getMe

Returns: UserOfficial docs ↗

A simple method for testing your bot's authentication token. Requires no parameters. Returns basic information about the bot in form of a User object.

Returns

On success, the User object is returned.

GramIO Usage

// Verify the token and log the bot's identity
const me = await bot.api.getMe();
console.log(`Logged in as @${me.username} (ID: ${me.id})`);

// Read bot-specific capability flags
const me = await bot.api.getMe();

console.log(`Username:              @${me.username}`);
console.log(`Can join groups:       ${me.can_join_groups}`);
console.log(`Privacy mode off:      ${me.can_read_all_group_messages}`);
console.log(`Supports inline:       ${me.supports_inline_queries}`);
console.log(`Business integration:  ${me.can_connect_to_business}`);
console.log(`Has main Web App:      ${me.has_main_web_app}`);

// Use getMe for a startup health check before launching
async function start() {
  const me = await bot.api.getMe();
  console.log(`Bot @${me.username} is ready`);
  await bot.start();
}

start();

// Conditionally register inline query handler only if the bot supports it
const me = await bot.api.getMe();

if (me.supports_inline_queries) {
  bot.on("inline_query", (ctx) => ctx.answer([]));
}

Errors

Code	Error	Cause
401	Unauthorized: invalid token specified	The bot token is wrong or has been revoked — check BOT_TOKEN env var
429	Too Many Requests: retry after N	Rate limit hit — check retry_after, use the auto-retry plugin

Tips & Gotchas

• Call it once at startup, not repeatedly. getMe is useful for a one-time token validation and capability check. The returned data doesn't change at runtime — cache it rather than calling on every update.
• Bot-specific fields are only present in getMe responses. Fields like can_join_groups, can_read_all_group_messages, supports_inline_queries, can_connect_to_business, and has_main_web_app are only returned by getMe — they are absent from User objects you receive in updates.
• can_read_all_group_messages: true means privacy mode is disabled. By default bots only receive messages that mention them; disabling privacy mode lets the bot read all group messages. This is configured in @BotFather.
• A failed getMe call is always a token problem. If this call throws 401 Unauthorized, the token is wrong or the bot was deleted. No other recovery is possible.
• is_bot is always true. For the object returned by getMe, is_bot will always be true — you can use it to distinguish bots from regular users in other contexts.

See Also

• User — return type (with bot-only optional fields)
• getMyCommands — get commands registered for this bot
• getMyDefaultAdministratorRights — get the bot's default admin rights
• getMyName — get the bot's display name
• getMyDescription — get the bot's description