Context

The Context object (grammY API Referenceopen in new window) is an important part of grammY.

Whenever you register a listener on your bot object, this listener will receive a context object.

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // `ctx` is the `Context` object.
});

You can use the context object to

access information about the message
perform actions in response to the message.

Note that context objects are commonly called ctx.

Available Information

When a user sends a message to your bot, you can access it via ctx.message. As an example, to get the message text, you can do this:

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // `txt` will be a `string` when processing text messages.
  // It will be `undefined` if the received message does not have any message text,
  // e.g. photos, stickers, and other messages.
  const txt = ctx.message.text;
});

Similarly, you can access other properties of the message object, e.g. ctx.message.chat for information about the chat where the message was sent. Check out the part about Messages in the Telegram Bot API Referenceopen in new window to see which data is available. Alternatively, you can simply use autocomplete in your code editor to see the possible options.

If you register your listener for other types, ctx will also give you information about those. Example:

bot.on("edited_message", (ctx) => {
  // Get the new, edited, text of the message.
  const editedText = ctx.editedMessage.text;
});

Moreover, you can get access to the raw Update object (Telegram Bot API Referenceopen in new window) that Telegram sends to your bot. This update object (ctx.update) contains all the data that sources ctx.message and the like.

The context object always contains information about your bot, accessible via ctx.me.

Shortcuts

There are a number of shortcuts installed on the context object.

Shortcut	Description
`ctx.msg`	Gets the message object, also edited ones
`ctx.chat`	Gets the chat object
`ctx.senderChat`	Gets the sender chat object out of `ctx.msg` (for anonymous channel/group messages)
`ctx.from`	Gets the author of the message, callback query, or other things
`ctx.inlineMessageId`	Gets the inline message identifier for callback queries or chosen inline results

In other words, you can also do this:

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // Get the text of the message.
  const text = ctx.msg.text;
});

bot.on("edited_message", (ctx) => {
  // Get the new, edited, text of the message.
  const editedText = ctx.msg.text;
});

Hence, if you want to, you can forget about ctx.message and ctx.channelPost and ctx.editedMessage and so on and so forth, and just always use ctx.msg instead.

Probing via Has Checks

The context object has a few methods that allow you to probe the contained data for certain things. For example, you can call ctx.hasCommand("start") to see if the context object contains a /start command. This is why the methods are collectively named has checks.

Know When to Use Has Checks

This is the exact same logic that is used by bot.command("start"). Note that you should usually use filter queries and similar methods. Using has checks works best inside the conversations plugin.

The has checks correctly narrow down the context type. This means that checking if a context has callback query data will tell TypeScript that the context has the field ctx.callbackQuery.data present.

if (ctx.hasCallbackQuery(/query-data-\d+/)) {
  // `ctx.callbackQuery.data` is known to be present here
  const data: string = ctx.callbackQuery.data;
}

The same applies to all other has checks. Check out the API reference of the context objectopen in new window to see a list of all has checks. Also check out the static property Context.has in the API referenceopen in new window that lets you create efficient predicate functions for probing a lot of context objects.

Available Actions

If you want to respond to a message from a user, you could write this:

bot.on("message", async (ctx) => {
  // Get the chat identifier.
  const chatId = ctx.msg.chat.id;
  // The text to reply with
  const text = "I got your message!";
  // Send the reply.
  await bot.api.sendMessage(chatId, text);
});

You can notice two things that are not optimal about this:

We must have access to the bot object. This means that we have to pass the bot object all around our code base in order to respond, which is annoying when you have more than one source file and you define your listener somewhere else.
We have to take out the chat identifier of the context, and explicitly pass it to sendMessage again. This is annoying, too, because you most likely always want to respond to the same user that sent a message. Imagine how often you would type the same thing over and over again!

Regarding point 1., the context object simply provides you access to the same API object that you find on bot.api, it is called ctx.api. You could now write ctx.api.sendMessage instead and you no longer have to pass around your bot object. Easy.

However, the real strength is to fix point 2. The context object lets you simply send a reply like this:

bot.on("message", async (ctx) => {
  await ctx.reply("I got your message!");
});

// Or, even shorter:
bot.on("message", (ctx) => ctx.reply("Gotcha!"));

Neat! 🎉

Under the hood, the context already knows its chat identifier (namely ctx.msg.chat.id), so it gives you the reply method to just send a message back to the same chat. Internally, reply again calls sendMessage with the chat identifier pre-filled for you.

Consequently, all methods on the context object take options objects of type Other as explained earlier. This can be used to pass further configuration to every API call.

Telegram Reply Feature

Even though the method is called ctx.reply in grammY (and many other frameworks), it does not use the reply feature of Telegramopen in new window where a previous message is linked.

If you look up what sendMessage can do in the Telegram Bot API Referenceopen in new window, you will see a number of options, such as parse_mode, disable_web_page_preview, and reply_to_message_id. The latter can be used to make a message a reply:

await ctx.reply("^ This is a message!", {
  reply_to_message_id: ctx.msg.message_id,
});

The same options object can be passed to bot.api.sendMessage and ctx.api.sendMessage. Use auto-complete to see the available options right in your code editor.

