Troubleshooting periodic message feature in Python Telegram Bot

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1

Hey everyone! I’m stuck with my Python Telegram Bot project. I’m trying to set up a feature where my account gets update messages every now and then. But when I run the code, I keep getting this annoying error:

telebot.apihelper.ApiTelegramException: A request to the Telegram API
was unsuccessful. Error code: 409. Description: Conflict: terminated
by other getUpdates request; make sure that only one bot instance is
running

I’ve set up a subscribe command that should start sending these periodic messages, but it’s not working as expected. I’m using a ProcessManager class to handle the background tasks.

Here’s a simplified version of what I’m trying to do:

import telebot
from custom_process_manager import ProcessManager

bot = telebot.TeleBot('my_bot_token', threaded=True)
process_manager = ProcessManager()

@bot.message_handler(commands=['subscribe'])
def subscribe(message):
    user_id = message.from_user.id
    if not process_manager.is_subscribed(user_id):
        process_manager.start_update_process(user_id, send_update, user_id, 'Update message')
        bot.reply_to(message, 'You are now subscribed to updates!')
    else:
        bot.reply_to(message, 'You are already subscribed.')

def send_update(user_id, text):
    bot.send_message(user_id, text)

bot.infinity_polling()

Can anyone spot what I’m doing wrong here? Thanks in advance for any help!

2

I have encountered this problem before and found that the error usually appears when more than one instance of the bot is running concurrently. I solved the issue by checking all active processes and making sure only a single instance remains active. In my case, switching from infinity_polling() to bot.polling(none_stop=True, interval=0) improved the long-running performance. I also explored using asynchronous libraries such as aiogram or python-telegram-bot, which handle concurrency much better. It is important as well to review your ProcessManager implementation to confirm it does not inadvertently start multiple bot instances.

3

The issue you’re facing might be related to how your ProcessManager is handling the background tasks. One approach that worked for me was using the schedule library instead of a custom process manager. It allows for easy scheduling of periodic tasks without conflicting with the main bot instance.

Here’s a simplified example of how you could modify your code:

import telebot
import schedule
import time
import threading

bot = telebot.TeleBot('your_token')
subscribed_users = set()

def send_update():
    for user_id in subscribed_users:
        bot.send_message(user_id, 'Update message')

@bot.message_handler(commands=['subscribe'])
def subscribe(message):
    user_id = message.from_user.id
    if user_id not in subscribed_users:
        subscribed_users.add(user_id)
        bot.reply_to(message, 'You are now subscribed to updates!')
    else:
        bot.reply_to(message, 'You are already subscribed.')

schedule.every(1).hours.do(send_update)

def run_scheduler():
    while True:
        schedule.run_pending()
        time.sleep(1)

scheduler_thread = threading.Thread(target=run_scheduler)
scheduler_thread.start()

bot.polling(none_stop=True)

This approach avoids conflicts between multiple bot instances and simplifies the periodic message sending process.

4

hey mike, i’ve seen this before. the error happens when multiple bot instances run at once. try using bot.polling(none_stop=True) instead of infinity_polling(). also, double-check ur ProcessManager to make sure it’s not starting extra bot instances. if that doesn’t work, you might wanna look into async libraries like aiogram for better concurrency handling.