telegram (slug.thirdparty)

slug.thirdparty.telegram

slug.telegram — Telegram Bot API client

Sends messages, typing indicators, and polls for updates via the Telegram Bot API. All functions return the decoded JSON response from Telegram, or nil on error.

Configuration

The module will print a warning at load time if telegram_token is not set but will not exit — callers will receive nil responses until a valid token is configured.

Quick start

val { sendMessage, getUpdates } = import("slug.telegram")

// send a message
sendMessage(chatId, "Hello from Slug!")

// poll for new messages
val response = getUpdates(0)
val updates  = response['result']

Long polling

Use getUpdates with an offset equal to the last update_id + 1 to avoid receiving the same update twice. The timeout parameter controls how long Telegram holds the connection open waiting for new updates (default 30 seconds).

Markdown rendering

sendMessage defaults to parseMode: "Markdown" which renders bold, italic, inline code, and code blocks from the message text. Pass parseMode: nil to send plain text.

@effects(‘net’)

TOC

• getUpdates(offset, timeout)
• sendMessage(chatId, text, parseMode)
• sendTyping(chatId)

Functions

getUpdates(offset, timeout)

fn slug.thirdparty.telegram#getUpdates(@num offset, @num timeout = 30) -> ?

polls Telegram for new updates starting from offset.

Uses long polling — Telegram holds the connection open for up to timeout seconds waiting for new updates before returning an empty list. Set offset to the last received update_id + 1 to acknowledge processed updates and avoid receiving them again.

Returns the decoded Telegram response map { ok, result: [...] }, or nil on error.

@effects(‘net’)

Effects: net

sendMessage(chatId, text, parseMode)

fn slug.thirdparty.telegram#sendMessage(chatId, text, parseMode = "Markdown") -> ?

sends a text message to a Telegram chat.

parseMode controls text formatting; defaults to "Markdown" which renders bold (**text**), code (`text`), and code blocks. Pass nil to disable formatting. Returns the Telegram API response map, or nil on error.

@effects(‘net’)

Effects: net

sendTyping(chatId)

fn slug.thirdparty.telegram#sendTyping(chatId) -> ?

sends a typing chat action to show the bot is composing a reply.

The indicator displays for ~5 seconds or until the next message is sent. Call just before a slow operation to set user expectations.

@effects(‘net’)

Effects: net