Telegram Channel Scraper 📱

A powerful Python script that allows you to scrape messages and media from Telegram channels using the Telethon library. Features include real-time continuous scraping, media downloading, and data export capabilities.

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What's New in v3.0 🎉

QR Code Authentication:

• No phone number required - Login with QR code scanning (still need API credentials)
• Faster authentication - Just scan with your phone after API setup
• Secure login - Recommended authentication method
• 2FA support for both QR and phone methods

Enhanced User Experience:

• Numbered channel selection - Use 1,2,3 instead of full channel IDs
• Multi-channel operations - Add, remove, and scrape multiple channels at once
• Streamlined menu - Cleaner interface with fewer redundant options
• Progress bars for media downloads with visual feedback

Media Download Improvements:

• Fixed file overwriting - Unique naming prevents media files from being overwritten
• 5x concurrent downloads - Increased from 3 to 5 for faster media processing
• Better error handling - Improved retry logic and recovery

Performance & Stability:

• Database optimizations - WAL mode and faster operations
• Hidden warnings - Cleaner output without technical messages
• Better error recovery - More robust handling of network issues

Features 🚀

• QR Code & Phone Authentication - Choose your preferred login method
• Scrape messages from multiple Telegram channels
• Download media files with parallel processing and unique naming
• Real-time continuous scraping
• Export data to JSON and CSV formats
• SQLite database storage with optimized performance
• Resume capability (saves progress)
• Interactive menu with numbered channel selection
• Progress tracking with visual progress bars

Prerequisites 📋

Before running the script, you'll need:

• Python 3.7 or higher
• Telegram account
• API credentials from Telegram

Required Python packages

pip install -r requirements.txt

Getting Telegram API Credentials 🔑

1. Visit https://my.telegram.org/auth
2. Log in with your phone number
3. Click on "API development tools"
4. Fill in the form:
5. App title: Your app name
6. Short name: Your app short name
7. Platform: Can be left as "Desktop"
8. Description: Brief description of your app
9. Click "Create application"
10. You'll receive:
11. api_id: A number
12. api_hash: A string of letters and numbers

Keep these credentials safe, you'll need them to run the script!

Setup and Running 🔧

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/unnohwn/telegram-scraper.git
cd telegram-scraper

1. Install requirements:

pip install -r requirements.txt

1. Run the script:

python telegram-scraper.py

1. On first run, you'll be prompted to enter:
2. Your API ID (from my.telegram.org)
3. Your API Hash (from my.telegram.org)
4. Choose authentication method:
   • QR Code (Recommended) - Scan with your phone (no phone number needed)
   • Phone Number - Traditional SMS verification

Usage 📝

The script provides a clean interactive menu:

========================================
           TELEGRAM SCRAPER
========================================
[S] Scrape channels
[C] Continuous scraping  
[M] Media scraping: ON
[L] List & add channels
[R] Remove channels
[E] Export data
[T] Rescrape media
[Q] Quit
========================================

Channel Selection Made Easy 🔢

Instead of typing long channel IDs, use numbers:

Adding Channels:

[1] The News (Chat) (id: -1002116176890)
[2] Python Channel (id: -1001597139842)
[3] The Corner (id: -1002274713954)

Enter: 1,3 (adds channels 1 and 3)

Scraping Channels:

• Single: 1
• Multiple: 1,3,5
• All: all
• Mix formats: 1,-1001597139842,3

Data Storage 💾

Database Structure

Data is stored in SQLite databases, one per channel:

• Location: ./channelname/channelname.db
• Optimized with indexes for fast queries
• WAL mode for better performance

Media Storage 📁

Media files are stored with unique naming:

• Location: ./channelname/media/
• Format: {message_id}-{unique_id}-{original_name}.ext
• No more file overwrites - Each file gets a unique name

Exported Data 📊

Export formats:

1. CSV: ./channelname/channelname.csv
2. JSON: ./channelname/channelname.json

Performance Features ⚙️

• 5 concurrent downloads for faster media processing
• Batch database operations for optimal speed
• Progress bars with real-time feedback
• Resume capability - Continue where you left off
• Memory-efficient exports for large datasets

Error Handling 🛠️

• Automatic retry with exponential backoff
• Rate limit compliance
• Network error recovery
• State preservation during interruptions

Limitations ⚠️

• Respects Telegram's rate limits
• Can only access public channels or channels you're a member of
• Media download size limits apply as per Telegram's restrictions

License 📄

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Disclaimer ⚖️

This tool is for educational purposes only. Make sure to:

• Respect Telegram's Terms of Service
• Obtain necessary permissions before scraping
• Use responsibly and ethically
• Comply with data protection regulations