Telegram MCP Server

Telegram MCP Server

Connect Claude to your Telegram account to read and send messages.

Features

Most chats, users, and groups can be referenced by numeric id, @username, phone number, t.me link, or the literal "me" — the server resolves them for you (and warms Telethon's entity cache automatically so raw ids work too).

Available Tools

Reading

• get_me – Info about the authenticated account
• get_chats – Paginated list of chats (names, ids, unread counts, pinned state); supports archived chats
• get_messages – Paginated message history for a chat (marks it read); includes media and reaction info
• search_messages – Search by text, globally or within a single chat
• get_pinned_messages – List pinned messages in a chat
• get_entity_info – Look up a user/group/channel by id, username, phone, or link
• get_participants – List members of a group or channel

Sending & editing

• send_message – Send text (Markdown), optionally as a reply
• edit_message – Edit a message you sent
• delete_messages – Delete messages (for everyone or just you)
• forward_messages – Forward messages between chats
• send_reaction – Add or clear an emoji reaction
• pin_message / unpin_message – Pin or unpin messages
• mark_messages_read – Mark a chat's unread messages as read

Media

• send_file – Send a photo, video, document, or voice note from disk
• download_media – Download a message's attached media to disk

Contacts & users

• get_contacts – List saved contacts
• add_contact / delete_contact – Manage contacts
• block_user / unblock_user – Block management

Chat & channel management

• create_group – Create a basic group
• create_channel – Create a channel or supergroup
• join_chat / leave_chat – Join (by username or invite link) or leave
• archive_chat – Archive / unarchive a chat
• mute_chat – Mute / unmute notifications

Style-aware drafting

• get_conversation_context – Recent messages + your convostyle.txt guide so Claude can match your texting style

Setup Guide

Step 1: Get Telegram API Credentials

1. Go to https://my.telegram.org/apps
2. Log in and create an application
3. Save your API ID and API Hash

Step 2: Install

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/alexandertsai/mcp-telegram
cd mcp-telegram

# Set up Python environment
pip install uv
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
uv sync

Step 3: Configure

# Copy the example file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env and add your API credentials:
# TELEGRAM_API_ID=your_api_id_here
# TELEGRAM_API_HASH=your_api_hash_here

Step 4: Authenticate

From the repository root:

uv run telegram-auth

Follow the prompts:

• Enter your phone number (with country code, e.g., +1234567890)
• Enter the code sent to your Telegram
• Enter your 2FA password if you have one

This writes TELEGRAM_SESSION_STRING to your .env.

Step 5: Add to Claude Desktop

Find your Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this configuration (replace the path with your clone's location):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "telegram": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/mcp-telegram", "run", "telegram-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

If uv isn't on Claude Desktop's PATH, use its absolute path (which uv). Alternatively, point command at your venv's Python and use ["-m", "mcp_telegram"] as the args, with cwd set to the repo root.

Restart Claude Desktop.

Usage

After setup, you can ask Claude to:

• "Check my Telegram messages"
• "Send a message to [contact name]"
• "What are my unread chats?"
• "Reply to the last message from [contact name]"

Style Guide (Optional)

Create src/mcp_telegram/convostyle.txt to help Claude match your texting style:

I text casually with friends, formally with work contacts.
I use emojis sparingly and prefer short messages.

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

If authentication fails:

1. Check your API credentials in .env
2. Remove the TELEGRAM_SESSION_STRING line from .env
3. Run uv run telegram-auth again

Common Errors

• "Please set TELEGRAM_API_ID and TELEGRAM_API_HASH": Missing .env file or credentials
• "Session string is invalid or expired": Re-run authentication
• 2FA password not showing: This is normal - keep typing

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Claude Desktop
• Telegram account

License

Apache 2.0