drumsergio/telegram-archive repository overview

Telegram Archive backs up one or more Telegram accounts to a machine you host. It runs in Docker or from pip, and saves messages, media, edits and deletions to SQLite or PostgreSQL on your own disk. A web viewer, which never talks to Telegram, lets you read and search what it saved.

Telegram Desktop's own export is a one-off file with no earlier versions and no deleted messages; this runs on a schedule, keeps earlier versions and deleted messages, and can import that export too.

⁠Features

• Saves new messages, their media, edits and reactions the moment they happen, and runs a daily full pass that fetches only what is new to fill in anything the live connection missed.
• Keeps every edit with its earlier text, and keeps every deleted message, marked as deleted, with its text and media.
• Saves photos, videos, voice notes, stickers, documents and link previews once each, however many chats share them, and skips files over a size you set.
• Reads like Telegram: chats, forum topics, folders, archived chats, reactions, pinned messages, polls and shared media, with search across every chat.
• Shows what Telegram no longer does: a What changed feed of deletions, edits and new transcripts, and the earlier profile photos of every chat.
• Backs up several accounts into one archive, and imports Telegram Desktop exports.
• Turns voice messages into searchable text through a transcription server you run or rent.
• Gives other people a login to chosen chats or a share link that opens one chat, and sends browser notifications for new messages.
• Twelve themes, including one that follows the system light or dark setting, on a viewer that works on a phone.
• Stays yours: SQLite or PostgreSQL on your disk, read-only containers with every capability dropped, for amd64 and arm64, or a plain pip install.

⁠Quick start

You need Docker Compose, and an api_id and api_hash for your account from my.telegram.org/apps⁠.

curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GeiserX/Telegram-Archive/main/docker-compose.yml
cat > .env <<'EOF'
TELEGRAM_API_ID=12345678
TELEGRAM_API_HASH=0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef
TELEGRAM_PHONE=+15551234567
VIEWER_USERNAME=admin
VIEWER_PASSWORD=choose-a-long-password
VIEWER_TIMEZONE=Europe/London
EOF
mkdir -p data && sudo chown -R 1000:1000 data
docker compose run --rm telegram-backup python -m telegram_archive auth
docker compose up -d   # drumsergio/telegram-archive:9.2.1 and drumsergio/telegram-archive-viewer:9.2.1

auth asks for the code Telegram sends you, and for your two-step password if you have one. Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000⁠, sign in with the viewer username and password, and watch the first backup fill the chat list. Run with Docker⁠ has every step, with the Podman and Colima notes, and Install from PyPI⁠ runs the same thing from pip install telegram-archive.

⁠Documentation

The full documentation is at geiserx.github.io/Telegram-Archive⁠.

• Get started: Run with Docker⁠, Log in to Telegram⁠, Your first backup⁠, Install from PyPI⁠
• Configuration: Choosing chats⁠, Media downloads⁠, Schedule and backup tuning⁠, Multiple accounts⁠, Real-time listener⁠, Event webhook⁠, Voice transcription⁠, SQLite and PostgreSQL⁠
• Viewer: Using the viewer⁠, Logins, viewer accounts and share links⁠, Themes and wallpaper⁠, Live updates and notifications⁠, Exposing the viewer safely⁠
• Operations: Upgrading⁠, Backing up the archive⁠, Import and maintenance tasks⁠, Monitoring and troubleshooting⁠
• Reference: Glossary⁠, Environment variables⁠, Command line and Python API⁠, HTTP API⁠
• Development⁠ and the Roadmap⁠

Release notes are in the changelog⁠. Open an issue⁠ for bugs and questions; the troubleshooting page⁠ says what to include. Report security problems through the security policy⁠, never in a public issue.

⁠License

GPL-3.0-or-later⁠. Built on Telethon⁠.