Random Nonsense Generator

A Telegram bot to generate messages using Markov chains

Preparation

Creating a bot on Telegram

Creating a bot is done through @BotFather. See the official documentation for more details.

Important

Privacy mode has to be disabled so that the bot can store user messages to generate its replies from.

Setting bot commands

1. Send /setcommands to @BotFather.

2. Select this bot.

3. Enter the commands that are registered in the bot (using bot.command()):

   settings - Adjust bot settings
   stats - View stats about the bot's activity in your group

Important

Make sure to perform the steps above, otherwise users won't be able to configure the bot's settings.

Project installation

1. Install dependencies:

   yarn install

2. Add the database URL and your bot token from BotFather to the .env file in the project directory:

   DATABASE_URL="file:database/store.db"
   TOKEN=<insert your Telegram bot token here>

Development

1. Follow the steps in the Project installation section.

2. Start the bot in development mode:

   yarn run dev

Generating migrations for production

yarn run generate-migrations

Important

Make sure to run the command above before every deployment.

Deployment

Follow the steps below in the deployment environment.

1. Follow the steps in the Project installation section.

2. Build the bot:

   yarn run build

3. Run build/index.js using your preferred method. (For example, to run with Node.js: node --enable-source-maps build/index.js)

Usage

Adding the bot to your group

The process of adding the bot user is the same as adding any other user.

Generating messages

By default, the bot replies with a generated message when it is @mentioned.

For more information on how to adjust reply settings see Bot configuration.

Bot configuration

Send /settings in the group chat to access the bot's settings menu and configure its settings for that group.

Options

• Reply on mention: Reply when the bot is mentioned.
• Reply randomly: Send a message when the number of messages sent in the group reaches a certain amount since the bot's last message.
• Admin-only settings: Allow setting changes only by group admins.
• Admin-only bot commands: Allow the bot's commands to be used only by group admins.