Telegram

Prerequisites

This guide assumes

• You are familiar with JSON formatting.
• You have read and understood the Alarms wiki.
• You are comfortable with the layout of alarms.json.
• You are using the latest version of PokeAlarm.

Please familiarize yourself with all of the above before proceeding.

Introduction

Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging service. Telegram clients exist for both mobile (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Ubuntu Touch) and desktop systems (Windows, OS X, Linux). Users can send messages and exchange photos, videos, stickers and files of any type.

PokeAlarm offers the following for Telegram:

• Notifications to multiple Telegram channels
• Customizable Google Map image of the pokemon, gym, pokestop, egg and/or raid location
• Personalized notifications via Events

Basic Config

Required Parameters

These alarm.json parameters are required to enable the Telegram alarm service:

Parameters	Description
type	Must be "telegram"
active	true for alarm to be active
bot_token	Your Bot Token from Telegram
chat_id	Your chat’s id from Telegram

Example: Basic Alarm Configuration using Required Parameters

Below is how a basic Telegram alarm configuration would appear in alarms.json. Note that this is not the entire alarms.json, but only the section pertaining to the alarm portion of the JSON file.

{
      "active":true,
      "type":"telegram",
      "bot_token":"YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
      "chat_id":"YOUR_CHAT_ID"
}

Advanced Config

Optional Parameters

In addition to the required parameters, several alarms.json optional parameters are available to personalize your notifications. Below is an example of these optional parameters and how they are incorporated into a functional alarm layout.

Parameters at the alarm level will be the default to alert-level parameters.

Parameters	Description	Default
map	Sends minimap after main message.	true
map_notify	Disables map notifications. Set to false if you are experiencing notification issues on Android	false
venue	Sends location in main message.*	false
venue_notify	Disables venue notifications. Set to false if you are experiencing notification issues on Android	true
message_notify	Enables notifications messages	true
sticker	Sends pokemon images as stickers in the message	true
sticker_notify	Disables sticker notifications. Set to false if you are experiencing notification issues on Android	false
sticker_url	Url to be used for the sticker. Must be .webp file.
max_attempts	Max attempts to send for each message.	"3"
web_preview	Enables web preview for links in message.	false
startup_message	Confirmation post when PokeAlarm initialized	true
startup_text	Custom message post when PA initialized

These optional parameters below are applicable to the monsters, stops, gyms, eggs, and raids sections of the JSON file. These parameters override the alarm-level settings for this alert.

Parameters	Description	Default
message	Text for the message	"*A wild <mon_name> has appeared!*\nAvailable until <24h_time> (<time_left>)."
map	Sends minimap after main message.	true
map_notify	Disables map notifications. Set to false if you are experiencing notification issues on Android	false
venue	Sends location in main message.*	false
venue_notify	Disables venue notifications. Set to false if you are experiencing notification issues on Android	true
sticker	Sends images as stickers in the message	true
sticker_notify	Disables sticker notifications. Set to false if you are experiencing notification issues on Android	false

Note

*if you use venue, keep in mind that the markdown in your alarms will be ignored because of a limitation in the Telegram API.

Example: Alarm Configuration Using Optional Parameters

Below is how an advanced alarm configuration would appear in alarms.json. Note that this is not the entire alarms.json, but only the section pertaining to the alarm portion of the JSON file.

{
  "telegram_alarm":{
    "active":true,
    "type":"telegram",
    "bot_token":"YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
    "chat_id":"YOUR_CHAT_ID",
    "map_notify":false,
    "startup_message":false,
    "sticker":true,
    "monsters":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"*A wild <mon_name> has appeared!*\nAvailable until <24h_time> (<time_left>).",
        "map":true
    },
    "stops":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"*Someone has placed a lure on a Pokestop!*\nLure will expire at <24h_time> (<time_left>).",
        "map":true
    },
    "gyms":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"*A Team <old_team> gym has fallen!*\nIt is now controlled by <new_team>.",
        "map":true
    },
    "eggs":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"*A level <egg_lvl> raid is incoming!*\nThe egg will hatch <24h_hatch_time> (<hatch_time_left>).",
        "map":true
    },
    "raids":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"*A raid is available against <mon_name>!*\nThe raid is available until <24h_raid_end> (<raid_time_left>).",
        "map":true
    },
    "quests":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"A new quest is available at <stop_name>!\nConditions: <quest_condition>\nReward: <reward>",
        "map":true
    },
    "invasions":{
        "chat_id":"OVERRIDES_DEFAULT_CHANNEL",
        "message":"Team Rocket Go has invaded <stop_name>!"
    }
  }
}

Formatting alarms text

Here is a basic guide to apply custom styles to alarm text:

Style	Example
_italic text_	italics
*bold text*	bold
_*bold italics*_	bold italics

You can see other options in the official Telegram information about formatting text here.

How to get a Telegram API Key

1. Go to Telegram Web Client. Enter your phone number and follow the instructions to create your account.
2. Talk to the BotFather to create a new bot. Use the /newbot command and follow his instructions. It will give you an API Token when you are finished.
3. Start a conversation with your bot. In the top left click on the menu bars, then click create group. Type in the name of the bot you previously created, then click on it when it appears below. Then click next. Type any message to your bot.
4. Enter your bot_token in to replace the <BOT_TOKEN_HERE> in the following url https://api.telegram.org/bot<BOT_TOKEN_HERE>/getUpdates. Then go to it, and find the section that says "chat":{"id":<CHAT_ID>. This number is your chat_id.

How to Create a Custom Channel

1. Create a Public Channel (Currently doesn’t work from the web app).
2. Add your bot as an administrator for the channel.
3. The chat_id for your bot will be @channel_url.