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Commands & menus

A command is one screen of your bot — a header, optional banner image, and a set of buttons. Each bot has its own commands, managed from the bot's Commands tab.

A command can be reached two ways:

  • as a slash command the user types (e.g. /offers), and/or
  • as a submenu button inside another command's menu.

Create a command

  1. Open the bot (click its row) → Commands tab → Create.
  2. Fill in:
Field What it does
Key The command's id. Lowercase letters, numbers, _. Typing /<key> opens it. Use start for the welcome screen.
Label The button caption used when this command appears as a submenu.
Header Text The message shown above the buttons.
Banner image Optional image shown as a photo above the menu (see Banners).
Slash Command When on, the command appears in Telegram's / command list.
Position Orders the command in lists.
Target Countries / Languages Optional targeting for the command's buttons.
  1. Save.

The start command is special

The command with key start is what users see when they press Start or send /start. Every bot should have one.

Build the menu

Open a command's menu builder (the items view) to arrange its buttons.

  1. Add an item for each button. An item is either:
    • a Link — points to an entry in your link library, or
    • a Submenu — opens another command in this bot.
  2. Optionally set a button label override to show different text than the link's title.
  3. Reorder items with the up/down controls — buttons appear top-to-bottom in that order.
  4. Click Save.

Submenus = navigation

Add a submenu button (e.g. "More offers") that opens another command, and add a "⬅ Back" submenu button in that command pointing back to start. That's how you build multi-screen navigation.

A command can show a photo above its menu — the header text becomes the photo's caption and the buttons hang off it. This gives the menu a big, branded look.

To add one:

  1. Edit the command (Commands tab → open the command).
  2. In Banner image, click Upload image and pick a file (PNG, JPEG, or WebP, up to 5 MB).
  3. Save. The preview updates; Replace swaps it and Remove clears it.

The next time a user opens that command, the menu renders as a photo post.

Use a wide banner

A wide image (around 16:9, e.g. 1280×720) looks best as a header. Very tall images get cropped in Telegram's preview.

Banners are per command

Put a banner on the start command and the welcome screen becomes an image post; put one on offers and that submenu gets the image instead. Links don't have banners — only commands.

The country picker

The built-in /country command lets a user pick their country, which then drives targeting. You don't create it — it works automatically. Add a "Choose your country 🌍" note in a header if you want to point users to it.

Editing and order

  • Edit a command any time from the Commands tab — changes are live on the next interaction.
  • A command's Position controls its order in lists; a button's order is controlled in the menu builder.
  • Deleting a command is reversible (it's soft-deleted and can be restored).

Reusing a deleted command key

A command key stays reserved by its (soft-)deleted command. If creating a command reports the key already exists, restore or rename instead of recreating it.