telegram-download-chat

telegram-download-chat

SCOPE: This skill drives the telegram-download-chat CLI to download, convert, filter, and export Telegram chats on the user's behalf. It ONLY invokes the CLI and reports the resulting output paths. It does NOT modify project source code, and does NOT use the GUI, MCP server, or web interface.

Steps

Step 0 — Verify the CLI is available

Run which telegram-download-chat. If found, use that command directly. If not found, try python -m telegram_download_chat --version. If neither works, the tool is not installed — tell the user so and proactively offer to install it, using the methods documented in the project README.md ("Installation" section):

• pip install telegram-download-chat (recommended persistent install)
• uvx telegram-download-chat <args> (run without installing)
• uv tool install telegram-download-chat (persistent install via uv)
• pip install -e ".[dev,gui]" from a checkout of this repo (development)

Do not install anything without the user's confirmation.

Step 1 — Verify credentials

Confirm api_id and api_hash are present without exposing their values. --show-config prints the full config file contents, including the api_hash secret, so prefer a redacted presence check that prints no values:

• Find the config path (default OS location, or the -c/--config value), then run a quiet check that requires a numeric api_id (it is cast with int() before connecting) and a real api_hash (exactly 32 hex chars from my.telegram.org). The api_hash check anchors on exactly 32 hex chars with balanced quoting (both ", both ', or none) so it rejects empty (""/''), null/~, the shipped YOUR_API_HASH placeholder, and short/garbage values like api_hash: a — all of which would fail the real auth check later. E.g. grep -qE '^\s*api_id:\s*("[0-9]+"|'"'"'[0-9]+'"'"'|[0-9]+)\s*$' <config> && grep -qiE '^\s*api_hash:\s*("[0-9a-f]{32}"|'"'"'[0-9a-f]{32}'"'"'|[0-9a-f]{32})\s*$' <config> && ! grep -qE 'YOUR_API_(ID|HASH)' <config> && echo present. A bare key-presence check is not enough — a fresh config has both keys but with placeholder/empty values, and the next connection will fail.
• If you do run --show-config (e.g. just to learn the path), do NOT echo, repeat, or paste the api_hash value back into your response.

These come from https://my.telegram.org — NEVER invent them. If missing, tell the user to add them to the config file (its location is shown by --show-config).

The first live download triggers an interactive Telegram login (phone number, then the login code, optionally a 2FA password). This MUST run in a real, attachable terminal — use a foreground ! <cmd> invocation so the user can type the code. Only --show-config and --help run fully offline; convert mode (.json input) also opens a Telegram connection (it requires api_id/api_hash, and with no saved session it can start the same interactive login), so treat convert as needing credentials and a real terminal too.

Step 2 — Detect the mode from the target

The positional CHAT argument selects the mode (see cli/__init__.py):

• ends with .json → convert an existing export to TXT/HTML/PDF. The CLI still opens a Telegram connection for convert (it needs api_id/api_hash, and with no saved session can start an interactive login), so it is not offline/unattended — only --show-config/--help run with no connection.
• starts with folder: (e.g. folder:Work) → download every chat in that Telegram folder (live).
• username (@name or name), phone number, numeric id, or channel id (-100…) → live download of that chat.
• comma-separated list of any of the above → processed one by one.
• absent, or gui → GUI mode. Out of scope for this skill; mention only and do not launch it.

Step 3 — Build the command from intent

Map the user's request to flags (full reference below). Common building blocks: -o/--output, -l/--limit, date range (--max-date/--from, --min-date/--until, --last-days), --user, --keywords, --subchat, --split, --media, --html, --pdf. Add --results-json whenever you need to parse the outcome programmatically.

Step 4 — Run it

• --show-config and --help: run in the foreground normally (no connection).
• Convert mode (.json input) and short capped downloads (e.g. small -l): run in the foreground normally only when credentials and a saved session already exist — both still open a Telegram connection. With no saved session, convert can start the same interactive login, so run it via the attachable-terminal path below.
• Any run that may need interactive login (first live download, or convert/live with no saved session): run only as a foreground ! <cmd> in a real, attachable terminal so the user can type the phone number, login code, and optional 2FA password. Never background these — a background process can't receive login input and will hang.
• Large/long-running downloads where a saved session already exists (no login prompt possible): run as a foreground ! <cmd> to watch progress, or in the background. Confirm scope first (see Constraints).

Step 5 — Report results

Prefer --results-json: it prints {"results": [ ... ]}, where each entry has chat_id, chat_title, chat_type, messages (count), from/to, result_json, result_txt, matched keywords, and — when produced — result_topics, result_attachments, result_html, result_pdf (each a path, or a list of paths when --split is used). Parse it and report the concrete output paths to the user. Output is organized per-chat under the downloads dir: <chat_name>/messages.json, messages.txt, optionally messages.html/messages.pdf, and attachments/.

CLI reference

Source of truth: src/telegram_download_chat/cli/arguments.py. Run telegram-download-chat --help to confirm the live flag set.

