Welcome & Greetings

The Importance of a Warm Welcome

When someone joins a Telegram group, their first few seconds set the tone for their entire experience. A blank chat with no greeting feels unwelcoming and abandoned, leaving new members unsure whether they are in the right place or whether anyone is even active. A well-crafted welcome message, on the other hand, immediately tells the new member that this is a living community with structure and care. It can include the member's name, link them to the rules, show them what the group is about, and give them clear next steps for getting involved.

BotWave's greetings system gives you full control over this critical first impression. You write the welcome text, optionally attach media (a photo, GIF, or video), add inline buttons that link to your rules, channel, or website, and decide whether the message should be posted in the group or sent via private message. Every element is customizable, so your welcome can be as simple or as elaborate as your community needs.

Custom Welcome Messages

The /setwelcome command lets you define the exact text that appears when someone joins. You can use the {name} placeholder to insert the new member's display name, making each welcome feel personal rather than generic. The message supports full formatting — bold, italic, code blocks, and links — so you can create a visually structured welcome that guides the new member through everything they need to know.

For groups that want to go beyond text, the /setwelcomemedia command lets you attach a photo, GIF, or video to the welcome message. Reply to any media message in the group with this command, and the bot will use that media as the welcome attachment going forward. This is perfect for communities with branded graphics, instructional videos, or welcome GIFs that set the mood. The /resetwelcomemedia command removes the media if you want to return to a text-only welcome.

Goodbye Messages and Member Tracking

Just as welcomes set the tone for arrivals, goodbye messages acknowledge departures. The /setgoodbye command defines the text shown when a member leaves the group. While some communities prefer to keep goodbyes minimal, others use them to express appreciation for the departing member's contributions or to signal to remaining members that someone has left, which can prompt check-ins or discussions about community health.

Goodbye messages support the same customization as welcomes — custom text with formatting, attached media via /setgoodbyemedia, and the ability to reset to defaults. The /welcomeprivate and related commands control whether messages are sent in the group chat or via direct message, giving you flexibility in how you communicate with new and departing members without cluttering the main conversation.

Join Confirmation Gate

For communities that want an extra layer of verification beyond captcha, the join confirmation gate requires new members to explicitly tap a button before they can participate. When enabled with /joinconfirm on, the bot mutes the new member and sends a message with a confirmation button. Only after the member taps the button are they unmuted and allowed to send messages.

This gate is particularly useful for groups that want to ensure members are real, active humans rather than passive lurkers. A bot that joins the group cannot tap an inline button, so the confirmation gate filters out automated accounts even without a traditional captcha challenge. It also creates a moment of intentionality — the member must actively choose to participate, which sets a psychological precedent of engagement rather than passive observation.

Coordination with Entry Gates

The greetings system works in concert with the entry gate framework. When gates like captcha, force subscribe, or rules acceptance are active, the welcome message is deferred until all gates are cleared. This means the new member sees the captcha challenge first, solves it, joins the required channel, accepts the rules, and only then receives the full welcome message. The deferred welcome feels like a reward for completing the verification process and ensures that the member is fully ready to participate when they read it.

If no gates are active, the welcome message is sent immediately upon join, with no delay. The /greetsettings command provides an overview of all greeting-related settings in one place, making it easy to audit your configuration and make adjustments. The /greetingconfig command shows the full configuration including welcome and goodbye status, media attachments, and private delivery settings.

Available Commands