# Telegram Commands

Telegram Bots have a special version of a [persistent menu](broken://pages/-MjJWNqbgKRgZrxTFuZn#persistent-menu) called commands. Commands allow your users to trigger specific stories from your bot.

## /start command

When a user clicks into the your bot on Telegram for the first time, they are presented with the bot's description and a **START** button. 

Clicking the **START** button is equivalent to typing `/start` to your bot. Therefore, when your user clicks the Start button, the first message they will see that got sent to the bot was the `/start` command itself like this

<figure><img src="/files/wCnR6eP8xv1bNhN7XuKm" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>The START button</p></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="/files/3z5AueB4AYJpG8aorvKI" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>becomes the "/start" command</p></figcaption></figure>

Therefore, `/start` is a default command in every BotDistrikt bot. When the TELEGRAM group of rules is created after linking your bot to Telegram, you will also see a rule automatically generated like this

![Telegram /start command's rule](/files/-MkGoFB0_zeHx_iopAbE)

This rule just checks if a sent a User sent a message with the text `/start` to the bot, and if so, triggers the bot's default **greeting** story.

## Custom commands

Telegram bots are known well to work with slash commands like `/start`. On BotDistrikt, you may add your own commands and descriptions. Here is an example of how it can be used

![](/files/-MkH-cSwvYjXsFXYFRNx)

The platform then identifies the Linked Story, based on which rule is selected as the Passing Rule for each command.&#x20;

A good practice is to create a New Rule for each command in the generated TELEGRAM group, and the story you want to trigger for it like this

![Create Telegram Rule](/files/-MkH11tjUn3n5Hh2Hm7v)

From the example above, we create a new rule for each of the **/about**, **/settings**, and **/feedback** commands.


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