Starting from February 5, 2024, this method of creating bots is no longer valid: Rakuten has canceled the ability to create bots for free, and now working with the API requires verification under a commercial model. More details [here](https://help.viber.com/hc/en-us/articles/15247629658525-Bot-commercial-model)
For Viber, there are two REST APIs: one for working with channels and the other for chatbots. In both cases, the main parameters are **Token** and **UserID**
1. Go to the link [https://partners.viber.com/account/create-bot-account](https://partners.viber.com/account/create-bot-account) and authorize yourself with your phone number linked to Viber
5. You cannot start a conversation with the bot right now. First, you need to set up a webhook. See Set Webhook
6. After launch, the **User ID** will be the ID of the specific person engaging with the bot. You can obtain it from processing incoming messages via Webhook
**Important**: The ID of the same user in chat and channel is different. You cannot use the ID obtained from a message to the bot to invoke channel management methods and vice versa