markov-telegram-bot

markov-telegram-bot is a Telegram bot that builds a Markov chain for each user in groups it is added to, and it uses those Markov chains to generate "new" messages from those users when prompted. The process is similar to your phone keyboard's predictive text capabilities.

Markov chains are created per user, per group, so you don't have to worry about things you say in one group appearing in generated messages in another group.

Since this bot stores the contents of every message sent in groups it is added to, it is advised that you create your own unique Telegram bot and use this library to control it. I do have my own instance of the bot running, but, for privacy's sake, I don't allow it to join any groups except a few close-knit ones. Whoever owns some particular instance of this bot will be able to see every word said in the bot's groups.

Sample Usage

/msg

To generate a message from a user, use the /msg command. The command expects a user mention following it to know which user you want to generate a message from: /msg @some_user. This works with a normal @ mention and also a text mention for users who don't have a username. Either way, just type the @ character and select a user from the dropdown that opens.

You can also include an optional "seed" word following the user mention to tell the bot which word to start with when it generates the message: /msg @some_user blah

/msgall

To generate a message based on the messages from all users, use the /msgall command. Just like with /msg, you can include an optional "seed" word following the command.

/deletemydata

The /deletemydata command allows you to delete your own Markov chain data for the current group. Simply send the command and confirm your choice when the bot asks.

/deletemessagedata

The /deletemessagedata command allows you to delete a specific message from your Markov chain data for the current group. As a reply to the message you want to remove, send the command and confirm your choice when the bot asks.

/deleteuserdata

The /deleteuserdata command allows group admins to delete Markov chain data for a specific user in the current group. If you are an admin, simply send the command with a user mention following it, and confirm your choice when the bot asks: /deleteuserdata @some_user. As with the /msg command, just type the @ character and select a user from the dropdown that opens.

/stats

The /stats command shows a list of each user's top five most distinguishing words - words they use the most, compared to everyone else in the group.

Running the Bot

Create a Telegram bot via @BotFather. Take down your bot's access token, and set its privacy mode to disabled so it can read all messages in its groups. If privacy mode is enabled, the bot won't be able to build Markov chains. Then, using @BotFather's /setcommands command, copy and paste the following text as your input to set your bot's command list.

msg - Generate message from a user
msgall - Generate message based on all users in this group
deletemydata - Delete your Markov chain data in this group
deletemessagedata - Delete a message from your Markov chain data in this group
deleteuserdata - (Admin only) Delete a user's Markov chain data in this group
stats - Display user statistics

Download the precompiled jar file from the latest release or build it yourself with Maven if you like. If you aren't building it yourself, skip the next paragraph.

To build the code yourself, get Maven installed if you haven't already. Download the latest source code for markov-telegram-bot. Unzip it, enter a command line in the root markov-telegram-bot directory and run mvn clean package. Two jars will be generated in the target directory; you need the jar-with-dependencies one.

Create a folder wherever you want to store the bot's files. Copy the jar-with-dependencies into this folder, and create a YAML file in there too with the following contents:

telegramBotToken: <your bot token>

Replace <your bot token> with the token @BotFather gave you when you created your bot. I call this file config.yml, but you can use any name you want.

Now you're ready to run the bot. Open a command line inside your bot folder and run the following command:

java -jar <jar path> -c <config yml path> -d <data directory path>

Replace <jar path> with the name of the jar-with-dependencies file you copied into the folder, <config yml path> with the name of the YAML file you created in the folder, and <data directory path> with whatever path you want to store the bot's Markov chain data in (I just use data).

That's it!