# Telegram Channel Scraper: Messages, Posts, Views & Media (`torix33/telegram-channel-scraper`) Actor

Telegram scraper for public channel messages and posts: full text, views, reactions, photos, videos, links, hashtags, forwards, replies and author signatures, plus channel subscribers and description. Search inside channels and filter by date. No login, no API keys. Pay per post.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/torix33/telegram-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Torix](https://apify.com/torix33) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.40 / 1,000 post scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Telegram Channel Scraper — Posts, Views, Reactions, Media & Channel Info

Export posts from **any public Telegram channel**: **full text, views, reactions (incl. paid stars), photos, videos, link previews, outbound links, hashtags, forwards, replies, author signatures and edit flags** — plus the **channel title, subscriber count, description and avatar** on every row.

No Telegram account, no phone number, no API ID/hash and no browser. The actor reads Telegram's public web preview (`t.me/s/<channel>`), so no Telegram account is used and none can be banned.

### How to run it in 3 steps

1. **Add your input.** In **Telegram channels** paste public channel usernames or t.me links — e.g. `durov` or `https://t.me/bloomberg`. The form is already filled with a working example, so you can skip this step for a first try.
2. **Press Start.** The prefilled run returns 40 posts in about 3 s and costs about **$0.080**. Set **Max results (cost cap)** to cap the cost of bigger runs; you only pay for posts actually delivered.
3. **Get the data.** Open the **Output** tab and export JSON, CSV or Excel — or run it from the API, Make, Zapier, n8n or an AI agent (see below).

### Features

- **No login:** paste channel names or links; no session strings or API credentials.
- **Full history or just what's new:** take the newest N posts, the whole archive (`0`), or everything since a date.
- **Search inside channels** with Telegram's own keyword search.
- **Engagement data:** views and every reaction with its count; `reactionsTotal` for quick sorting.
- **Media & links:** photo URLs, video thumbnails/URLs, link previews and all outbound links (great for tracking what a channel promotes).
- **Fast:** ~20 posts per request; hundreds of posts per second across channels.
- **Pay per post** with a hard cost cap.

### Use cases

- **Media & crypto monitoring:** track news, signal and project channels daily (`dateFrom`).
- **Market research & OSINT:** archive public channels for analysis or LLM pipelines.
- **Influencer / channel vetting:** subscribers vs. real views and reactions.
- **Competitor tracking:** what links, offers and products channels promote.
- **Content curation:** collect top posts by views or reactions.

### Input

```json
{
  "channels": ["durov", "@bloomberg", "https://t.me/tginfo"],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 200,
  "searchQuery": "",
  "dateFrom": "2026-10-01",
  "includeChannelInfo": true
}
```

| Option | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `channels` | — | Usernames or links of public channels. |
| `maxPostsPerChannel` | 100 | `0` = full history. Newest first. |
| `searchQuery` | — | Telegram in-channel keyword search. |
| `dateFrom` | — | Stop at posts older than this date. |
| `includeChannelInfo` | `true` | Channel title, subscribers, description, avatar on each row. |
| `maxResults` | 0 | Cost cap for the whole run. |
| `maxConcurrency` | 10 | Channels in parallel. |

