# Telegram Channel Scraper (`silentshadow55/telegram-channel-actor`) Actor Scrape any public Telegram channel with no login, API key, or bot token. Every message with text, views, reactions (incl. paid stars), media URLs, links & forwards — plus subscriber counts. Fast, browser-free, pay per message. Crypto, OSINT, brand monitoring & LLM pipelines. - **URL**: https://apify.com/silentshadow55/telegram-channel-actor.md - **Developed by:** [Esteban Ortega](https://apify.com/silentshadow55) (community) - **Categories:** Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 91.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.00 / 1,000 messages This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. 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 — Posts, Views, Reactions & Media Scrape **any public Telegram channel** into structured data — **no login, no phone number, no API key, no bot token, no browser**. Point it at a channel username and get every message with full metadata. Most Telegram scrapers make you register a Telegram API application, log in with a phone number and session string, or run a heavy headless browser. This one reads Telegram's own public web preview (`t.me/s/channel`) directly over plain HTTP — so it's fast, cheap, and there's nothing to authenticate. ### What you get **Per message:** - 📝 **Full text** (clean plaintext + original HTML), with emoji and line breaks preserved - 👁️ **View count** and 📅 **timestamp** (ISO 8601) - ❤️ **Reactions** — per-emoji breakdown and total (including paid ⭐ Star reactions) — data most scrapers miss. Standard emoji come through as the emoji itself; premium/custom emoji appear as `custom:` (Telegram serves those as a font glyph with no text fallback, so the id is what the preview exposes) - 🖼️ **Media URLs** — direct links to photos and videos (plus video thumbnails), media type flags for voice/stickers/documents - 🔗 **Outgoing links** and rich **link previews** (title + description) - ↪️ **Forwarded-from** attribution, ✍️ post author, and 💬 reply context - 🌐 Direct `t.me` permalink to each post **Per channel** (optional info record): - Title, description, **subscriber count**, and avatar URL ### Example output Every record carries the same fields (a `type` discriminator marks `message`, `channel`, or error records; inapplicable fields are explicit `null`/`[]`, never missing), so exports stay rectangular. A real message: ```json { "type": "message", "channel": "durov", "channel_title": "Pavel Durov", "message_id": 527, "url": "https://t.me/durov/527", "datetime": "2026-06-15T15:53:15+00:00", "text": "🏆 Telegram is launching a $200,000 contest for content creators.\n\n🎬 Create a video...", "views": 21900000, "views_text": "21.9M", "total_reactions": 514100, "reactions": [ { "emoji": "⭐paid", "count": 24900 }, { "emoji": "custom:5265077361648368841", "count": 318000 }, { "emoji": "custom:5465587407350942612", "count": 88100 } ], "media_type": "text", "photos": [], "videos": [], "outgoing_links": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yq_5aDdJ24", "https://t.me/contest"], "forwarded_from": null, "is_reply": false } ```` ### Input ```json { "channels": ["durov", "@telegram", "t.me/durov"], "maxMessagesPerChannel": 200, "filterKeyword": "", "includeChannelInfo": true } ``` Channel names are accepted in any form: `durov`, `@durov`, `t.me/durov`, or `https://t.me/s/durov`. The scraper pages backward from the newest post until it reaches your `maxMessagesPerChannel` limit or the start of the channel. ### Who uses this - **Crypto & trading communities** — monitor call channels, announcements, and sentiment at scale - **OSINT & research** — track public channels, capture posts with timestamps and reach (views/reactions) - **Brand & competitor monitoring** — watch competitors' and news channels, measure engagement - **Content & marketing** — find top-performing posts by views and reactions; feed content pipelines - **AI / LLM pipelines** — turn channels into clean text datasets for RAG or analysis (works with Apify's MCP integration) ### FAQ **Do I need a Telegram account or API credentials?** No. This reads the public web preview that Telegram serves to anyone — no login, phone number, `api_id`/`api_hash`, session string, or bot token. **Which channels work?** Any **public** channel (one with a `t.me/s/` preview). Private channels, private groups, individual user accounts, and bots have no public preview and are reported as skipped rather than failing the run. **Can it get reactions and view counts?** Yes — both, including paid Star reactions with per-emoji counts, when the channel exposes them in its preview. A few very large channels hide the reaction footer from the public preview; those come back with `reactions: []` and `total_reactions: 0` (not an error — the data simply isn't published). Custom/premium emoji appear as `custom:`; standard emoji as the glyph. **Are the counts exact?** View, subscriber, and reaction counts come from Telegram's abbreviated labels (`21.9M`, `82.3K`), so both the rounded integer (`views: 21900000`) and the original label (`views_text: "21.9M"`) are provided — use `*_text` when you need the value exactly as Telegram displayed it. **How far back can it go?