/tg-archive

A tool for exporting Telegram group chats into static websites to preserve chat history like mailing list archives.

Primary LanguagePythonMIT LicenseMIT

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tg-archive is a tool for exporting Telegram group chats into static websites, preserving chat history like mailing list archives.

Preview

The @fossunited Telegram group archive.

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How it works

tg-archive uses the Telethon Telegram API client to periodically sync messages from a group to a local SQLite database (file), downloading only new messages since the last sync. It then generates a static archive website of messages to be published anywhere.

Features

  • Periodically sync Telegram group messages to a local DB.
  • Download user avatars locally.
  • Download and embed media (files, documents, photos).
  • Renders poll results.
  • Use emoji alternatives in place of stickers.
  • Single file Jinja HTML template for generating the static site.
  • Year / Month / Day indexes with deep linking across pages.
  • "In reply to" on replies with links to parent messages across pages.
  • RSS / Atom feed of recent messages.

Install

  • Get Telegram API credentials. Normal user account API and not the Bot API.
  • Install with pip3 install tg-archive (tested with Python 3.8.6).

Usage

  1. tg-archive --new --path=mysite (creates a new site. cd into mysite and edit config.yaml).
  2. tg-archive --sync (syncs data into data.sqlite). Note: First time connection will prompt for your phone number + a Telegram auth code sent to the app. On successful auth, a session.session file is created. DO NOT SHARE this session file publicly as it contains the API autorization for your account.
  3. tg-archive --build (builds the static site into the site directory, which can be published)

Customization

Edit the generated template.html and static assets in the ./static directory to customize the site.

Note

  • The sync can be stopped (Ctrl+C) any time to be resumed later.
  • Setup a cron job to periodically sync messages and re-publish the archive.
  • Downloading large media files and long message history from large groups continuously may run into Telegram API's rate limits. Watch the debug output.

Licensed under the MIT license.