Optimizing PHP-based Telegram Bot for Faster Response Times

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

I’m working on a Telegram bot using PHP with webhooks. Right now, it takes about a second to respond, which feels slow. I think it might be because the curl connection isn’t being reused.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

function sendRequest($endpoint, $payload) {
    $apiUrl = 'https://api.telegram.org/bot' . $token . '/' . $endpoint;
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt_array($ch, [
        CURLOPT_URL => $apiUrl,
        CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
        CURLOPT_POST => true,
        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode($payload),
        CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
    ]);
    $response = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    return json_decode($response, true);
}

I’ve tried a Java version that polls for updates every 5 seconds, and it’s much faster at about 500ms. The ping to the API is around 200ms.

Is there a way to speed up the PHP version? Can I keep the connection open somehow between requests? Any tips would be really helpful!

2

I’ve been in your shoes before, and I can tell you that optimizing PHP-based Telegram bots can be tricky. One thing that really helped me was implementing asynchronous processing. Instead of waiting for each API call to complete before moving on, you can use libraries like ReactPHP or Guzzle to handle multiple requests concurrently.

Another approach that yielded good results was leveraging opcache. Make sure it’s enabled and properly configured in your PHP setup. This can significantly reduce script execution time by caching compiled bytecode.

Lastly, if you’re handling a lot of requests, consider using a message queue system like RabbitMQ. This allows you to offload time-consuming tasks to background workers, keeping your main bot responsive.

Remember, optimization is often about finding the right balance for your specific use case. It might take some trial and error, but stick with it!

3

Have you considered using a PHP library specifically designed for Telegram bots? I’ve had success with the Telegram Bot API PHP SDK, which handles connection pooling and other optimizations out of the box.

If you prefer to stick with your current setup, try implementing connection pooling manually. You can create a persistent cURL handle and reuse it across requests. Here’s a quick example:

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 60);

function sendRequest($endpoint, $payload) {
    global $ch, $token;
    $apiUrl = 'https://api.telegram.org/bot' . $token . '/' . $endpoint;
    curl_setopt_array($ch, [
        CURLOPT_URL => $apiUrl,
        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode($payload),
        // Other options...
    ]);
    return curl_exec($ch);
}

This approach should reduce the overhead of establishing a new connection for each request, potentially improving your response times.

4

hey, have u tried using persistent connections? its a game-changer for speed. just set CURLOPT_KEEPALIVE to true in ur curl options. also, check ur server config - maybe its throttling requests. oh and u could try caching api responses if they dont change much. hope this helps!