diff --git a/app/bot/sample_updater.go b/app/bot/sample_updater.go
index b986b2f6..bf7191be 100644
--- a/app/bot/sample_updater.go
+++ b/app/bot/sample_updater.go
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@ func (s *SampleUpdater) Reader() (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 
 // Append a message to the file, preventing duplicates
 func (s *SampleUpdater) Append(msg string) error {
+	// if file does not exist, create it
+	if _, err := os.Stat(s.fileName); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		if _, err = os.Create(s.fileName); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create %s: %w", s.fileName, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// check if the message is already in the file
 	fh, err := os.Open(s.fileName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to open %s: %w", s.fileName, err)
@@ -44,6 +52,7 @@ func (s *SampleUpdater) Append(msg string) error {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// append the message to the file
 	fh, err = os.OpenFile(s.fileName, os.O_APPEND|os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0o644) //nolint:gosec // keep it readable by all
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to open %s: %w", s.fileName, err)
diff --git a/app/bot/sample_updater_test.go b/app/bot/sample_updater_test.go
index f1c641b3..a82ea4cd 100644
--- a/app/bot/sample_updater_test.go
+++ b/app/bot/sample_updater_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package bot
 import (
 	"io"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -72,6 +73,24 @@ func TestSampleUpdater(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, "Test message second line third line\n", string(content))
 	})
 
+	t.Run("no file", func(t *testing.T) {
+		dir := os.TempDir()
+		file := filepath.Join(dir, "non-existent-samples.txt")
+		defer os.Remove(file)
+
+		updater := NewSampleUpdater(file)
+		err := updater.Append("Test message")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		reader, err := updater.Reader()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		defer reader.Close()
+
+		content, err := io.ReadAll(reader)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, "Test message\n", string(content))
+	})
+
 	t.Run("unhappy path", func(t *testing.T) {
 		updater := NewSampleUpdater("/tmp/non-existent/samples.txt")
 		err := updater.Append("Test message")