Naturally, every other method on ctx.api has a shortcut with the correct pre-filled values, such as ctx.replyWithPhoto to reply with a photo, or ctx.exportChatInviteLink to get an invite link for the respective chat. If you want to get an overview over what shortcuts exist, then auto-complete is your friend, along with the grammY API Referenceopen in new window.

Note that you may not want to react in the same chat always. In this case, you can just fall back to using ctx.api methods, and specify all options when calling them. For example, if you receive a message from Alice and want to react by sending a message to Bob, then you cannot use ctx.reply because it will always send messages to the chat with Alice. Instead, call ctx.api.sendMessage and specify the chat identifier of Bob.

How Context Objects Are Created

Whenever your bot receives a new message from Telegram, it is wrapped in an update object. In fact, update objects can not only contain new messages, but also all other sorts of things, such as edits to messages, poll answers, and much moreopen in new window.

A fresh context object is created exactly once for every incoming update. Contexts for different updates are completely unrelated objects, they only reference the same bot information via ctx.me.

The same context object for one update will be shared by all installed middleware (docs) on the bot.

Customizing the Context Object

If you are new to context objects, you don’t need to worry about the rest of this page.

You can install your own properties on the context object if you want.

Via Middleware (Recommended)

The customizations can be easily done in middleware.

Middlewhat?

This section requires an understanding of middleware, so in case you have not skipped ahead to this section yet, here is a very brief summary.

All you really need to know is that several handlers can process the same context object. There are special handlers which can modify ctx before any other handlers are run, and the modifications of the first handler will be visible to all subsequent handlers.

The idea is to install middleware before you register other listeners. You can then set the properties you want inside these handlers.

For illustration purposes, let’s say you want to set a property called ctx.config on the context object. In this example, we will use it to store some configuration about the project so that all handlers have access to it. The configuration will make it easier to detect if the bot is used by its developer or by regular users.

Right after creating your bot, do this:

const BOT_DEVELOPER = 123456; // bot developer chat identifier

bot.use(async (ctx, next) => {
  // Modify context object here by setting the config.
  ctx.config = {
    botDeveloper: BOT_DEVELOPER,
    isDeveloper: ctx.from?.id === BOT_DEVELOPER,
  };
  // Run remaining handlers.
  await next();
});

After that, you can use ctx.config in the remaining handlers.

bot.command("start", async (ctx) => {
  // Work with modified context here!
  if (ctx.config.isDeveloper) await ctx.reply("Hi mom!! <3");
  else await ctx.reply("Welcome, human!");
});

However, you will notice that TypeScript does not know that ctx.config is available, even though we are assigning the property correctly. So while the code will work at runtime, it does not compile. To fix this, we need to adjust the type of the context and add the property.

interface BotConfig {
  botDeveloper: number;
  isDeveloper: boolean;
}

type MyContext = Context & {
  config: BotConfig;
};

The new type MyContext now accurately describes the context objects our bot is actually handling.

You will need to make sure that you keep the types in sync with the properties you initialize.

We can use the new type by passing it to the Bot constructor.

const bot = new Bot<MyContext>("");

In summary, the setup will look like this:

const BOT_DEVELOPER = 123456; // bot developer chat identifier

// Define custom context type.
interface BotConfig {
  botDeveloper: number;
  isDeveloper: boolean;
}
type MyContext = Context & {
  config: BotConfig;
};

const bot = new Bot<MyContext>("");

// Set custom properties on context objects.
bot.use(async (ctx, next) => {
  ctx.config = {
    botDeveloper: BOT_DEVELOPER,
    isDeveloper: ctx.from?.id === BOT_DEVELOPER,
  };
  await next();
});

// Define handlers for custom context objects.
bot.command("start", async (ctx) => {
  if (ctx.config.isDeveloper) await ctx.reply("Hi mom!");
  else await ctx.reply("Welcome");
});

const BOT_DEVELOPER = 123456; // bot developer chat identifier

const bot = new Bot("");

// Set custom properties on context objects.
bot.use(async (ctx, next) => {
  ctx.config = {
    botDeveloper: BOT_DEVELOPER,
    isDeveloper: ctx.from?.id === BOT_DEVELOPER,
  };
  await next();
});

// Define handlers for custom context objects.
bot.command("start", async (ctx) => {
  if (ctx.config.isDeveloper) await ctx.reply("Hi mom!");
  else await ctx.reply("Welcome");
});

Naturally, the custom context type can also be passed to other things which handle middleware, such as composersopen in new window.

const composer = new Composer<MyContext>();

Some plugins will also require you to pass a custom context type, such as the router or the menu plugin. Check out their docs to see how they can use a custom context type. These types are called context flavors, as described down here.

Via Inheritance

In addition to setting custom properties on the context object, you can subclass the Context class.

class MyContext extends Context {
  // etc
}

However, we recommend that you customize the context object via middleware because it is much more flexible and works much better if you want to install plugins.