### Output

#### Real output (default input)

First 2 of 40 records from a run with the prefilled input (2.7 s on a test machine; long values shortened here):

```json
[
  {
    "channel": "durov",
    "postId": 552,
    "url": "https://t.me/durov/552",
    "date": "2026-10-11T14:52:40+00:00",
    "text": "✨ Designers × AI\n\n🆕 The mockup era is over. Today’s AI tools give every designer a superpower: you can now craft your ideas, not just draw t…",
    "views": 885000,
    "reactions": [
      {
        "emoji": "⭐",
        "count": 5390
      },
      {
        "emoji": "5936157098181135162",
        "count": 11100
      },
      {
        "emoji": "5399847211989246390",
        "count": 4830
      }
    ],
    "reactionsTotal": 24940,
    "hashtags": [],
    "links": [
      "https://t.me/designers"
    ],
    "photos": [],
    "videos": [
      {
        "thumbnail": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/eFjP3GIB6wa2kR_lnaHB7AArrvWLaHK1V1vSlTRnClFDmdBdeZZTauQlfMYsutoFB5twP3oxnZQmy2wCi0Tws82Q_07aHvEC5vDeEKP5n1hMjCV…",
        "url": null,
        "duration": "1:15"
      }
    ],
    "hasMedia": true,
    "document": null,
    "poll": null,
    "linkPreview": null,
    "forwardedFrom": {
      "name": "",
      "url": null
    },
    "replyToPostId": null,
    "author": "Pavel Durov",
    "isEdited": false,
    "channelTitle": "Pavel Durov",
    "channelSubscribers": 10400000,
    "channelDescription": "Founder of Telegram.",
    "channelAvatar": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/MULwMfcgvO-kscu6vwzjmymEfId90Vg-TX_AV241kAdVKwLp7-4zdMABG_9a-imMxSx1bBlx692ssN3l3tIvt_UC_bqhn55sTEm513gIXiouYLZ…",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-15T12:03:45.352Z"
  },
  {
    "channel": "durov",
    "postId": 551,
    "url": "https://t.me/durov/551",
    "date": "2026-10-10T14:22:43+00:00",
    "text": "💸 If your wallet doesn’t look like this, don’t even bother sending me money for my  birthday! 🎂",
    "views": 1200000,
    "reactions": [
      {
        "emoji": "⭐",
        "count": 60000
      },
      {
        "emoji": "5936157098181135162",
        "count": 34200
      },
      {
        "emoji": "5373223594484587136",
        "count": 11700
      }
    ],
    "reactionsTotal": 114900,
    "hashtags": [],
    "links": [],
    "photos": [],
    "videos": [
      {
        "thumbnail": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/Yx6U1hOrnxEX3rMaCd9ej0MmDevumTuoZ9CqlwPg9ynZDQASWNe_UUDVrXVLmIPYDNg-mxVbRPtJe3UK7XUxsLE3cAgeL62jW8IxkHCiOD-nc_s…",
        "url": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/f4b10a0c75.mp4?token=ZPJHm8gWZrbG7NpDXeNGm1sm_K2yutAfyUrga0vuAaqvRA3hZhy_IoWFakP0sTXq9J8K1zDMe8PTEcecLlQSQKNtR3…",
        "duration": null
      }
    ],
    "hasMedia": true,
    "document": null,
    "poll": null,
    "linkPreview": null,
    "forwardedFrom": null,
    "replyToPostId": null,
    "author": "Pavel Durov",
    "isEdited": false,
    "channelTitle": "Pavel Durov",
    "channelSubscribers": 10400000,
    "channelDescription": "Founder of Telegram.",
    "channelAvatar": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/MULwMfcgvO-kscu6vwzjmymEfId90Vg-TX_AV241kAdVKwLp7-4zdMABG_9a-imMxSx1bBlx692ssN3l3tIvt_UC_bqhn55sTEm513gIXiouYLZ…",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-15T12:03:45.352Z"
  }
]
```

```json
{
  "channel": "durov",
  "postId": 552,
  "url": "https://t.me/durov/552",
  "date": "2026-10-11T14:52:40+00:00",
  "text": "✨ Designers × AI\n\n🆕 The mockup era is over…",
  "views": 785000,
  "reactions": [{ "emoji": "⭐", "count": 5230 }, { "emoji": "👍", "count": 10300 }],
  "reactionsTotal": 23450,
  "hashtags": [],
  "links": ["https://t.me/designers"],
  "photos": [],
  "videos": [{ "thumbnail": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/…jpg", "url": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/…mp4", "duration": "0:42" }],
  "hasMedia": true,
  "document": null,
  "poll": null,
  "linkPreview": null,
  "forwardedFrom": null,
  "replyToPostId": null,
  "author": null,
  "isEdited": false,
  "channelTitle": "Pavel Durov",
  "channelSubscribers": 10400000,
  "channelDescription": "Founder of Telegram.",
  "channelAvatar": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/…jpg",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-13T21:30:00.000Z"
}
```

Custom (premium) emoji reactions are returned by their Telegram emoji ID.