Positional argument

• CHAT (optional) — the target. Accepts:
  • username (@name or name), phone number, numeric id, or channel id (-100…) → live download;
  • a path ending in .json → convert an existing export (still opens a Telegram connection — needs credentials, see Step 1/2);
  • folder:Name (e.g. folder:Work) → every chat in that Telegram folder;
  • a comma-separated list of any of the above → processed one by one (the list is split on , and trimmed).
  • omitted → GUI mode (out of scope for this skill).

Output

• -o, --output — output file path (default: <chat_name>.json).
• --split {month,year,topics} — split output by month, by year, or by forum topic (one <chat>/<topic_slug>/ subdirectory per topic). Note: topics only works on a live download of a forum/supergroup; on a .json convert it silently falls back to year-bucketing.
• --overwrite — replace existing output files instead of resuming.
• --results-json — print a results summary as JSON to stdout (preferred machine-readable output).

Limits & range

• -l, --limit — maximum number of messages to download (default: 0 = no limit).
• --since-id — start downloading after the specified message ID.
• --max-date, --from — only messages on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Also the base date for --last-days.
• --min-date, --until — only messages on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
• --last-days — number of days back from --max-date (or today) to download.

Filtering

• --user — sender identifier (12345 or user12345). Caveat: it only actually filters when converting a Telegram Desktop archive export (a JSON dict containing about/chats). For a normal message-list JSON it does NOT filter — it only tags the output filename (..._user_<id>.txt). Live downloads ignore it entirely. To restrict a normal export to one sender, filter the JSON yourself.
• --keywords — comma-separated keywords to search in messages.
• --subchat — filter to a subchat/reply thread by message id or URL. Works on JSON→TXT conversion, and on live downloads when combined with -o/--output (without -o, an existing .json input is required).
• --subchat-name — name for the subchat directory (default: subchat_<subchat_id>).

Sort

• --sort {asc,desc} — sort messages by date (default: asc).

Media

• --media — download all media attachments (images, videos, audio, documents, etc.).
• --no-fast-download — disable parallel multi-connection media downloads (use single-stream Telethon downloader).
• --media-placeholders — insert media type indicators (e.g. [photo], [file=name.pdf]) in TXT output.

Export

• --html — export chat as a Telegram-style HTML file.
• --html-media-links — show clickable file path captions under each media element in HTML export.
• --pdf — export chat as a PDF document.

Config & debug

• -c, --config — path to config file (default: OS-specific location).
• --show-config — show the current configuration file location and contents, then exit.
• --debug — enable debug logging.
• --preset — name of a preset from config to use.
• --proxy-url — proxy URL for the Telegram connection (e.g. socks5://host:1080, http://host:8080).

Info

• -v, --version — print version and exit.
• -h, --help — show help and exit.

Scenarios

Each scenario lists a runnable command and the situation it fits. Replace @chat / paths with the user's actual target.

• Basic download — "download this chat": telegram-download-chat @chat
• Limited count + custom output — "grab the last 100 messages into report.json": telegram-download-chat @chat -l 100 -o report.json
• Date range — "messages between two dates": telegram-download-chat @chat --min-date 2025-01-01 --max-date 2025-03-31
• Recent window — "the last week of messages": telegram-download-chat @chat --last-days 7
• Split by month + media — "download everything, split per month, with attachments": telegram-download-chat @chat --split month --media
• Keyword search + machine-readable result — "find messages mentioning 'invoice' and give me the paths": telegram-download-chat @chat --keywords invoice,payment --results-json
• JSON → TXT conversion with sort — "convert this export, newest first": telegram-download-chat ./chat/messages.json --sort desc (Adding --user user12345 only filters a Telegram Desktop archive export; for a normal message-list JSON it just tags the filename — see the --user caveat above.)
• Subchat extraction from JSON — "pull the reply thread under this message out of the export": telegram-download-chat ./chat/messages.json --subchat https://t.me/c/123456/789 --subchat-name design-thread
• Folder download — "download every chat in my Work folder": telegram-download-chat folder:Work
• HTML / PDF export — "export this chat as a readable HTML page and a PDF": telegram-download-chat @chat --html --pdf
• Proxy + preset — "use my socks proxy and the 'archive' preset": telegram-download-chat @chat --proxy-url socks5://127.0.0.1:1080 --preset archive

Constraints — when to stop and ask

• Confirm before large/long downloads. If the user gives no -l/--limit and no date range on a live chat, the download is unbounded. Confirm scope (or suggest a --last-days / -l cap) before starting.
• Never invent api_id / api_hash. They come only from https://my.telegram.org. If --show-config shows them missing, ask the user to add them — do not guess.
• Live login needs a real terminal. The first live download prompts for phone number, login code, and optional 2FA password. Run it as a foreground ! <cmd> so the user can type the code; never assume it can run fully unattended.
• Respect a user-set --proxy-url / proxy config. Don't strip or override the proxy the user configured.
• Don't modify project source code. This skill only invokes the CLI and reports output paths. For GUI / MCP / web usage, defer — they are out of scope here.