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Command Surface

The template deliberately ships with a small command set that exercises several Telegram patterns without making the code hard to follow.

Built-in commands​

/start​

  • Greets the user
  • Reopens the reply keyboard
  • Increments the visits session counter

/help​

  • Returns the current command reference
  • Records last_command

/ping​

  • Returns pong
  • Provides a minimal command path for connectivity checks inside Telegram

/echo <text>​

  • Parses arguments after the command name
  • Returns a usage string when no text is provided
  • Demonstrates a command that needs free-form input

/keyboard​

  • Sends a reply keyboard
  • Shows how to keep a fixed set of chat-visible shortcuts open

/hidekeyboard​

  • Removes the reply keyboard
  • Demonstrates reply keyboard cleanup
  • Sends an inline keyboard with callback actions
  • Demonstrates button-driven interaction

/session​

  • Increments a session counter
  • Shows the active session backend
  • Shows the previous recorded command when present

Command menu sync​

During startup, the bot calls setMyCommands so Telegram clients can show the command menu automatically.

If you add a new user-facing command, update both:

  • helpMessage()
  • syncCommands()

Otherwise the runtime behavior and Telegram's command menu will drift apart.

Matching behavior​

The project uses two command match strategies:

  • MatchTypeCommandStartOnly for commands such as /start
  • MatchTypeCommand for commands such as /echo <text>

Register command names without a leading slash. That is a library requirement, not a style choice.