Basic, AWS Lambda + Telegram Bot

A basic serverless solution for making a telegram bot, without command line.

Requirements:

• An AWS account.
• A Telegram account.

1. Create a Telegram bot

Step 1 - Meet "BotFather": Search for the bot @BotFather $\rightarrow$ Type /start.

Step 2 - Create a bot: Follow the instructions to create a bot.

Step 3 - Say hi to your bot: Search for your bot and message it, to create a conversation.

Step 4 - Get the bot's Token: Message @BotFather $\rightarrow$ Type /mybots $\rightarrow$ Choose the bot $\rightarrow$ API Token.

Step 5 - Get the conversation id:

• Access the URL: https://api.telegram.org/botTOKEN/getUpdates
• Find the value of chat.id property

Now you have 2 important secrets: TOKEN and CHAT_ID.

2. Create a AWS Lambda function

Step 1 - Create a function

• Go to AWS Lambda $\rightarrow$ Functions $\rightarrow$ Create function
• In the Create function page:
  • Choose Author from scratch.
  • Function name: Give the function a name.
  • Runtime: Python 3.10
  • Architecture: x86_64

Step 3 - Give your function some code

• In the Your-Function page: Code source section, paste the source code from file lambda_function.py in the repo.

Step 4 - Create a runtime layer (Give your python function additional packages)

• In Your-Function page: Layers section, Add a layer.
• In Add a layer page: Layer source, create a new layer (The small text).
• In Create layer page:
  • Upload the file python3.10_packages.zip in the repo. (This zip file contains some PIP packages: requests, pytz, pandas, numpy).
  • Compatible architectures: x86_64.
  • Compatible runtimes: Python 3.10.
• Return to your Your-Function page: Add a layer.
• In Add a layer page: Layer source, Custom layers $\rightarrow$ Choose your layer in the following dropdown.

Step 5 - Set environment variables (Your 2 secrets)

• In the Your-Function page $\rightarrow$ Configuration tab $\rightarrow$ Environment variables $\rightarrow$ Edit.
  • CHATID: ...
  • TOKEN: ...

3. Hook your Telegram bot to your AWS Lambda function

Step 1 - Get your function URL

• In the Your-Function page $\rightarrow$ Configuration tab $\rightarrow$ Function URL $\rightarrow$ Create function URL:
  • Auth type: NONE

Step 2 - Set webhook

• Access the URL: https://api.telegram.org/botTOKEN/setWebhook?url=FUNCTION_URL

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Start chatting! ...