Bot Cousin: Park Your Bot Name

You come up with a great bot name, create the bot through Telegram's official bot helper and move on to other things. Months pass and the bot stays silent.

An account like that looks abandoned, and some day someone may want that name. Bot Cousin offers to park the bot with it so it does not sit dead. The service has almost 400 thousand users.

The motto in the description is plain: park your bot here instead of leaving it dead.

Why anyone needs a bot sitter

Each bot username in Telegram is taken by one owner only, and good short ones go fast. Developers often reserve a name early, before the project is ready. The bot exists but does nothing.

Telegram support can release a username if a bot is clearly abandoned and hand it to someone else. That is the weak spot of reserving: an empty bot is easy to lose. 🔑

How Bot Cousin works

The description points to a simple idea. You reserve a bot and Bot Cousin handles its liveliness: the bot reacts when someone writes to it and does not look dead. Bot Cousin itself has one command.

• /start. Launches the bot and pings it, which confirms that it responds.

The description mentions no settings, plans or long menus. It is a narrow utility for a single job.

What to know before handing over a bot

Giving a bot token to a third party is a serious step. A token gives full control over a bot: it can read messages, send messages as the bot and change its behavior.

• A token is a password. Do not send it unless you trust the recipient.
• Use a spare bot. Register a new one for experiments rather than handing over a working project.
• Know how to revoke a token. The official bot helper can issue a new one, and the old one stops working.
• Keep a record. Write down which bots are parked where.

Step by step

1. Create a bot through the official bot helper and pick the name you want.
2. Open Bot Cousin and press /start.
3. Follow the bot's prompts to reserve the name.
4. If you no longer need the reservation, regenerate the token with the official helper.

Before sending a token, read the prompts and make sure you understand what you are doing. 🛡️

The alternative: run the bot yourself

The most reliable way to keep a name is to run the bot yourself. Even a simple script that answers /start shows the account is alive. A free hosting plan or a small server is enough for it.

If the project is still in the planning stage, a short reply such as "Coming soon" will do. The name stays yours and you do not hand your token to anyone. ⚙️