We will now see how to use custom classes for context objects.

When constructing your bot, you can pass a custom context constructor that will be used to instantiate the context objects. Note that your class must extend Context.

import { Bot, Context } from "grammy";
import type { Update, UserFromGetMe } from "@grammyjs/types";

// Define a custom context class.
class MyContext extends Context {
  // Set some custom properties.
  public readonly customProp: number;

  constructor(update: Update, api: Api, me: UserFromGetMe) {
    super(update, api, me);
    this.customProp = me.username.length * 42;
  }
}

// Pass the constructor of the custom context class as an option.
const bot = new Bot("<token>", {
  ContextConstructor: MyContext,
});

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // `ctx` is now of type `MyContext`.
  const prop = ctx.customProp;
});

bot.start();

const { Bot, Context } = require("grammy");

// Define a custom context class.
class MyContext extends Context {
  // Set some custom properties.
  public readonly customProp;

  constructor(update, api, me) {
    super(update, api, me);
    this.customProp = me.username.length * 42;
  }
}

// Pass the constructor of the custom context class as an option.
const bot = new Bot("<token>", {
  ContextConstructor: MyContext,
});

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // `ctx` is now of type `MyContext`.
  const prop = ctx.customProp;
});

bot.start();

import { Bot, Context } from "https://deno.land/x/grammy@v1.11.2/mod.ts";
import type { Update, UserFromGetMe } from "https://esm.sh/@grammyjs/types";

// Define a custom context class.
class MyContext extends Context {
  // Set some custom properties.
  public readonly customProp: number;

  constructor(update: Update, api: Api, me: UserFromGetMe) {
    super(update, api, me);
    this.customProp = me.username.length * 42;
  }
}

// Pass the constructor of the custom context class as an option.
const bot = new Bot("<token>", {
  ContextConstructor: MyContext,
});

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // `ctx` is now of type `MyContext`.
  const prop = ctx.customProp;
});

bot.start();

Notice how the custom context type will be inferred automatically when you are using a subclass. You no longer need to write Bot<MyContext> because you already specified your subclass constructor in the options object of new Bot().

However, this makes it very hard (if not impossible) to install plugins, as they often need you to install context flavors.

Context Flavors

Context flavors are a way to tell TypeScript about new properties on your context object. These new properties can be shipped in plugins or other modules and then installed on your bot.

Context flavors are also able to transform the types of existing properties using automatic procedures which are defined by plugins.

Additive Context Flavors

As implied above, there are two different kinds of context flavors. The basic one is called additive context flavor, and whenever we talk about context flavoring, we just mean this basic form. Let’s look at how it works.

As an example, when you have session data, you must register ctx.session on the context type. Otherwise,

you cannot install the built-in sessions plugin, and
you don’t have access to ctx.session in your listeners.

Even though we’ll use sessions as an example here, similar things apply for lots of other things. In fact, most plugins will give you a context flavor that you need to use.

A context flavor is simply a small new type that defines the properties that should be added to the context type. Let’s look at an example for a flavor.

interface SessionFlavor<S> {
  session: S;
}

The SessionFlavor type (API Referenceopen in new window) is straightforward: it defines only the property session. It takes a type parameter that will define the actual structure of the session data.

How is that useful? This is how you can flavor your context with session data:

import { Context, SessionFlavor } from "grammy";

// Declare `ctx.session` to be of type `string`.
type MyContext = Context & SessionFlavor<string>;

You can now use the session plugin, and you have access to ctx.session:

bot.on("message", (ctx) => {
  // Now `str` is of type `string`.
  const str = ctx.session;
});

Transformative Context Flavors

The other kind of context flavor is more powerful. Instead of being installed with the & operator, they need to be installed like so:

import { Context } from "grammy";
import { SomeFlavorA } from "my-plugin";

type MyContext = SomeFlavorA<Context>;

Everything else works the same way.

Every (official) plugin states in its documentation whether it must be used via additive or via transformative context flavor.

Combining Different Context Flavors

If you have different additive context flavors, you can just install them like this:

type MyContext = Context & FlavorA & FlavorB & FlavorC;

The order of context flavors does not matter, you can combine them in any order you like.

Multiple transformative context flavors can also be combined:

type MyContext = FlavorX<FlavorY<FlavorZ<Context>>>;

Here, the order could matter, as FlavorZ transforms Context first, then FlavorY, and the result of this will be transformed again by FlavorX. (In practice, this is nothing to worry about because plugins usually don’t clash with each other.)

You can even mix additive and transformative flavors:

type MyContext = FlavorX<
  FlavorY<
    FlavorZ<
      Context & FlavorA & FlavorB & FlavorC
    >
  >
>;

# Context

# Available Information

# Shortcuts

# Probing via Has Checks

# Available Actions

# How Context Objects Are Created

# Customizing the Context Object

# Via Middleware (Recommended)

# Via Inheritance

# Context Flavors

# Additive Context Flavors

# Transformative Context Flavors

# Combining Different Context Flavors