I’m working on a Telegram bot and need to set up user verification. I want to make sure only authorized users can access certain features of my bot.
I found some information about using deep linking for this purpose. The process seems to involve:
- Setting up a bot with proper username like @MyAuthBot
- Creating a webhook to handle incoming messages
- Generating unique tokens and storing them temporarily
- Creating special links that users click to verify themselves
- Processing the verification when users start the bot with the token
- Linking their chat ID to their user account
I understand the basic concept but I’m confused about the webhook part. From what I understand, when users interact with the bot through Telegram apps, the Telegram servers send updates to my bot’s server through this webhook URL.
Is this the right approach for bot authentication? How exactly does the webhook processing work in this context? Any guidance on implementing this verification system would be helpful.
The webhook approach you described works great for production bots, but you’re overcomplicating basic user verification. I’ve built this exact system - let me clear up the webhook confusion. When you set a webhook URL with Telegram’s API, every user interaction hits your endpoint as a POST request. Your server processes these and can respond with actions like sending messages back. For verification, I generate unique tokens tied to user accounts, store them in my database with expiration timestamps, then create start links like Telegram: Launch @YourBot. Users click these links, Telegram sends a message to your webhook with the token parameter. Your server validates the token, marks the user as verified, and stores their chat_id. The key is handling the /start command properly in your webhook handler to extract and validate the token. This method works reliably for restricting bot features to verified users only.
webhook setup isn’t too bad once you get it working. I skip webhooks entirely and just poll getUpdates every few seconds instead. way easier to debug and test locally - no messing with ngrok or ssl certs. for verification, I send a random 6-digit code through email/sms, user types it in chat, done. skip the deep linking headache.
Deep linking works for user verification in Telegram bots, but there’s an easier way. I’ve built several bots and found that inline keyboards with callback queries make authentication much simpler than setting up webhooks for basic stuff. Webhooks are just HTTP POST endpoints that get JSON updates when users message your bot. Your server handles these updates and responds back. If you’re doing web-based verification, try the Telegram Login Widget instead. It creates a secure hash you can verify on your server and works great for connecting Telegram accounts to existing user systems. Plus it handles all the crypto stuff automatically. For bot-only verification, I use temporary codes stored in Redis or similar cache. Users enter the code, your bot checks the cache, then you link their chat_id to their account. Way less complex than webhooks and still secure.