** As far as the channel's history via backward pagination. Very large pulls take longer (20 messages per page request) and are paced politely to avoid rate limits. **Can it download the actual media files?** It returns direct `cdn*.telesco.pe` URLs to photos and videos, which you can fetch yourself. It doesn't re-host files. Note that Telegram's media URLs are time-limited — fetch them soon after the run rather than weeks later, as older links expire. **What about message edits, comments, or poll results?** The public preview shows the current state of each post; discussion-group comments and live poll internals aren't part of it. **Is this legal?** It reads publicly available content that Telegram publishes to any web visitor, with no authentication and no access to private data. ### Roadmap - Search a channel by keyword server-side (via `t.me/s/?q=`) - Grouped-album handling (multiple photos in one post) - Date-range cutoffs (stop paging at a target date) Hit a channel that parses oddly? Open an issue — fixes ship fast. # Actor input Schema ## `channels` (type: `array`): Public channel usernames or links. Accepts any of: 'durov', '@durov', 't.me/durov', or 'https://t.me/s/durov'. Private channels, groups, bots, and user accounts have no public preview and are skipped. ## `maxMessagesPerChannel` (type: `integer`): How many recent messages to fetch per channel, newest first. The scraper pages backward 20 at a time until it reaches this count or the channel's start. ## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`): Emit one extra item per channel with its title, description, subscriber count, and avatar (type: 'channel'). ## `filterKeyword` (type: `string`): Only keep messages whose text contains this keyword (case-insensitive). Leave empty to keep all messages. ## `skipMediaOnlyMessages` (type: `boolean`): Drop messages that have no text (e.g. a photo or video posted with no caption). ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxies to use. Telegram's public preview is lightly protected, so Apify Proxy (datacenter) is sufficient for typical runs. ## Actor input object example ```json { "channels": [ "durov" ], "maxMessagesPerChannel": 100, "includeChannelInfo": true, "skipMediaOnlyMessages": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "channels": [ "durov" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("silentshadow55/telegram-channel-actor").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "channels": ["durov"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("silentshadow55/telegram-channel-actor").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": [ "durov" ] }' | apify call silentshadow55/telegram-channel-actor --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=silentshadow55/telegram-channel-actor", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Telegram Channel Scraper", "description": "Scrape any public Telegram channel with no login, API key, or bot token. Every message with text, views, reactions (incl. paid stars), media URLs, links & forwards — plus subscriber counts. Fast, browser-free, pay per message. Crypto, OSINT, brand monitoring & LLM pipelines.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "XR3KfjcByHYJwau0P" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/silentshadow55~telegram-channel-actor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-silentshadow55-telegram-channel-actor", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/silentshadow55~telegram-channel-actor/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-silentshadow55-telegram-channel-actor", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/silentshadow55~telegram-channel-actor/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-silentshadow55-telegram-channel-actor", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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", "required": [ "channels" ], "properties": { "channels": { "title": "Telegram channels", "type": "array", "description": "Public channel usernames or links. Accepts any of: 'durov', '@durov', 't.me/durov', or 'https://t.me/s/durov'. Private channels, groups, bots, and user accounts have no public preview and are skipped.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxMessagesPerChannel": { "title": "Max messages per channel", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "How many recent messages to fetch per channel, newest first. The scraper pages backward 20 at a time until it reaches this count or the channel's start.", "default": 100 }, "includeChannelInfo": { "title": "Include channel info record", "type": "boolean", "description": "Emit one extra item per channel with its title, description, subscriber count, and avatar (type: 'channel').", "default": true }, "filterKeyword": { "title": "Filter by keyword", "type": "string", "description": "Only keep messages whose text contains this keyword (case-insensitive). Leave empty to keep all messages." }, "skipMediaOnlyMessages": { "title": "Skip media-only messages", "type": "boolean", "description": "Drop messages that have no text (e.g. a photo or video posted with no caption).", "default": false }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxies to use. Telegram's public preview is lightly protected, so Apify Proxy (datacenter) is sufficient for typical runs.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```