Built-in runtime

PHP Webhook Bot

This is the native deployment path for the platform. The Start/Restart controls publish your workspace and connect Telegram to a public bot.php webhook.

Compatibility summary

Main file: bot.php · Request body: Telegram JSON · Mode: webhook · Long-running polling: not supported. The dashboard's encrypted bot token is used by platform controls to set/delete the webhook; your PHP script should load its own server-side token/config for Telegram API methods.

Minimal working bot

Paste this as bot.php, replace the token, Start the bot, then send /start.

bot.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$update = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input') ?: '[]', true);
if (!is_array($update)) {
    http_response_code(200);
    exit('OK');
}

$token = 'PASTE_BOT_TOKEN_HERE';
$message = $update['message'] ?? null;
$chatId = $message['chat']['id'] ?? null;
$text = trim((string) ($message['text'] ?? ''));

if ($chatId && $text === '/start') {
    telegram($token, 'sendMessage', [
        'chat_id' => $chatId,
        'text' => "Welcome! Your webhook bot is online ✅",
    ]);
}

http_response_code(200);
echo 'OK';

function telegram(string $token, string $method, array $payload): array
{
    $url = "https://api.telegram.org/bot{$token}/{$method}";
    $ch = curl_init($url);
    curl_setopt_array($ch, [
        CURLOPT_POST => true,
        CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
        CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 15,
        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => $payload,
    ]);
    $body = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);

    return json_decode((string) $body, true) ?: [];
}

Recommended multi-file structure

Keep the entrypoint small and move commands into helper files.

bot.phpWebhook entrypointsrc/Telegram.phpTelegram API helpersrc/Commands.phpCommand router.envServer-side secrets

bot.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

require __DIR__.'/src/Telegram.php';
require __DIR__.'/src/Commands.php';

$config = parse_ini_file(__DIR__.'/.env', false, INI_SCANNER_RAW) ?: [];
$token = (string) ($config['TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN'] ?? '');
$update = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input') ?: '[]', true) ?: [];

if ($token !== '') {
    handleTelegramUpdate($token, $update);
}

http_response_code(200);
echo 'OK';

.env

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456789:replace_with_real_token

Command routing pattern

A small router keeps AI-generated and hand-written code maintainable.

src/Commands.php

<?php

function handleTelegramUpdate(string $token, array $update): void
{
    $message = $update['message'] ?? [];
    $chatId = $message['chat']['id'] ?? null;
    $text = trim((string) ($message['text'] ?? ''));

    if (!$chatId) return;

    $reply = match (true) {
        $text === '/start' => 'Welcome to the bot!',
        $text === '/help'  => "Commands:\n/start\n/help\n/status",
        $text === '/status' => 'Bot status: online ✅',
        default => 'Unknown command. Send /help',
    };

    telegram($token, 'sendMessage', [
        'chat_id' => $chatId,
        'text' => $reply,
    ]);
}

Platform-specific do and don't

These rules prevent the most common deployment failures.

Do

Name the entry file bot.php.
Use __DIR__ for helper file paths.
Return HTTP 200 quickly.
Restart after publishing file changes.
Read Terminal Logs after errors.

Don't

Do not run while(true) polling loops.
Do not expose the token in HTML/JS.
Do not rely on a CLI worker staying alive.
Do not print debug secrets to public output.
Do not hardcode absolute server paths.