# Telegram Channel Scraper (`dami_studio/telegram-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public Telegram channels with no login and no API key, via the t.me/s/ web preview. Get posts with text, date, views, author, media, and source links, plus channel meta (title, subscribers). Paginates back through older posts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dami\_studio/telegram-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Dami's Studio](https://apify.com/dami_studio) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News, Integrations
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 post returneds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Telegram Channel Scraper

Scrape **public** Telegram channels with **no login and no API key**, using Telegram's
own server-rendered web preview at `https://t.me/s/<channel>`. No bot token, no phone
number, no MTProto.

### What it does

- Accepts a list of channels in any common form: `durov`, `@durov`, or `https://t.me/durov`.
- Reads the channel header: title, description, and counters (subscribers, photos, videos, links).
- Returns one row per post with text (links and hashtags preserved), date, views, author,
  media info, and any forwarded/source link.
- **Pages back through older posts** automatically via `?before=<id>` until it hits
  `maxItems` or the channel's earliest post.
- Dedupes posts by message id.

Only works for **public channels** that expose a web preview. Private channels, groups,
and channels with the preview disabled will return a `NOT_FOUND` diagnostic row.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `channels` | string[] | `["telegram","durov"]` | Channels to scrape (username, @handle, or t.me link). |
| `maxItems` | integer | `100` | Max posts per channel. |
| `includeChannelInfoRow` | boolean | `true` | Emit one channel summary row before each channel's posts. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | off | **Optional.** The `t.me/s/` preview is a public, no-auth endpoint with no anti-bot, so a proxy is not required and is off by default. Only enable it (Apify Proxy, datacenter is fine) if you hit IP rate limits on high-volume runs. |

### Output

One channel-info row per channel (when enabled), then one row per post:

```json
{
  "ok": true,
  "rowType": "post",
  "channel": "durov",
  "messageId": 505,
  "postUrl": "https://t.me/durov/505",
  "text": "TON is #1 in annual staking rewards…",
  "date": "2026-05-08T17:41:53.000Z",
  "views": "3.76M",
  "author": "Pavel Durov",
  "hasMedia": true,
  "mediaType": "photo",
  "mediaUrl": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/…",
  "link": null,
  "channelTitle": "Pavel Durov",
  "subscribers": "11M"
}
````

`mediaType` is one of `photo`, `video`, `roundvideo`, `voice`, `sticker`, `document`, or `null`.

**Nullable fields:** the preview only exposes what Telegram renders, so several
fields are commonly `null`: `text` (media-only posts), `views` (small/old channels),
`author` (most channels don't sign posts), `mediaType` / `mediaUrl` (text-only posts),
and `link` (posts that aren't forwards and have no link preview). On the channel-info
row, `subscribers`, `photosCount`, `videosCount`, and `linksCount` can be `null` when
the header doesn't show that counter.

### Billing

Charged per **post** row (`post` event). Channel-info rows and diagnostic rows
(`BAD_INPUT`, `NOT_FOUND`, `NO_RESULTS`, network errors) are **not** charged.

### Troubleshooting

- **`NOT_FOUND` / `NO_RESULTS`** — the channel is private, deleted, a group, or has its
  web preview disabled. Only public channels with a working `t.me/s/<name>` page can be scraped.
- **`BAD_INPUT`** — no usable channel was provided. Pass a username, `@handle`, or `t.me` link.
- **`RATE_LIMITED` on large runs** — lower `maxItems` or enable the optional proxy to spread
  requests across IPs.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Public Telegram channels to scrape. Each entry can be a username (durov), an @handle (@durov), or a full link (https://t.me/durov). Only public channels with a web preview at t.me/s/<name> work — private channels and groups do not.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of posts to collect for each channel. The actor pages back through older posts (about 16-20 per page) until it reaches this number or runs out of messages.

## `includeChannelInfoRow` (type: `boolean`):

When on, the actor pushes one summary row per channel (title, subscribers, counts) before its posts. Channel title and subscriber count are also attached to every post row regardless of this setting.

## `notionConnector` (type: `string`):

Optional. Write each post as a page into your Notion when the run finishes. Authorize a Notion connector once in Settings → API & Integrations → MCP connectors, then pick it here. Leave empty to skip (default) — results are always saved to the dataset regardless.

## `notionParentId` (type: `string`):

Optional. The Notion data source ID of the database to write into (only used if a Notion connector is set). Leave empty to create the pages privately in your workspace instead.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. The t.me web preview is a public endpoint with no anti-bot, so a proxy is NOT required and adds no benefit by default. Leave it off unless you hit IP rate limits on high-volume runs, in which case enabling Apify Proxy (datacenter is fine) can help.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "telegram",
    "durov"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "includeChannelInfoRow": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Scraped rows are stored in the default dataset (one row per result). Blocked/empty/error runs return a single uncharged diagnostic row instead.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channels": [
        "telegram",
        "durov"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dami_studio/telegram-channel-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "channels": [
        "telegram",
        "durov",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dami_studio/telegram-channel-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channels": [
    "telegram",
    "durov"
  ]
}' |
apify call dami_studio/telegram-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=dami_studio/telegram-channel-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Telegram Channel Scraper",
        "description": "Scrape public Telegram channels with no login and no API key, via the t.me/s/ web preview. Get posts with text, date, views, author, media, and source links, plus channel meta (title, subscribers). Paginates back through older posts.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "lVPwpBIiyR9RRaapF"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/dami_studio~telegram-channel-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-dami_studio-telegram-channel-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/dami_studio~telegram-channel-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-dami_studio-telegram-channel-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/dami_studio~telegram-channel-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-dami_studio-telegram-channel-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "channels": {
                        "title": "Channels",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Public Telegram channels to scrape. Each entry can be a username (durov), an @handle (@durov), or a full link (https://t.me/durov). Only public channels with a web preview at t.me/s/<name> work — private channels and groups do not.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max posts per channel",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 10000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of posts to collect for each channel. The actor pages back through older posts (about 16-20 per page) until it reaches this number or runs out of messages.",
                        "default": 100
                    },
                    "includeChannelInfoRow": {
                        "title": "Emit a channel info row",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "When on, the actor pushes one summary row per channel (title, subscribers, counts) before its posts. Channel title and subscriber count are also attached to every post row regardless of this setting.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "notionConnector": {
                        "title": "Notion connector (optional)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional. Write each post as a page into your Notion when the run finishes. Authorize a Notion connector once in Settings → API & Integrations → MCP connectors, then pick it here. Leave empty to skip (default) — results are always saved to the dataset regardless."
                    },
                    "notionParentId": {
                        "title": "Notion target data source ID",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional. The Notion data source ID of the database to write into (only used if a Notion connector is set). Leave empty to create the pages privately in your workspace instead."
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy (optional)",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Optional. The t.me web preview is a public endpoint with no anti-bot, so a proxy is NOT required and adds no benefit by default. Leave it off unless you hit IP rate limits on high-volume runs, in which case enabling Apify Proxy (datacenter is fine) can help.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": false
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```