Help System & Command Reference

Why Good Documentation Matters

A bot with hundreds of commands is only useful if members and admins can figure out how to use them. Without good documentation, members do not know what the bot can do, and admins waste time answering questions that could be answered by a help command. The result is underutilization of features and frustration for everyone involved. Members miss out on capabilities that would enhance their experience, and admins spend their time on repetitive support instead of community building.

BotWave addresses this with a comprehensive help system that is accessible directly in the chat. Every command has a detailed help entry that explains what it does, what arguments it accepts, who can use it, and provides usage examples. The help system is searchable, categorized, and available in multiple languages, making it easy for anyone to find the information they need without leaving Telegram.

The Main Help Command

The /help command is the entry point to the entire help system. Typing /help without arguments shows a categorized list of all available commands, organized by feature area. Each category is listed with its name, a brief description, and the number of commands it contains. This gives members and admins a high level overview of everything the bot can do and helps them navigate to the specific help they need.

Typing /help followed by a command name, such as /help warn, shows detailed help for that specific command. The help entry includes the command syntax, a description of what it does, the arguments it accepts, who can use it (admin only, public, etc.), and one or more usage examples. This targeted help is the most common way members and admins learn how to use a specific command.

Category Based Help

Typing /help followed by a category name shows all commands in that category. For example, /help moderation shows all moderation commands, and /help ai shows all AI assistant commands. This is useful when you want to explore all the capabilities within a specific feature area rather than looking up a single command.

The category based help makes it easy to discover features you might not know about. A member who is interested in the AI features can browse the entire AI category and discover commands they had not heard of. An admin who is setting up moderation can browse the moderation category and see all the tools available to them. This discoverability is essential for a bot with hundreds of commands, because no one can memorize the entire command list.

Searchable Command Reference

For members who know what they want to do but do not know which command to use, the help system includes a search function. Typing /help search followed by a keyword searches all command names and descriptions for matches. For example, /help search ban returns all commands related to banning, including ban, unban, tban, gban, and ungban. This keyword based search is the fastest way to find the right command when you know the action you want but not the exact command name.

Permission Aware Help

The help system is permission aware, meaning it only shows commands that the user can actually use. When a regular member types /help, they see only public commands. When an admin types /help, they see both public and admin commands. This prevents members from seeing commands they cannot use, which reduces confusion and prevents frustration from members who try to use admin commands and get permission errors.

This permission aware display also serves as a security measure. Members cannot discover admin commands by browsing the help system, which means they cannot learn about moderation tools that could be used to circumvent security. Only admins see the full command list, and only the group owner sees owner exclusive commands. This layered visibility ensures that each user sees only what they need and are authorized to use.

Available Commands