotFather or asking you for the token it produced.

Can I transfer a bot to someone else?

BotFather has no ownership-transfer command. In practice a bot moves by handing over the token and the running deployment, which means the original creator's account still controls the BotFather settings. Plan for that before it matters.

Want a bot that does this?

Describe it in plain language and Botable writes the code, gives the bot its own database, deploys it and keeps it running. Everything on this page is handled for you — the token, the webhook, the storage, the hosting.

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