Move your bot in from another host

What to bring

• Your bot's code: a GitHub repository, its folder or a zip.
• package.json with its lockfile, such as package-lock.json.
• The names and values of your variables, the token included.
• The data files your bot wrote, such as bot.sqlite or data.json.

Stop the old copy first

On Telegram, one token runs only one bot at a time: the second copy gets 409 Conflict. On Discord, both copies connect and both answer, so every reply comes twice. Stop your bot on the old host before the first deployment here, or give it a new token.

What you don't need here

• Keep-alive: a small web server such as keep_alive.js or an Express route, visited by a service such as UptimeRobot. We keep your bot running without it, and nothing outside reaches your bot unless you turn on its web address or a port.
• pm2, nodemon and forever: start your bot directly, such as node index.js. We restart it ourselves after a crash, and we only see the crash when your bot's own process stops.
• Telegram webhooks: polling is enough, such as bot.start() in grammY, as our template does. To use a webhook, turn on the web address, as the guide "Your bot's web address and ports" shows.

Move your variables

Put every value from your .env file, your Replit Secrets or your old host's variables into your bot's variables under the same name, and mark the secret ones Sensitive. Have a .env file? Paste all of it into the variables box at once.

If your start script runs node --env-file=.env, remove that flag, because the .env file doesn't come with the code.

What we read from your code

We read package.json, the lockfile and a Procfile, never your old host's own settings:

• Heroku and Railway: we run the worker: or bot: line of your Procfile. A web: line isn't read.
• Replit: the .replit file isn't read.
• Discloud: discloud.config isn't read, so if we don't find the MAIN file it names, put that file in your start script.
• A Pterodactyl host: the startup command in its panel isn't read, and you don't need a git pull at start. Link GitHub and turn on Deploy on every push instead.
• A VPS: you don't need systemd or screen, because we start your bot and restart it ourselves.

When we find no way to start your bot, add a start script to package.json, or a serverk.json at the top of your code:

{
  "start": "node src/main.js"
}

The guide "How we install and start a Node project" lists the files we look for, in order.

Bring your data

After the first deployment, upload your data files in the Files tab, to the path your code reads. Keep them out of your repository and out of every upload, so later deployments leave them as they are.