What Bots Solve

A bot is an automated user that interacts via a chat platform's API:

• Reply to commands.
• Send notifications.
• Run mini-games.
• Moderate channels.
• Provide information (weather, news, definitions).
• Bridge services (GitHub PR notifications in Slack).

Real platforms:

• Discord: gaming, communities. Bots run via discord.py / discord.js.
• Slack: enterprise. Bots via Bolt SDK.
• Telegram: messaging. Bots via Telegram Bot API.
• WhatsApp Business API: customer service.
• Microsoft Teams: enterprise.
• IRC: classic.
• Twitter/X, Mastodon, Bluesky: social.

Bot capabilities:

• Receive messages.
• Send messages.
• Edit/delete messages.
• React with emoji.
• Manage roles, channels, members.
• Voice (Discord).

Common bot architectures:

Polling:

loop:
    response = api.get_updates()
    for update in response.updates:
        handle(update)
    sleep(1)

Simple. High latency. API rate limits matter.

Webhooks:

1. Register webhook URL.
2. Platform POSTs new events to your URL.
3. Server handles, replies if needed.

Lower latency, more efficient. Need public HTTP endpoint.

Long polling:

GET /updates?timeout=30   ← server waits up to 30s for new updates

Telegram's getUpdates with timeout is long-polling. Combine simple + low latency.

WebSocket (Discord):

• Persistent connection.
• Real-time events streamed.
• Two-way: send + receive.

We'll build a Discord/Telegram-style bot framework. Includes:

• Event dispatching.
• Command parsing.
• Permission checks.
• State persistence.
• Rate limit handling.

By the end: a small bot framework you could ship.

Reference: discord.py source, Bolt SDK docs, Telegram Bot API.