Telegram notifications

Playdex sends notifications through Apprise. You run one Telegram bot for the whole instance; each user only provides their chat ID.

Users are notified when:

• a session starts: an image card with the game’s art
• a session ends: an image card with the duration
• polling an integration fails: a text message

Operator setup

1. Create a bot. Message @BotFather, send /newbot, and copy the token (123456789:AA…).

2. Run Apprise next to the API. The config builder adds it when you tick Telegram notifications. It looks like this:

   apprise:
     image: caronc/apprise:1.3.3
     environment:
       APPRISE_STATEFUL_MODE: simple
       APPRISE_API_ONLY: "yes"
     volumes: [apprise_config:/config, apprise_attach:/attach]

   Don’t expose Apprise publicly. Only the API needs to reach it.

3. Configure the API and restart it:

   Apprise__BaseUrl=http://apprise:8000
   Apprise__TelegramBotToken=123456789:AA…

Caution

If Apprise__BaseUrl isn’t set, users get an error when they try to save a chat ID, not just when a notification is sent.

What users do

1. Open your bot in Telegram and press Start. A bot can’t message someone who hasn’t messaged it first.
2. Find their chat ID, e.g. by messaging @userinfobot. Group chats work too; their IDs are negative.
3. In Playdex Web → Settings → Telegram notifications, paste the chat ID, save, and press Send test.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
“Apprise:BaseUrl is not configured” on save	Apprise__BaseUrl is missing on the API.
“Apprise:TelegramBotToken is missing or invalid”	The token is empty or malformed; it must look like digits:letters.
Test says OK but nothing arrives	The user hasn’t pressed Start on your bot, or the chat ID is wrong.
API logs APPRISE_MOCK notify …	The API runs with Apprise__UseMock=true, which is the default in Development.