### Use with AI agents (MCP), LangChain, RAG & the API

This actor is a ready-made **tool for AI agents**: an LLM can call it, wait for the run and read clean JSON back.

**MCP server (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, any MCP client)** — add Apify's hosted MCP server with this actor enabled as a tool:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=torix33/telegram-channel-scraper",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}
```

**LangChain / LangGraph** (`pip install langchain-apify`, set `APIFY_API_TOKEN`):

```python
from langchain_apify import ApifyActorsTool, ApifyWrapper
from langchain_core.documents import Document

## 1) give the actor to an agent as a tool
tool = ApifyActorsTool("torix33/telegram-channel-scraper")

## 2) or load results as Documents for a RAG index
loader = ApifyWrapper().call_actor(
    actor_id="torix33/telegram-channel-scraper",
    run_input={"channels": ["durov", "@bloomberg", "https://t.me/tginfo"], "maxPostsPerChannel": 200, "searchQuery": "", "dateFrom": "2026-10-01", "includeChannelInfo": True},
    dataset_mapping_function=lambda item: Document(page_content=item["text"], metadata={"url": item.get("url")}),
)
docs = loader.load()
```

**REST API — one synchronous call, dataset items in the response:**

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/torix33~telegram-channel-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channels": ["durov", "@bloomberg", "https://t.me/tginfo"], "maxPostsPerChannel": 200, "searchQuery": "", "dateFrom": "2026-10-01", "includeChannelInfo": true}'
```

Also works with the Apify Python/JS clients, **Make, Zapier, n8n**, Google Sheets, webhooks and schedules. Export as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS.

**RAG tip:** Schedule daily runs with `dateFrom` and let an agent summarise the new `text` per channel — a daily Telegram monitoring digest.

### Pricing

- **$2.00 per 1,000 posts** ($0.002 per post).
- The prefilled input returns 40 posts → **$0.08**.
- Example: 1,000 posts → $2.00; 10,000 → $20.00. Set **Max results (cost cap)** to limit any run.

Channels without a public preview cost nothing.

### Limitations

- Works for **public channels** with web preview enabled. Private channels, groups, bots and user accounts are skipped with a clear message.
- Media URLs on Telegram's CDN are temporary; download files soon after scraping if you need them.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Telegram account or API ID?**
No. The actor reads the public web preview (`t.me/s/<channel>`); no login, phone number or session string.

**Can it scrape private channels or groups?**
No. Only public channels with web preview enabled. Others are skipped with a message and not charged.

**Can I search inside a channel?**
Yes. Set `searchQuery` to use Telegram's own in-channel search.

# Actor input Schema

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

Public channel usernames or links, one per line: <code>durov</code>, <code>@bloomberg</code>, <code>https://t.me/tginfo</code>.

## `maxPostsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Newest posts first. <code>0</code> = the whole channel history.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Only posts matching this keyword (Telegram's own in-channel search).

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Stop at posts older than this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Ideal for daily monitoring.

## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Adds channel title, subscriber count, description and avatar to every row.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many posts in total. <code>0</code> = no limit.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many channels are scraped at the same time.

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

Requests go direct first (fastest); if Telegram throttles, retries switch to these proxies with a fresh IP each time.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "bloomberg"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 20,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "maxResults": 0,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `posts` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runStats` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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": [
        "durov",
        "bloomberg"
    ],
    "maxPostsPerChannel": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("torix33/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": [
        "durov",
        "bloomberg",
    ],
    "maxPostsPerChannel": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("torix33/telegram-channel-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).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",
    "bloomberg"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call torix33/telegram-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,torix33/telegram-channel-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/VOugmY29RuyhPiia5/builds/vR4HmdIRniqtesjBg/openapi.json