Chat bot in the MAX messenger

The main difference from Telegram

In Telegram a bot takes a minute: message BotFather, get a token, start working. MAX does not work that way. The platform documentation says it plainly: a bot is created after joining the MAX partner platform, and that needs a company or sole-trader profile and a data check.

So the first step is paperwork, not code. That filters out everyone who wanted to try it over one evening, and it also explains why searching for MAX bots returns a lot of articles and very few working bots.

What the bot can do from the code side

• Bot API — A separate platform interface: the bot receives events and sends messages with API requests, like in other messengers.
• Conversation events — Message created, edited and deleted arrive, and so does the person starting the bot — each one can be answered with an action of your own.
• Long polling — The connection is held open until an event appears. That is cheaper than frequent requests and needs no public address for a webhook.
• Attachments — Photos and documents are received and sent the same way as text.
• The read marker — The read border is moved by hand, and it has to be moved after the message is taken into work: otherwise the message counts as delivered while it exists nowhere.

Three ways to go if you want the bot for customers

1. 1 Build it yourself Join the partner platform, pass the check, write the bot on the Bot API. Full freedom, and a developer on permanent duty — the bot lives as long as somebody fixes it.
2. 2 Use a builder Ready-made services assemble scripts without code. Fine for frequent questions, poor where the person wants a live answer.
3. 3 Receive messages in a shared flow You need no bot at all: MAX messages arrive where the website and Telegram ones do, and people answer them. That is how WidgetChat works — we connect the channel on request.

When a bot does not solve the problem

Branching scripts look good on a diagram and badly in a conversation: the person asks for a human on the third attempt and is annoyed by then. A bot wins where the answer really is always the same — order status, opening hours, a link to a manual.

When the questions differ, it is cheaper to make the live answer fast. A message that reached the right person with the history attached is closed in the same seconds a bot would take.

Frequently asked questions