I’m working with a Telegram bot and need to figure out how to get the group chat ID so I can send messages to a specific group. I know how to get regular chat IDs when someone messages the bot directly, but I’m stuck on getting the group chat identifier.
When users send private messages to my bot, I can easily access the chat ID through the message object. However, I can’t figure out the right approach for obtaining group chat IDs. I need this ID to send automated notifications to the group.
What’s the proper method to retrieve a group chat ID? Are there specific API calls or properties I should be using? Any help would be appreciated since I’ve been searching for a solution without success.
To retrieve a group chat ID for your Telegram bot, the first step is to add your bot to the group where you want to send messages. After that, wait for someone to send a message in that group. You can check the logs from your bot’s webhook or polling; the group chat ID will appear in the chat.id field of the message data. Remember, group chat IDs will be negative, typically starting with -100 for supergroups. Alternatively, you can utilize the getUpdates method from the Telegram Bot API to obtain the chat ID when your bot receives a message from the group.
quick trick - forward any msg from the group to @userinfobot and it’ll show the chat ID instantly. way faster than setting up webhooks or waiting for messages. works for channels too.