# Getting started

Source: https://core.telegram.org/bots/serverless#getting-started

[Documentation index](../llms.txt)

This walkthrough takes you from an empty folder to a live bot that answers messages and stores data. It assumes you have [Node.js](https://nodejs.org) 18 or newer installed and a bot registered with [@BotFather](https://t.me/BotFather). By the end you will have used every command you need day to day: `push`, `migrate`, `run`, and `status`.

> **Before anything else, switch Serverless on.** In [@BotFather](https://t.me/BotFather), open your bot → **Serverless** and turn it on. That turns the feature on for this bot and unlocks its CLI access token, handlers, library, and database.

## In this section

- [1. Create a project](1-create-a-project.md)
- [2. Link your bot](2-link-your-bot.md)
- [3. Look around](3-look-around.md)
- [4. Deploy](4-deploy.md)
- [5. Add a database table](5-add-a-database-table.md)
- [6. Store and read data](6-store-and-read-data.md)
- [7. Test without deploying](7-test-without-deploying.md)
- [8. Keep in sync](8-keep-in-sync.md)