Responding to messages¶

Not supported on TEBHOS

TEBHOS has no application commands (slash commands), no interactions endpoint, and no message components or modals. There is nothing to register and no INTERACTION_CREATE event. Bots implement commands by reading ordinary messages, as described on this page.

The usual pattern is a prefix command: the bot listens for MESSAGE_CREATE on the gateway, checks whether the message starts with its prefix (for example !), and answers with a REST call.

Receive messages¶

Every message posted in a channel the bot can view arrives as a MESSAGE_CREATE dispatch. The payload is a message object at the top level of d. Fields a command handler typically needs:

Field	Type	Description
id	snowflake	Message ID
channel_id	snowflake	Channel the message was posted in
guild_id?	snowflake	Guild of the channel. Absent for direct and group messages
author	object	The sender: `id`, `username`, `discriminator`, `global_name`, `avatar`, and `bot: true` for bot accounts
content	string	Full message text. Bots always receive it; there is no privileged intent to request
mentions	array	Users mentioned in the message
webhook_id?	snowflake	Present when a webhook posted the message
message_reference?	object	Present when the message replies to or forwards another message
member?	object	The author's guild member object, on guild messages

{
  "op": 0,
  "t": "MESSAGE_CREATE",
  "s": 17,
  "d": {
    "id": "1290851938027593728",
    "channel_id": "1290849012346880000",
    "guild_id": "1290848871133052928",
    "author": {
      "id": "1290845402212401152",
      "username": "deniz",
      "discriminator": "0042",
      "global_name": "Deniz",
      "avatar": null,
      "flags": 0
    },
    "type": 0,
    "content": "!ping",
    "timestamp": "2026-09-23T08:15:02.114Z",
    "edited_timestamp": null,
    "mentions": [],
    "mention_roles": [],
    "attachments": [],
    "embeds": []
  }
}

Edits arrive as MESSAGE_UPDATE and deletions as MESSAGE_DELETE (id, channel_id, and the deleted message's content and author_id). See Gateway events.

Ignore yourself and other bots

Compare author.id with the user.id from READY and skip your own messages. Also skip messages whose author.bot is true unless you really want bots to trigger each other; otherwise two bots can answer each other forever.

Parse a prefix command¶

const PREFIX = "!";

function parseCommand(message, botUserId) {
  if (message.author.id === botUserId || message.author.bot) return null;
  const content = message.content.trim();
  if (!content.startsWith(PREFIX)) return null;
  const [name, ...args] = content.slice(PREFIX.length).split(/\s+/);
  return { name: name.toLowerCase(), args };
}

Mentions are written in message text as <@user_id>, so a bot can also treat messages that start with <@{bot_user_id}> as commands.

Send a message¶

POST /channels/{channel_id}/messages

Posts a message as the bot. Requires the View Channel and Send Messages permissions in that channel. Rate limit: 20 messages per 10 seconds per sender per channel; see Rate limits.

Field	Type	Description
content?	string	Message text, up to 4000 characters for bots. Required unless `embeds`, attachments or `sticker_ids` are given
embeds?	array	Up to 10 rich embeds: `title`, `description`, `url`, `color`, `timestamp`, `author`, `image`, `thumbnail`, `footer`, `fields`. Requires Embed Links. See Embed limits
message_reference?	object	Makes the message a reply: `{"message_id": "..."}`
allowed_mentions?	object	Limits which mentions in `content` notify people
tts?	boolean	Text-to-speech; needs the Send TTS Messages permission
sticker_ids?	array	Up to 3 sticker IDs

The full field list, attachments included, is in Messages. The response is 200 with the created message object.

curl -X POST https://tebhos.com/api/v1/channels/1290849012346880000/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bot $TEBHOS_BOT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"content": "pong"}'

Reply to a message¶

Add message_reference with the ID of the message you answer. The referenced message must be in the same channel.

{
  "content": "pong",
  "message_reference": { "message_id": "1290851938027593728" }
}

Other useful calls¶

Action	Endpoint
Show "Bot is typing..." while you work	`POST /channels/{channel_id}/typing`
Edit a message the bot sent	`PATCH /channels/{channel_id}/messages/{message_id}` with `{"content": "..."}`
Delete a message	`DELETE /channels/{channel_id}/messages/{message_id}` (another user's message needs Manage Messages)
React to a message	`PUT /channels/{channel_id}/messages/{message_id}/reactions/{emoji}/@me`
Fetch recent messages	`GET /channels/{channel_id}/messages` (needs Read Message History)

Permissions¶

A bot can only read and write where its roles allow. When the bot was added with a permissions value, TEBHOS created a role with exactly those permissions and gave it to the bot; guild administrators can change that role or channel overwrites at any time. A request the bot is not allowed to make fails with 403; branch on the status, not on the error text. See Permissions and Adding a bot to a guild.

Complete example¶

Examples has runnable JavaScript and Python bots that connect to the gateway, handle READY and MESSAGE_CREATE, and answer !ping with pong.