Skip to content

Basic concepts

Identifying a Telegram bot

Bots in Telegram are identified by two unique elements:

  • Username: Always starts with @ and ends with bot (e.g., @my_bot). It cannot contain spaces, but you can use _ to separate words.
  • Bot ID: A unique number automatically assigned by Telegram (e.g., 123456789).

You can set the username when creating your bot with @BotFather, while the ID is automatically assigned by Telegram. Both are permanent and cannot be changed after creation.

How to find your bot's ID?

The ID is located at the beginning of the token generated by @BotFather, before the colon :, for example:

Token: 6263206337:AAEt9Sf8mpwIzkOuGpl7_Zq9nnou1Lj2o2E

ID: 6263206337


Identifying a Telegram user

  • Username: Optional and unique (e.g., @JohnDoe). Unlike bots, users can change or remove their username. Check their profile on Telegram; if they have a username, it will appear with @.
  • User ID: A unique number identifying each user. This is generated when they register on Telegram and cannot be changed. Use a bot like @tell_me_my_id_bot to obtain the ID of any user, bot, channel or group.

How to identify users of your bot?

When someone interacts with your bot, their ID and other basic information, such as their name, will automatically be visible to you.

  • Your bot's users cannot see or communicate with each other.
  • Only you can see the users for your bot.

Who owns the bots created in VisualMaker?

  • The owner of a bot is the person who created it using @VisualMakerBot.
  • Only the owner has full control (modify, delete, transfer, etc.).
  • You can add administrators to collaborate on creating the bot, but they will not have ownership rights.

What happens to your bot if you lose access to your Telegram account?

If you lose access to the account used to create the bot, you will also lose full control of the bot. We cannot recover it for you, even if you know the token.

Recommendations to prevent this:

  1. Transfer ownership: Learn how in the next article.
  2. Add administrators: This allows others to manage the bot, but they will not have absolute control.