Working Behind a Proxy

TelegramBotClient allows you to use a proxy for Bot API connections. This guide covers using three different proxy solutions.

• HTTP Proxy
• SOCKS5 Proxy
• SOCKS5 Proxy over Tor (Testing Only)

If you are in a country, such as Iran, where HTTP and SOCKS proxy connections to Telegram servers are blocked, consider using a VPN, using Tor Network, or hosting your bot in other jurisdictions.

HTTP Proxy

You can configure HttpClient with WebProxy and pass it to the Bot client.

// using System.Net;
// using System.Net.Http;

WebProxy webProxy = new (Host: "https://example.org", Port: 8080)
{
    // Credentials if needed:
    Credentials = new NetworkCredential("USERNAME", "PASSWORD")
};
HttpClient httpClient = new (
    new HttpClientHandler { Proxy = webProxy, UseProxy = true, }
);

var bot = new TelegramBotClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN", httpClient);

SOCKS5 Proxy

As of .NET 6, SocketsHttpHandler is able to use Socks4, Socks4a and Socks5 proxies!

// using System.Net;
// using System.Net.Http;

WebProxy proxy = new ("socks5://127.0.0.1:9050")
{
    Credentials = new NetworkCredential("USERNAME", "PASSWORD")
};
HttpClient httpClient = new (
    new SocketsHttpHandler { Proxy = proxy, UseProxy = true, }
);

var bot = new TelegramBotClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN", httpClient);

SOCKS5 Proxy over Tor

Warning: Use for Testing only!

Do not use this method in a production environment as it has high network latency and poor bandwidth.

Using Tor, a developer can avoid network restrictions while debugging and testing the code before a production release.

1. Install Tor Browser

2. Open the torcc file with a text editor (Found in Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Tor)

3. Add the following lines: (configurations are described below)

   EntryNodes {NL}
   ExitNodes {NL}
   StrictNodes 1
   SocksPort 127.0.0.1:9050
   

4. Look at the Socks5 proxy example above.

5. Start the Tor Browser

Usage:

// using System.Net;
// using System.Net.Http;

WebProxy proxy = new ("socks5://127.0.0.1:9050");

HttpClient httpClient = new (
    new SocketsHttpHandler { Proxy = proxy, UseProxy = true }
);

var bot = new TelegramBotClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN", httpClient);

Note that Tor has to be active at all times for the bot to work.

Configurations in torcc

EntryNodes {NL}
ExitNodes {NL}
StrictNodes 1

These three lines make sure you use nodes from the Netherlands as much as possible to reduce latency.

SocksPort 127.0.0.1:9050

This line tells tor to listen on port 9050 for any socks connections. You can change the port to anything you want (9050 is just the default), only make sure to use the same port in your code.