How to make Bot API calls when responding to Telegram webhook requests?

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1

I’m working with Telegram webhooks and trying to send API requests back to the bot while handling the webhook response. The documentation mentions that you can make Bot API calls when responding to webhook updates, but I can’t get it working properly.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

header('Content-Type: application/json');
$response = json_encode([
    'method' => 'sendMessage',
    'chat_id' => 456789,
    'text' => 'Hello from webhook'
]);
echo $response;

The message doesn’t appear in the chat. I’m not sure if my approach is correct or if there’s something wrong with the content type or data format. Has anyone successfully implemented this pattern? What am I missing here?

2

Your JSON looks right, but here’s what tripped me up with webhooks: Telegram’s Bot API wants clean JSON in the response body - nothing else. Don’t echo debug info or extra output. Log errors to a file instead. Make sure your script isn’t throwing PHP notices or warnings that mess up the response. Even one stray character before or after your JSON will make Telegram ignore everything. Watch out for the chat_id format too. If you copied it from somewhere, check for hidden characters or spaces. I’ve seen chat_ids that looked perfect but had invisible Unicode that broke the API call. Test by hitting your webhook endpoint directly - it should return only clean JSON. If it’s still not working, try regular API calls first to make sure your bot permissions are set up right.

3

Webhooks work differently than regular API calls. Just return the JSON response directly - no extra headers or output. Drop the Content-Type header entirely and make sure nothing else gets sent before your JSON.

I hit the same issue when I started. What fixed it was making sure the response was clean JSON with no extra whitespace or debug output. Also check that your webhook URL returns a 200 status code - Telegram ignores the response if there’s an HTTP error.

One more thing: verify your chat_id is correct and the bot can actually send messages to that chat. Test with a simple message first before adding complex parameters.

4

Been there! Try removing the header() call completely - Telegram handles content-type automatically for webhook responses. Also double-check your bot token is active and the webhook URL is properly registered. Sometimes it’s not the code but the webhook setup itself.