Duplicate messages issue with Telegram bot's sendMessage function

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

Hey everyone! I’m having a weird problem with my Telegram bot. Sometimes it sends the same message twice. I can’t figure out why this is happening. Here’s the code I’m using:

async function sendTelegramMsg(message) {
  const telegramAPI = new TelegramAPI(BOT_TOKEN, { polling: false });
  const groupID = Number(GROUP_CHAT_ID);

  try {
    await telegramAPI.sendMsg(groupID, message, { parse_mode: 'Markdown' });
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(`Telegram error: ${err}`);
  }
}

I’ve looked through the docs but couldn’t find anything about this issue. Any ideas what might be causing it? Thanks in advance for your help!

2

I’ve encountered a similar issue with Telegram bots before. In my experience, this can happen due to network instability or API timeouts. The bot might not receive a confirmation that the message was sent, so it tries again, resulting in duplicates.

One solution that worked for me was implementing a message queue system with a unique identifier for each message. This way, even if the bot attempts to send the same message multiple times, you can check if it’s already been sent and avoid duplicates.

Also, consider adding a short delay between send attempts and implementing exponential backoff for retries. This can help mitigate issues caused by temporary network problems or API rate limiting.

Lastly, double-check your event handling. Make sure you’re not inadvertently triggering the send function twice in your bot’s logic. Sometimes, the issue isn’t with Telegram but with how we’re calling the send function in our code.

3

I’ve dealt with this issue before, and it can be quite frustrating. One possible cause could be race conditions in your code. If you’re calling sendTelegramMsg multiple times in quick succession, it might lead to duplicate messages.

Consider implementing a debounce mechanism to prevent rapid consecutive calls. You could also add a unique identifier to each message and maintain a set of sent message IDs. Before sending, check if the ID exists in the set.

Another approach is to use a more robust message queue system that ensures each message is sent only once, even if there are network issues or timeouts. Libraries like Bull or Bee-Queue can be helpful for this.

Lastly, ensure you’re not accidentally calling the function twice in your event handlers or asynchronous code. A thorough code review might reveal the root cause.

4

hey, i’ve had this happen too. super annoying! :triumph: have u tried adding a unique ID to each msg? like a timestamp or smthn. then check if that ID’s been sent before sending again. might help catch dupes. good luck!