A Telegram AI bot in Python in one evening

Step by step

1. 1

   Create the bot

   Message @BotFather in Telegram, create a bot and save the token.

2. 2

   Get an API key

   Create a key in the Tenzo Cloud dashboard. For a server, restrict it by IP.

3. 3

   Install the libraries

   You need openai and python-telegram-bot.

   terminalCopy

   pip install openai python-telegram-bot

4. 4

   Write the bot

   The code below answers every text message with the model.

   bot.pyCopy

   import os
   from openai import OpenAI
   from telegram import Update
   from telegram.ext import Application, MessageHandler, filters
   
   client = OpenAI(base_url="https://tenzo-cloud.com/v1", api_key=os.environ["TENZO_API_KEY"])
   
   async def answer(update: Update, context) -> None:
       reply = client.chat.completions.create(
           model="qwen-3.8-max",
           messages=[
               {"role": "system", "content": "You are a polite support assistant."},
               {"role": "user", "content": update.message.text},
           ],
       )
       await update.message.reply_text(reply.choices[0].message.content)
   
   app = Application.builder().token(os.environ["TELEGRAM_TOKEN"]).build()
   app.add_handler(MessageHandler(filters.TEXT & ~filters.COMMAND, answer))
   app.run_polling()

5. 5

   Run it

   Set the tokens in environment variables and run the script.

   terminalCopy

   export TELEGRAM_TOKEN=...
   export TENZO_API_KEY=tc-your-key
   python bot.py

What to add next

• Per-user conversation history so the bot remembers context
• A system prompt with your business rules and facts
• Streaming the answer and editing the message as it grows
• User restrictions if the bot is internal

Making the bot useful, not chatty

The key is the system prompt. Describe who the bot is, whom it answers, what it may and may not do: for example, no promised discounts and no delivery dates without system data. Add a short brief on the company, prices and common questions.

If the bot needs live data such as order status or stock, pass it in the request from your database instead of relying on the model’s memory.

What to check before launch

• The bot does not reveal its system prompt when asked
• It politely steers provocative questions back on topic
• Long answers are split into messages under 4096 characters, Telegram’s limit
• Keys live in environment variables, not in code