How can my friend and I play TF2 against bots?

Here is an instruction on how to create a server and put bots on it:

1. Make sure you have the port 27015 accessible for connections.
   ^{How? Look here.}
2. Open the game console.
   ^{How? Options⇨Keyboard⇨Advanced...⇨Enable developer console. Press ~ / ` to open the console at any time.}
3. Type sv_lan 0 if you want the game to be public, or sv_lan 1 for LAN only.
   ^{Public server is recommended}
4. Type map <mapname>, replacing <mapname> with the name of the map you want to play.
   ^{Or press the [+] to the right of BROWSE SERVERS in main menu instead.}
5. If the server is public and you don't want anyone to intrude, you can set a password:
   Type sv_password <pass>, replacing <pass> with some simple password.
   _{(e.g. sv_password 1234)}
6. Set the bot difficulty: tf_bot_difficulty <x>, where <x> is from 0 (the easiest) to 3.
   ^{(e.g. tf_bot_difficulty 0)}
7. Add bots: tf_bot_add <team> <class>
   <team>: red | blue
   <class>: scout | soldier | pyro | demoman | heavyweapons | engineer | medic | sniper | spy
   ^{(e.g. tf_bot_add blue heavyweapons)}
   To remove all bots: tf_bot_kick all

Here are some ways for your friend to connect. If one fails, try the next one.

• Join the game via Steam.
  ^{In Steam Friends list press ▼ and Join Game.}
• In console: connect <ip>:27015, where <ip> is your (server's) IP address.
  ^{(e.g. connect 11.22.33.44:27015)}
• Try the same thing with your (server's) local IP address (find it in Windows/Linux)

If nothing works, see the step 1 of server creation instruction.

The offline practice probably won't work as that looks like single player.

It actually runs an actual server on your machine that appears to be joinable to everyone in the world with the proper forwarding setup.

The TF2 wiki has a page that lists the commands, AI and supported maps that bots can be used on. You do not need cheats to be on to use this type of bot. But puppet bots do.

So you start the server, join a team, say RED. Then type into the console tf_bot_add blue

Your friend joins and selects team RED too. Then type tf_bot_add 13

You will then have 8 people on both teams.

If you wish to change the difficulty of the bots, before adding the first bot, type tf_bot_difficulty.

Followed by the difficulty as a number: 0 = easy, 3 = expert, default 1 = normal.