SHIPIT by Dzhura · Guides

A Telegram bot in SHIPIT: where to start

4 min · Beginner · 5 steps

SHIPIT turns your answers into a task for the bot and opens a project where an agent writes the code. The token, testing and where the bot lives are covered in detail by the Telegram guides.

  1. 01Pick Telegram bot on Start

    Pick Telegram bot on Start

    Open Start and click the Telegram bot card: Answers customers and takes orders. The builder opens under Prompts › Make, already on the bot.

  2. 02Or right after setup

    Or right after setup

    A Beginner sees this choice on the last step of the first-run setup, First step. Pick Telegram bot and press Open the builder.

    Skip for now loses nothing: the card on Start stays.

  3. 03Describe the bot in the builder

    What should the bot do?: answer questions, take orders, book clients, a quiz, reminders or something else. Then About the bot, Which buttons? (the /start command is always there) and Bot language.

    Where should data go?: Nowhere, To a file or To Google Sheets. Who gets notified?: Nobody, Me on Telegram or A work group.

  4. 04Build it in SHIPIT

    Press Build it in SHIPIT. SHIPIT makes a folder ~/SHIPIT/name, puts the task into BRIEF.md there and opens the project in the Code tab: the agent in the chat already has the task and starts writing code.

    There is no preview next to it, as a site has. You test a bot in Telegram itself.

  5. 05Token and testing: on to the Telegram guides

    The task tells the agent to stop when it reaches the token and walk you through getting one from @BotFather. The token lives only in a .env file, never in the code. Then the agent runs the bot on your Mac and checks /start and every button.

    In detail, with the token explained: Your first bot: from an idea to /start. Why a bot goes silent and where it should live: Where the bot lives.

Tips

Questions

Where does the token go?

Only into a .env file in the project folder. The agent's task asks for exactly that and for .env in .gitignore, so the token never lands in the code. The Your first bot guide explains it in detail.

Who writes the code, Claude Code or Codex?

Whichever is on your Mac. If both are, the builder shows a Who builds it choice before Build it in SHIPIT.

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