getMyDescription

Returns: BotDescriptionOfficial docs ↗

Use this method to get the current bot description for the given user language. Returns BotDescription on success.

Parameters

language_codeStringOptional

A two-letter ISO 639-1 language code or an empty string

Returns

On success, the BotDescription object is returned.

GramIO Usage

// Get the bot's default description (no language filter)
const result = await bot.api.getMyDescription({});
console.log(result.description);

// Get the description localised for Russian-speaking users
const ruResult = await bot.api.getMyDescription({ language_code: "ru" });
console.log("RU description:", ruResult.description);

// Read descriptions for several locales in parallel
const [defaultDesc, enDesc, ruDesc] = await Promise.all([
  bot.api.getMyDescription({}),
  bot.api.getMyDescription({ language_code: "en" }),
  bot.api.getMyDescription({ language_code: "ru" }),
]);

console.log("Default:", defaultDesc.description);
console.log("EN:     ", enDesc.description);
console.log("RU:     ", ruDesc.description);

// Audit description coverage before deployment
async function auditDescriptions(locales: string[]) {
  for (const lang of locales) {
    const { description } = await bot.api.getMyDescription({
      language_code: lang,
    });
    const status = description ? "OK" : "MISSING";
    console.log(`[${lang}] ${status}: ${description}`);
  }
}

await auditDescriptions(["en", "ru", "de", "fr"]);

Errors

Code	Error	Cause
401	Unauthorized: invalid token specified	Bot token is wrong or revoked — check the BOT_TOKEN environment variable
429	Too Many Requests: retry after N	Rate limit hit — check retry_after, use the auto-retry plugin

Tips & Gotchas

• Both parameters are optional — pass an empty object {} for the default. Omitting language_code (or passing an empty string) returns the language-agnostic fallback description shown to users whose language has no dedicated override.
• Returns an empty string, not null, when no description is set. If neither a locale-specific nor a default description has been configured with setMyDescription, description is "". Always check for this before displaying the value.
• Locale resolution is one level deep. Telegram stores each locale independently — there is no cascading. If you set only a Russian description and call getMyDescription({ language_code: "ru" }), you get it. Any other language code returns the default (or "" if the default is also unset).
• Language codes must be ISO 639-1. Valid examples: "en", "ru", "de". An empty string "" reads the language-agnostic default.
• Descriptions are shown in the empty chat screen. The text appears in the Telegram UI when a user opens a chat with the bot for the first time and no messages have been sent yet.
• Use setMyDescription to update it. Read it first with getMyDescription if you want to diff before writing.

See Also

• BotDescription — return type containing the description field
• setMyDescription — update the bot's description for a locale
• getMyName — get the bot's display name
• getMyShortDescription — get the bot's short description shown on the profile page
• getMe — get the bot's identity and capability flags