Startup bot edits

TelegramBotManager.start() can apply bot edits before update receiving starts.

At the moment this includes startup command menu registration via Telegram setMyCommands.

Configuration

You can configure startup edits in telegram-bot.edit.*.

telegram-bot:
  edit:
    commands:
      source: code # null | code | config
      blank-description: fail # skip | fail

source values:

null - disable startup command menu registration
code - collect commands from BotHandling.command(..., description = "...")
config - read commands from telegram-bot.edit.commands.definition

blank-description values:

skip - command without description is ignored
fail - throw an exception if any command has blank description

`source: code`

Add descriptions in handlers:

fun BotHandling.baseCommands() {
    command("/start", description = "1. Start") {
        sendMessage("Hello!")
    }
    command("/help", description = "2. Help") {
        sendMessage("Help message")
    }
}

Notes:

command names are validated (/ + lowercase letters/digits/underscores, max length 32)
description length must be from 1 to 256
optional numeric prefix like 1. is used for sorting and removed from final text

`source: config`

Define command menu statically:

telegram-bot:
  edit:
    commands:
      source: config
      definition:
        start: Start command description
        help: Help command description

Keys are command names without leading slash, values are descriptions.

Startup flow

When you call TelegramBotManager.start():

Startup edits are applied (if configured).
Update receiver is started.

If configuration is invalid (for example, source: config without definition), startup fails with an explicit exception.

Last modified: 15 April 2026