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Basic Commands

After you've explored the native features of topic groups and tried communicating on behalf of connected bots or accounts, it's time to master Hotline's statuses and basic commands for effective dialog management.

/ Internal Comments

Any message starting with / symbol and a space after it is considered an internal comment and is not sent to the customer.

Examples of internal comments in topics

/ Talked to the client on the phone, they need a different model of our team's work

/ TODO: check with marketing department about the upcoming promotion and send to the client

/ @alex108 help me figure out this case, here #advanced

Comment capabilities:

  • Discussing the response with the team right in the dialog context
  • Using #hashtags for categorization
  • @mentioning colleagues to draw attention
  • Pinning comments with important additional information or tasks

Tip: Use comments actively

Internal comments with / are a great way to document dialogs, set tasks, and coordinate the team right in the context of the customer conversation.

Tip: Pin important comments

Pin comments with current tasks or important customer information at the top of the topic for quick access.

Inversion of sending logic

You can enable the REPLY_ONLY parameter — then all messages become comments, and only explicit replies to customer messages (reply) will be sent to the customer.

Topic Statuses

Each dialog topic has one of three statuses, displayed by a colored square in the topic name.

  • 🟪 Requires attention/response

    Status: user_answered

    When set:

    • When receiving a new message from the user
    • When creating a new topic
    • When user contacts again after closing

    Command: /hold

    Use /hold to explicitly keep the topic in active state if further attention is required (for example, additional information or task completion is expected).

  • 🟨 Awaiting response

    Status: support_answered

    When set:

    • Automatically on the first operator response in a purple topic (🟪 → 🟨)
    • Automatically returns from yellow to purple when receiving a new message from the user (with 2-minute delay not to interfere with active dialog)

    Command: /wait

    Use /wait to explicitly move the topic to waiting mode if the response has been given to the user and no further action is required.

  • ⬛️ Dialog closed

    Status: closed

    When set:

    • When executing /close command
    • Automatically by timeout from AUTOCLOSE parameter (default 48 hours after the last operator response, can be disabled)

    Command: /close

    Close the topic when the customer's issue is completely resolved. When closing:

    • User will receive a new welcome from WELCOME parameter on next contact
    • Group members without topic management rights can no longer write in the closed topic
    • Topic is automatically activated on new message from the user (⬛️ → 🟪)

Monitor statuses

Proper use of statuses helps the team understand which dialogs require attention and which are awaiting customer response.

Topic name caching

In Telegram apps there's sometimes a caching feature — status icon may not update immediately after sending a command. If synchronization is needed right now, send /hold or /wait command again, or wait for status actualization.

Quick Reference /help

At any time get a brief reference on available commands and statuses by sending /help command in any topic of the working group.

Topic Information /info

Get basic information about the current topic with /info command.

  • User name and profile link (if available)
  • User ID
  • Username and chat link (if available)
  • Phone (if available)
  • Language (if set)
  • Frontend connection
  • Chat title and public link (if available)
  • Chat ID
  • Frontend connection

Automatic information

You can enable the AUTO_INFO parameter — then information will be shown automatically when creating each new topic.

Hiding information

Through the HIDE_INFO parameter you can hide customer information from regular operators and disable the /info command in the group.

Blocking /ban and /unban

Block tactless users with /ban command and unblock when necessary with /unban command.

Command behavior differs depending on connection type.

Blocking adds the user to IGNORE_CHATS parameter

Uses native Telegram blocking function

Creating Topics /new

Create new dialogs with users or join chats with /new command.

Command capabilities differ depending on connection type.

  • Bots in Telegram cannot write to users first, the dialog with a bot must be initiated by the user. Learn more about user account capabilities used as frontend.
  • The command can only be used to recreate a deleted topic if USER_ID or USERNAME of the user is known.

Command format (no @ symbol needed in USERNAME): 

/new USERNAME | *USER_ID | #PHONE

  • Can write first to other users
  • Can start bots, send them commands and receive responses in the topic
  • Can join chats via public link or invite link

Creating a dialog with user or bot (no @ symbol needed in USERNAME): 

/new USERNAME | *USER_ID | #PHONE
/new BOT_USERNAME | *BOT_USER_ID

After creating a topic with a bot, you can send commands to it through the topic, starting them with double slashes //, for example: 

//start
//help

Joining a group or channel: 

/new PUBLIC_CHAT_LINK
/new PUBLIC_CHANNEL_LINK
/new https://t.me/PUBLIC_CHAT_LINK
/new https://t.me/PUBLIC_CHANNEL_LINK
/new https://t.me/+PRIVATE_INVITE_HASH

Creating chats (experimental feature)

If you specify a non-existent USERNAME, public link for chat or bot, a chat with the given name will be created from the account.

Multiple connections

With multiple connections in one backend group, you can specify a particular instance from which to create the topic (by default the command is executed for each connection from the group).