Getting started

This guide explains the standard setup flow for a new GramGroupsBot account.

1. Start the Bot in Telegram

Open the GramGroupsBot private chat and send /start.

The bot creates or updates your Telegram user profile. If your Telegram language is supported, the dashboard can use it as your preferred locale. The bot itself is intended to operate in English for group commands and operational messages.

Useful private-chat commands:

• /start: show the main menu.
• /login: generate a one-time dashboard login link.
• /dashboard: generate a dashboard link after login.
• /billing: show balance and billing information.
• /topup: start a top-up flow.
• /status: show account and billing status.
• /help: show bot help.
• /myid: show your Telegram user ID.

2. Sign in to the Dashboard

Use /login in the private bot chat.

The login link is one-time and short-lived. Current implementation uses a 15-minute token lifetime and a 30-second cooldown between login-link sends.

After opening the link, the web session is authenticated and you can use the dashboard.

3. Create or Join an Account

A user can own one account and can have one active account membership. In practice, choose one path: create your account or accept an invitation to an existing account.

If your user has no account, create one from the dashboard flow. If you were invited by another operator, accept the invitation after signing in.

4. Add the Bot to a Telegram Group

In Telegram:

1. Open the target group or supergroup.
2. Add GramGroupsBot.
3. Promote the bot to admin.
4. Give it at least permission to delete messages.
5. Give it permission to restrict members if you plan to use mass ban or mass mute.

See Bot permissions for the full permission matrix.

5. Connect the Group

In the target group, send:

/connect

The user who sends /connect must be a Telegram admin in that group and must already have account access in GramGroupsBot.

If connection succeeds, the group appears on the dashboard Groups page.

6. Create Rules

Create the moderation configuration you need:

• Stop words for forbidden terms.
• Required words for required hashtags or markers.
• Blocked users for known unwanted accounts.
• Link rules for domain and Telegram-link filtering.
• Rate limits for anti-flood.
• Welcome messages for new members.

7. Assign Rules to Groups

A rule does nothing until it is assigned to a group, except for the default Global stop words list, which is auto-created and assigned to all account groups.

For stop words, required words, link filters, rate limits, and welcome messages, make the selection in the group's Groups settings and save it. The current public dashboard does not expose a selector for assigning blocked-user lists.

8. Verify Runtime Behavior

After setup:

1. Send /status in the group.
2. Confirm the group is connected.
3. Confirm the bot is admin.
4. Confirm Can delete messages: yes.
5. Test with a safe sample rule.
6. Configure Network logs if you want Telegram delivery of moderation events.