Receive updates: webhooks or getUpdates

What it is

Every event for your bot, from a message to a payment, arrives as an update. You get updates one of two ways, never both: your code pulls them with `getUpdates` (long polling), or Telegram posts each one to your HTTPS address (a webhook). Undelivered updates wait at most 24 hours.

How to do it

1. Polling: call `getUpdates` in a loop with a positive `timeout`, passing… Polling: call `getUpdates` in a loop with a positive `timeout`, passing `offset` = last `update_id` + 1 to confirm handled updates.
2. Webhook: call `setWebhook` with your HTTPS `url` and a `secret_token`; reject… Webhook: call `setWebhook` with your HTTPS `url` and a `secret_token`; reject requests without a matching `X-Telegram-Bot-Api-Secret-Token` header.
3. Filter with `allowed_updates`; set `max_connections` (1–100, default 40) to your server's capacity.
4. Answer webhook requests with HTTP 2XX, or Telegram retries and eventually gives up.
5. Check delivery with `getWebhookInfo`: `pending_update_count`, `last_error_message`.
6. Back to polling: `deleteWebhook` (`drop_pending_updates` clears the queue).

Watch out

• `getUpdates` doesn't work while a webhook is set.
• Webhooks need port 443, 80, 88 or 8443, TLS 1.2 or higher, IPv4, and a certificate whose CN matches your domain; upload a self-signed one as `certificate`. Requests come from 149.154.160.0/20 and 91.108.4.0/22.
• An empty `allowed_updates` still skips `chat_member`, `message_reaction` and `message_reaction_count`.
• After a week without updates, the next `update_id` is random.
• Popular bots (about 300 requests a minute) get @BotFather status alerts when replies drop, by default at most one per hour.
• A local Bot API server allows any webhook port, plain HTTP and up to 100,000 connections.

With Gem

Gem doesn't host your bot's code or take its webhooks, and a creator's own bot isn't available yet. Projects run on @gembot, which Gem holds: Stars payments for offers, join requests, channel posts and answers in groups.

Sources

• https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#getting-updates
• https://core.telegram.org/bots/webhooks
• https://core.telegram.org/bots/features#status-alerts

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