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GitHub Telegram Bot

GitHub Telegram Bot

bot4 min read

repo activity piped straight into chat

I love Telegram. It’s secure, fast, reliable, and I enjoy using it as my daily messaging app. In the past few days, I wanted to set up a Discord-like server, but I didn’t want to use Discord. So, I created a Telegram group and enabled the topics feature.

This setup works, but Telegram doesn’t offer as many integrations as Discord. However, Telegram has a really powerful feature — Bots.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can utilize Telegram Bots to integrate GitHub with your personal Telegram account or any Telegram group.

GitHub to Telegram Webhook Bot

This project integrates a GitHub organization/repository with a Telegram group/channel using Hono and Bun. With this setup, you’ll receive Telegram notifications when:

  • A Pull Request (PR) is created, merged, or closed.
  • A repository is created or deleted.
  • A build fails on any repository.
  • you can add more in the code as you like.

This guide will walk you through the setup, including creating a Telegram bot, configuring GitHub webhooks with a secret, and deploying the project using Cloudflare Workers.

Features

  • 🆕 PR events: Get notified when a pull request is opened or merged.
  • ❌ Build failure alerts: Stay updated on any failed builds.
  • 📦 Repository management: Get notifications when a repo is created or deleted.
  • 🔒 Webhook security: Validates GitHub webhooks using a secret token.

Project Setup

Prerequisites

  1. Node.js installed via Bun (Bun comes with a Node.js-compatible runtime).
  2. A Telegram bot (explained below).
  3. GitHub repository or organization to track events.
  4. Cloudflare account to deploy using Cloudflare Workers.

1. Create a Telegram Bot

  1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.
  2. Use /newbot to create a new bot.
  3. Provide a name and username for your bot.
  4. You’ll receive a bot token like this: 
    8179059028:AAFTFFNUOxwlDlU9mnQjhP08u5X5fAEYuX4
  5. Add the bot to your Telegram group/channel and give it permission to send messages.
  6. Get the chat ID of your group:
    • Add the bot to your group and send a test message.
    • Visit: https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates
    • Look for the chat_id in the JSON response.

2. Clone the Project

git clone https://github.com/gxanshu/github-telegram-bot.git
cd github-telegram-bot

3. Add Telegram Credentials to the Code

Open the index.ts file and replace the placeholders with your Telegram bot token and chat ID:

const TELEGRAM_TOKEN = "your-telegram-bot-token";
const CHAT_ID = "your-telegram-chat-id";

4. Add Your GitHub Webhook Secret

  1. Go to your GitHub repository (or organization) → Settings → Webhooks.

  2. Add a new webhook with the following details:

    • Payload URL: https://<your-cloudflare-worker-url>/webhook
    • Content type: application/json
    • Secret: Choose a random string and keep it safe. This is your webhook secret.

  3. Update the index.ts file with your GitHub secret:

const GITHUB_SECRET = "your-github-secret";

5. Install Dependencies

This project uses Hono as a web framework. Run the following command to install the required dependencies:

bun install

6. Test Locally

You can run the project locally using Bun:

bun run index.ts

The server will start on localhost. You can test your webhook using a tool like ngrok to expose your local server to the internet.

7. Deploy to Cloudflare Workers

  1. Deploy your project to Cloudflare Workers:
bun run deploy
  1. You’ll get a public URL (e.g., https://my-project.cloudflareworkers.dev). Use this URL as the Payload URL when setting up your GitHub webhook.

8. Add the GitHub Webhook

  1. Go to your GitHub repository → Settings → Webhooks → Add webhook.
  2. Use the Cloudflare Worker URL (e.g., https://my-project.cloudflareworkers.dev/webhook) as the Payload URL.
  3. Add the Webhook secret (the one you added to your code).
  4. Select the following events to trigger the webhook:
    • Pull Request
    • Repository
    • Status
  5. Save the webhook.

9. Verify Everything Works

  • Create a pull request or repository in your GitHub account.
  • Check if the Telegram group receives notifications!
  • If something goes wrong, you can inspect the webhook delivery logs in GitHub under Settings → Webhooks → Recent Deliveries.

Project Overview

This project leverages Hono for fast API handling and Bun for its Node.js-compatible runtime. With Cloudflare Workers, the bot runs at the edge, ensuring low latency and fast performance worldwide.

Troubleshooting

  1. Telegram bot not sending messages:

    • Double-check the bot token and chat ID.
    • Ensure the bot has the right permissions in the group.

  2. GitHub webhook validation failed:

    • Ensure the webhook secret in GitHub matches the one in the code.
    • Verify that the Cloudflare Worker URL is correct.

  3. Webhook not triggering:

    • Make sure the webhook events (PR, status, repo) are selected.
    • Check for errors in the GitHub webhook delivery logs.

Conclusion

With this setup, you’ve created a powerful integration between GitHub and Telegram. You can now stay updated with pull requests, build failures, and repository changes — all from within your Telegram group. This guide also demonstrated how to deploy the project using Bun and Cloudflare Workers, ensuring high availability and fast response times.

Happy coding! 🚀