In this article
A bot added to a group does not, by default, receive everything said in it. It gets the messages aimed at it — commands, and messages that mention it by name — and the rest of the conversation goes past without reaching it.
That default is the single most important thing to understand about having bots in a group, because a setting you can change turns it off.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Say what a bot in your group can see.
- check_circle Name the two things that change it.
- check_circle Address a bot without opening the conversation to it.
- check_circle Tell members what is true rather than guessing.
A bot sitting in a group is not the same as a bot listening to a group.
shield Addressed, not ambient
The default arrangement is that a bot hears what is said to it. A message beginning with a command, or one that names the bot, reaches it. Everything else — the argument about the meeting, the photograph somebody sent, the private-feeling chatter that fills a group — does not.
That is worth knowing in both directions. It means the presence of a bot is not, by itself, a reason to be careful about what you say. And it means a bot cannot do anything clever that depends on reading the room, which is why so many of them feel limited: they are, deliberately.
Two things change it. The bot's owner can turn the restriction off for their bot, and an administrator role generally comes with a wider view of what happens in the group. Neither is hidden, and neither is announced to members either.
A bot is in your group. By default, what does it receive?
The default is deliberately narrow: a bot hears what is addressed to it and the ambient conversation goes past. This is why most group bots work through commands rather than by noticing things — not because the developer was lazy, but because the design assumes a bot should not be reading a room it was added to for one job.
Can that be changed?
This is the part people get wrong in the reassuring direction. The narrow default is a default, and the person who built the bot can choose otherwise for their own bot — a decision made on their side, not yours. Combined with administrator powers, a bot can end up seeing a great deal. None of that is sinister; it is simply why "bots cannot read your group" is too strong a statement to repeat to members.
You want to use a bot without opening the conversation to it. What is the best approach?
For anything you are asking on your own behalf — a lookup, a conversion, a piece of information — a private chat with the bot gives you the same answer and involves the group in nothing. It is also better for the group, which does not get a thread of commands. Reserve group membership for bots whose job genuinely requires being in the room.
A member asks whether the bot is reading their messages. What is the honest answer?
The flat reassurance is the answer most admins give and it is not quite true, which matters because somebody will eventually find out. The accurate version is short, does not alarm anybody, and includes the thing that actually determines the answer: who operates the bot. A group where that is known is a group where nobody has to speculate.
task_alt
extension The practical consequences for how you use them
Because a bot only hears what is addressed to it, the interesting design question is how members are supposed to address it. Commands that nobody remembers are the standard failure: a bot with eleven of them will be used for two, and the rest exist only in a help message.
The arrangement that works is a small number of obvious ones, written in the pinned message, and a bot that responds usefully when somebody gets it wrong. Silence in response to a mistyped command is read as the bot being broken, and a member who concludes that stops trying.
It also means a bot cannot notice things for you. If what you want is something spotted automatically — a rule broken, a link posted, a newcomer welcomed — that requires a bot with wider access or administrator powers, which is a real decision rather than a configuration detail.
settings Using one in a group
- Assume it hears what is addressed to it Not the conversation.
- Find out who operates it That is where the messages go.
- Use a private chat for your own questions The group need not be involved.
- Keep it out of the admin list unless it must act The bigger decision.
- Name it in the pinned message With what it is for.
- Answer members accurately The flat reassurance is not true.
This page is about a bot with no powers. The curriculum step is what changes when you give it some: which permissions matter, which should never be granted, and what a compromised bot with admin rights can do to a community.
At a glance
- 1What bots read
By default only messages addressed to them.
- 2Two changes
Privacy mode off or admin rights let them read everything.
- 3Tell the truth
Say who runs the bot and what it can see.
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