Telegram bot to keep track of debts - remember who still owes you money easily
Check out the official instance if all you want is to use this bot
The bot tries its best to understand english sentences. So if you borrowed money to telegram user @bob14, you can register this transaction by saying
I gave 15 to bob14 for pizza
or
bob14 owes me 40 for groceries
When @bob14 returns the money, simply register another transaction:
bob14 gave me 15 for the pizza
Or alternatively, if @bob14 just gave you some cash to cancel all their debts, use:
bob14 gave me 55 in cash
To see an overview of all the debts between you and others, use the \debts command.
If you want to view the transaction history between you and another user, you can use the \history command, e.g., \history bob14
If you have friends with really long or hard-to-type telegram names, you can register an alias for them:
\alias luke = luke_at_my_really_long_username
The debt bot doesn't know every person on telegram. If you want to enter a transaction with a friend who has never used the debt bot before, you will have to ask them to register first.
Registering is super easy: when you search for the bot on Telegram and click the "start" button, you're automatically registered.
In case that doesn't work, you can also try the \register command. Once your friend is registered, you should be able to enter transactions with them.
Use their full name (first and last name) as they have provided it to telegram. The debt bot will try its best to figure out who you're referring to, and give you a list of users to choose from.
However, if someone shares the exact same name as your friend, you'll have no way of telling which one's the correct user. In that case, maybe just ask your friend
to create a username? If they do, they'll have to \register again, otherwise the debt bot won't learn about their fancy new username.
You may have noticed that the amounts you owe and lend do not have any currency information - it's just a number. This was a deliberate choice to keep the system simple and flexible. I recommend you always enter all amounts in the currency you use every day - whether that's dollars, euros, pesos, or paper clips. If you at some point use a different currency, you can convert it before entering it into the bot.
If you and your friends use different currencies, or you use different currencies very often, then this bot is not good enough for you. Sorry!
But you're here on my Github, so perhaps you wanted to run your own debt bot instance?
Feel free! Simply install the required python packages from requirements.txt and then create a config file for your bot.
The config file looks like this:
token: "123456789:ThisIsYourTelegramBotSecretToken1234"
db: "debts.db"
The db entry is the path of the SQLite database in which debt information is stored. Provide a file name, and a sqlite file will automatically be created.