name: tg-cli description: > Read-only Telegram CLI via MTProto. Lists chats, fetches messages, downloads media, manages local accounts/sessions. Does not send messages or modify Telegram data. Use when the user asks to read Telegram chats, fetch messages, download media, or automate Telegram data extraction. required_binaries:

name: tg package: tg-mtproto-cli install: npm install -g tg-mtproto-cli registry: https://www.npmjs.com/package/tg-mtproto-cli source: https://github.com/cyberash-dev/tg-mtproto-cli
name: jq optional: true install: brew install jq credentials:
name: Telegram API credentials fields: [api_id, api_hash] obtain: https://my.telegram.org/apps storage: system keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Vault / Linux Secret Service) input: interactive prompt via tg auth
name: Phone number + OTP storage: not persisted input: interactive prompt via tg auth (one-time, creates session) runtime_permissions: network: outbound TCP to Telegram DC servers (MTProto protocol) filesystem:
- read/write: ~/.tg-mtproto-cli/sessions/*.session (SQLite auth sessions)
- write: media files to --out dir or cwd (tg download only) keychain: read/write account metadata and API credentials shell: false browser: false

tg — Telegram CLI via MTProto

CLI tool for reading Telegram data directly via MTProto protocol. No Bot API, no limits.

Required binaries

| Binary | Install | Purpose | |---|---|---| | tg | npm install -g tg-mtproto-cli | Core CLI | | jq (optional) | brew install jq or apt install jq | JSON filtering in workflow examples |

Source and provenance:

npm: npmjs.com/package/tg-mtproto-cli
GitHub: github.com/cyberash-dev/tg-mtproto-cli

Verify after install:

tg --version
npm ls -g tg-mtproto-cli

Required credentials

| Credential | How to obtain | Storage | |---|---|---| | Telegram api_id + api_hash | my.telegram.org/apps | System keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Vault / Linux Secret Service) | | Phone number + OTP code | Interactive prompt during tg auth | Not persisted; used once for session creation |

Credentials are entered interactively via tg auth. No environment variables required.

Runtime surface

| Resource | Access | Details | |---|---|---| | Network | Outbound TCP to Telegram DC servers | MTProto protocol, required for all commands | | Session files | Read/write ~/.tg-mtproto-cli/sessions/*.session | SQLite databases with auth keys; created by tg auth | | System keychain | Read/write | Stores api_id, api_hash, account metadata, default account | | Filesystem | Write (only tg download) | Saves media to --out dir or current directory |

Guardrails

The CLI is read-only by design — it has no commands to send messages, create chats, modify groups, or perform any write operations on Telegram. The only write targets are local: session files and downloaded media.
tg download writes files only to the explicitly specified --out directory or cwd.
Session files contain sensitive auth material — do not read, copy, or expose ~/.tg-mtproto-cli/sessions/ contents.
Do not log or display api_id / api_hash values.
If tg auth is needed, inform the user — it requires interactive input (phone, OTP) and cannot be automated.

Chat identification

Chats can be referenced by:

Username: @username or username
Numeric ID: -1001234567890 (groups/supergroups use negative IDs)
Phone: +1234567890 (for private chats)

To find a chat's numeric ID, use tg chats --json | jq '.[] | {id, title}'.

Commands reference

List chats

tg chats [--type private|group|supergroup|channel] [--limit 50] [--offset 0]

Read messages

tg messages <chat> [-n 100] [--all] [--topic <id>] [--after <datetime>]

| Flag | Description | |---|---| | -n <count> | Number of messages (default: 100) | | --all | Entire history (shows progress) | | --topic <id> | Forum topic (get IDs via tg topics <chat>) | | --after <datetime> | Only messages after this time |

--after formats: 2026-02-22, 2026-02-22T10:00, 10:00 (today).

When --after + -n are combined: filter by date first, then take last N.

List forum topics

tg topics <chat>

Returns topic IDs needed for --topic flag.

Download media

tg download <chat> <messageId> [--out <dir>]

Downloads the media attachment from a specific message. Get message IDs from tg messages output (shown as #<id>).

Account management

tg auth                          # authenticate (interactive)
tg logout [alias]                # remove session
tg accounts                      # list accounts
tg accounts rename <old> <new>   # rename alias
tg default <alias>               # set default

Global flags

| Flag | Effect | |---|---| | --account <alias> | Use specific account instead of default | | --json | JSON output (for scripting/piping) |

JSON output

All commands support --json for structured output. Dates are ISO 8601.

tg chats --json
tg messages @chat -n 10 --json
tg download @chat 42 --json

Message JSON schema

{
  "id": 42,
  "chatId": -1001234567890,
  "senderName": "John",
  "text": "Hello",
  "date": "2026-02-22T10:15:00.000Z",
  "media": { "type": "photo", "fileName": null, "mimeType": "image/jpeg", "size": 262525 },
  "replyToId": null,
  "isOutgoing": false
}

media is null when no attachment. media.type: photo, video, document, audio, voice, sticker.

Common workflows

Extract text from a chat since a date

tg messages @channel --after 2026-02-01 --json | jq -r '.[].text // empty'

Find messages with photos

tg messages @chat -n 500 --json | jq '[.[] | select(.media.type == "photo")]'

Download all photos from recent messages

for id in $(tg messages @chat -n 50 --json | jq -r '.[] | select(.media.type == "photo") | .id'); do
  tg download @chat "$id" --out ./photos
done

Read a forum topic

tg topics -1001234567890          # find topic ID
tg messages -1001234567890 --topic 42 -n 20

Multi-account usage

tg chats --account work
tg messages @chat -n 10 --account personal

Exit codes

| Code | Meaning | |---|---| | 0 | Success | | 1 | Runtime error (invalid args, chat not found) | | 2 | Auth required (no account, expired session) — run tg auth |

Troubleshooting

"No default account" → run tg auth or use --account <alias>
"Session expired" → run tg auth to re-authenticate
Chat not found → use numeric ID from tg chats --json
Empty messages → check chat ID sign (groups are negative)

Telegram CLI via MTProto

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