How to send a request from the site directly to the manager in Telegram: PHP + inline buttons

When a visitor submits a form, the lead should reach a sales manager within seconds. Email is slow; a CRM often needs manual triage. A site → PHP → Telegram flow with an inline "Take lead" button is faster: the manager opens the chat and claims the lead in one tap.

Architecture

The HTML form POSTs to your endpoint. PHP generates a short lead_id, inserts a row into leads, and calls sendMessage with an inline_keyboard into the managers chat. On tap, the bot receives a callback_query and updates status idempotently.

Telegram limit: callback_data must be at most 64 bytes. Put a compact id in the button, not a JSON blob with name and phone.

leads table

CREATE TABLE leads (
    id           BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    lead_id      CHAR(14) NOT NULL,
    name         VARCHAR(120) NOT NULL,
    phone        VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
    email        VARCHAR(190) NULL,
    message      TEXT NULL,
    status       ENUM('new','taken','closed') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'new',
    taken_by     BIGINT NULL,
    taken_at     DATETIME NULL,
    created_at   DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    UNIQUE KEY uq_lead_id (lead_id),
    KEY idx_status (status)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

Generating lead_id

bin2hex(random_bytes(7)) yields 14 hex characters: unpredictable and small enough for take: + id inside the 64-byte cap.

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

function newLeadId(): string
{
    return bin2hex(random_bytes(7)); // 14 chars, e.g. a3f8b2c1d9e04f
}

// callback_data = "take:" + lead_id  →  5 + 14 = 19 bytes (< 64)
function takeCallbackData(string $leadId): string
{
    $data = 'take:' . $leadId;
    if (strlen($data) > 64) {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException('callback_data too long');
    }
    return $data;
}

Form handler and sendMessage

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8');

$token       = getenv('TG_BOT_TOKEN') ?: '';
$managerChat = getenv('TG_MANAGER_CHAT_ID') ?: '';
if ($token === '' || $managerChat === '') {
    http_response_code(500);
    echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'bot not configured']);
    exit;
}

$input = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input') ?: '{}', true) ?: $_POST;
$name  = trim((string) ($input['name'] ?? ''));
$phone = trim((string) ($input['phone'] ?? ''));
$email = trim((string) ($input['email'] ?? ''));
$msg   = trim((string) ($input['message'] ?? ''));

if ($name === '' || $phone === '') {
    http_response_code(422);
    echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'name and phone required']);
    exit;
}

$pdo = new PDO(
    getenv('DSN'),
    getenv('DB_USER'),
    getenv('DB_PASS'),
    [PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION]
);

$leadId = newLeadId();
$pdo->prepare(
    'INSERT INTO leads (lead_id, name, phone, email, message)
     VALUES (:lead_id, :name, :phone, :email, :message)'
)->execute([
    ':lead_id' => $leadId,
    ':name'    => $name,
    ':phone'   => $phone,
    ':email'   => $email !== '' ? $email : null,
    ':message' => $msg !== '' ? $msg : null,
]);

$text = "<b>New lead</b>\n"
    . 'ID: <code>' . htmlspecialchars($leadId) . "</code>\n"
    . 'Name: ' . htmlspecialchars($name) . "\n"
    . 'Phone: ' . htmlspecialchars($phone);

$keyboard = [
    'inline_keyboard' => [[
        [
            'text'          => 'Take lead',
            'callback_data' => takeCallbackData($leadId),
        ],
    ]],
];

$ch = curl_init("https://api.telegram.org/bot{$token}/sendMessage");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_POST           => true,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT => 5,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 10,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => [
        'chat_id'      => $managerChat,
        'text'         => $text,
        'parse_mode'   => 'HTML',
        'reply_markup' => json_encode($keyboard, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE),
    ],
]);
$body = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
$decoded = json_decode((string) $body, true);

if (empty($decoded['ok'])) {
    http_response_code(502);
    echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'telegram send failed']);
    exit;
}

echo json_encode(['ok' => true, 'lead_id' => $leadId]);

callback_query: idempotent UPDATE

Two managers may tap at once. An atomic UPDATE … WHERE status='new' makes only the first click win.

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

function handleCallbackQuery(PDO $pdo, string $token, array $cq): void
{
    $data   = (string) ($cq['data'] ?? '');
    $fromId = (int) ($cq['from']['id'] ?? 0);
    $cqId   = (string) ($cq['id'] ?? '');

    if (!preg_match('/^take:([a-f0-9]{14})$/', $data, $m)) {
        answerCallback($token, $cqId, 'Unknown button');
        return;
    }
    $leadId = $m[1];

    $stmt = $pdo->prepare(
        "UPDATE leads
         SET status = 'taken', taken_by = :uid, taken_at = NOW()
         WHERE lead_id = :lead_id AND status = 'new'"
    );
    $stmt->execute([':uid' => $fromId, ':lead_id' => $leadId]);

    if ($stmt->rowCount() === 0) {
        answerCallback($token, $cqId, 'Lead already taken or not found');
        return;
    }

    $lead = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM leads WHERE lead_id = ?');
    $lead->execute([$leadId]);
    $row = $lead->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

    answerCallback($token, $cqId, 'Lead assigned to you');

    $detail = "Lead <code>{$leadId}</code>\n"
        . "Name: {$row['name']}\nPhone: {$row['phone']}\n"
        . ($row['email'] ? "Email: {$row['email']}\n" : '')
        . ($row['message'] ? "Message: {$row['message']}" : '');

    tgSend($token, [
        'chat_id'    => $fromId,
        'text'       => $detail,
        'parse_mode' => 'HTML',
    ]);
}

function answerCallback(string $token, string $callbackQueryId, string $text): void
{
    tgSend($token, [
        'callback_query_id' => $callbackQueryId,
        'text'              => $text,
        'show_alert'        => false,
    ], 'answerCallbackQuery');
}

function tgSend(string $token, array $params, string $method = 'sendMessage'): void
{
    $ch = curl_init("https://api.telegram.org/bot{$token}/{$method}");
    curl_setopt_array($ch, [
        CURLOPT_POST           => true,
        CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
        CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 10,
        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => $params,
    ]);
    curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
}

Why this beats email routing

• Managers see the lead in a familiar chat within 1–2 seconds.
• Double-taps are safe thanks to the SQL status guard.
• Customer data lives in MySQL, not inside the 64-byte button payload.

Related: inline keyboards in PHP and Yii2 webhook controller.

Ship this funnel faster with a ready scaffold at botservice.biz.