ifly-time-bot

Telegram bot for coordinating flight-time package splits ("распил"). Users create requests through a Telegram mini-app; the bot automatically matches groups whose combined hours total 10 and notifies the group chat.

Setup

1. Create a bot via @BotFather and obtain the token.
2. Configure a Web App for the bot in BotFather (use /newapp or the menu button setting) and point it to the public URL where the mini-app will be served.
3. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in the values.
4. Run with Docker Compose:

docker compose up -d --build

Or via Make:

make up

The bot container runs both the Telegram bot (polling or webhook) and a lightweight HTTP server for the mini-app on WEBAPP_PORT (default 8080). Put a reverse proxy (nginx / Caddy) in front to terminate TLS.

Build and push Docker image

Use the included Makefile to build and push tags to Docker Hub with separate commands:

make release-latest
make release-stable

The Docker image build now includes the React mini-app build (TelegramUI) automatically.

You can also run steps separately:

make build-latest
make push-latest
make build-stable
make push-stable

To override the repository name:

make release-latest IMAGE=your-dockerhub-user/ifly-time-bot
make release-stable IMAGE=your-dockerhub-user/ifly-time-bot

Local development commands

make up            # docker compose up -d --build
make logs          # follow bot logs
make down          # stop and remove containers
make build-frontend
make frontend-dev

build-frontend and frontend-dev use bun when available, otherwise npm.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
TELEGRAM_TOKEN	yes	Bot token from BotFather
ALLOWED_GROUP_ID	yes	Telegram group chat ID
DATABASE_URL	yes	PostgreSQL connection string
MINIAPP_URL	yes	t.me deep link to the mini-app (used in dashboard button)
WEBAPP_PORT	no	Internal HTTP port for the mini-app (default 8080)
CONNECTION_MODE	no	polling (default) or webhook
WEBHOOK_URL	no	Public URL for webhook mode
PORT	no	Webhook listen port (default 8443)
THREAD_ID	no	Forum topic ID (default 1)
TIMEZONE	no	IANA timezone (default Europe/Minsk)
LOG_LEVEL	no	Python log level (default INFO)

Commands

• /cancel – remove your pending request
• /check_matches – manually trigger the matching job
• /start – show help

Requests are created and edited through the mini-app button on the dashboard message in the group.