How to create inline keyboard buttons in Telegram bot using JSON format

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

I’m working on a Telegram bot and need help with creating inline keyboard buttons. I want to display custom buttons that users can click to trigger different actions. Can someone show me the proper JSON structure for implementing inline keyboards? I tried looking at the documentation but I’m still confused about the exact format. Here’s what I’m attempting to build:

{
    "chat_id": "987654321",
    "text": "Please choose an option:",
    "reply_markup": {
        "inline_keyboard": [[
            {
                "text": "Option 1",
                "callback_data": "btn_option1"
            },
            {
                "text": "Option 2", 
                "callback_data": "btn_option2"
            }
        ]]
    }
}

Is this the correct way to structure the JSON for inline keyboards in Telegram bots?

2

Your JSON structure looks right for basic inline keyboards. I’ve been building Telegram bots for two years and that format works great. Pro tip: stack buttons vertically by adding more arrays inside inline_keyboard. Want three buttons in separate rows? Use [[{button1}], [{button2}], [{button3}]. Watch out for callback_data’s 64-byte limit - keep those strings short. Don’t forget to listen for callback_query updates in your bot code, not just message updates. The callback_data gets returned when users click buttons, so you can trigger different functions based on what they pressed.

3

yeah, that syntax looks good! just don’t forget to set up your callback_query handlers for when users click those buttons. i’ve seen tons of people skip this step and then wonder why nothing’s working lol. you can also mix callback_data buttons with url buttons in the same keyboard if you need to.

4

Your JSON structure looks perfect! That’s exactly how inline keyboards should be formatted.

The nested arrays control the layout - each inner array makes a new row of buttons. Your example creates one row with two buttons side by side.

Want buttons stacked vertically? Just separate them into different arrays:

"inline_keyboard": [
    [{"text": "Option 1", "callback_data": "btn_option1"}],
    [{"text": "Option 2", "callback_data": "btn_option2"}]
]

I’ve built tons of Telegram bots over the years. Managing all these JSON structures plus handling callbacks gets messy fast. Instead of writing custom code for every bot interaction, I automate the whole thing.

Latenode handles all the Telegram API calls, callback processing, and even complex conversation flows without any code. You just drag and drop components to build your bot logic. Way faster than debugging JSON structures and webhook handlers.

5

Yeah, that JSON structure looks perfect. I struggled with Telegram bots for months when I started - inline keyboards were a pain to figure out. You’ve got the official API format down right. The array nesting threw me off at first too - outer array = rows, inner arrays = buttons in each row. Just make sure your webhook or polling can handle both regular messages and callback queries. Inline button clicks send callback_query updates, not message updates. Keep your callback_data values unique across the whole bot so you don’t get confused processing clicks. Users see the text field, your bot gets the callback_data when they click.