I am crafting a Telegram bot designed for scheduling tasks and hosted on a cloud platform. Recently, I noticed that every time the server restarts, the chat identifier resets, causing the bot to malfunction.
I’m curious if there is a way to obtain the chat ID without needing the user to send a message. Is there a reliable method within the current API that allows this functionality?
Based on my experience developing Telegram bots, I have found that retrieving a chat identifier without a user message is not feasible using the current API. The typical approach has always been to gain the chat id when a user sends a message, then store it persistently for later use. This method, though not ideal for automated initialization during server restarts, is the most reliable. To avoid disruptions after a restart, I recommend saving the chat id in persistent storage, so that even if the bot loses its in-memory state, you can quickly reinitialize essential connections using the saved identifier.
After working with several Telegram bots in a production setting, I have found that working around this limitation requires you to capture the chat identifier during an interactive session. The Telegram API currently lacks a method to programmatically retrieve the chat identifier without some form of user initiated communication. One workaround I encountered was to build in an initial registration phase where the user’s first interaction stores the chat id in a persistent database or configuration file. This approach ensures that the identifier remains available across server restarts.
i fnd theres no direct api call to grab the id without a msg. u need to capture it during a first onboard message then persist it. i know its not ideal but its all we got for now.
In my experience developing and maintaining Telegram bots, retrieving the chat ID without any user message is still not possible through the official API. What I did was to design the initial interaction to automatically store the required details, including the chat ID, in a database so that it persists across server restarts. It isn’t ideal as it introduces an extra onboarding step, but it has proven to be both necessary and reliable. Persisting these identifiers has saved me from many headaches during unexpected restarts, and it’s a method I highly recommend.