tg

Telegram terminal client.

Features

• view mediafiles: photo, video, voice/video notes, documents
• ability to send pictures, documents, audio, video
• reply, edit, forward, delete, send messages
• stickers
• notifications
• record and send voice msgs
• auto download files
• toggle chats: pin/unpin, mark as read/unread, mute/unmute
• message history
• list contacts
• show user status
• secret chats
• search
• bots (bot keyboard)

Requirements

To use tg, you'll need to have the following installed:

• Python 3.8

Optional dependencies

• terminal-notifier - for Mac (used by default). You can change it to dunst for Linux or any other notifications program (see NOTIFY_CMD in configuration)
• ffmpeg - to record voice msgs and upload videos.
• tdlib - in case of incompatibility with built in package. For example, macOS:

  brew install tdlib
  

  and then set in config TDLIB_PATH
• urlview to choose urls when there is multiple in message, use URL_VIEW in config file to use another app (it should accept urls in stdin)
• to open stickers and animated ones (thumbnail preview) you need to set in mailcap appropriate handler and have app which will open webp file:

  image/webp; mpv %s
  

• ranger, nnn - can be used to choose file when sending, customizable with FILE_PICKER_CMD
• fzf - to create groups and secret chats (used for single and multiple user selection)

Installation

From PyPI

This option is recommended for production:

pip3 install tg
tg

From sources

This option is recommended for development:

git clone https://github.com:paul-nameless/tg.git
cd tg
pip install python-telegram
pip install .
tg

Using Docker

Please note that voice recordings and notifications won't work when using Docker.

docker run -it --rm tg

From the AUR

If you're using Arch Linux, you can install tg through its AUR package:

If you're using the yay AUR helper, you can install the package with:

yay -S telegram-tg

If you want to use the latest developement version via the AUR you can find it here

Configuration

Config file should be stored at ~/.config/tg/conf.py. This is simple python file.

Simple config:

# should start with + (plus) and contain country code
PHONE = "[phone number in international format]"

Advanced configuration:

All configurable variables can be found here

import os

# You can write anything you want here, file will be executed at start time
# You can keep you sensitive information in password managers or gpg
# encrypted files for example
def get_pass(key):
    # retrieves key from password store
    return os.popen("pass show {} | head -n 1".format(key)).read().strip()


PHONE = get_pass("i/telegram-phone")
# encrypt you local tdlib database with the key
ENC_KEY = get_pass("i/telegram-enc-key")

# log level for debugging, info by default
LOG_LEVEL = "DEBUG"
# path where logs will be stored (all.log and error.log)
LOG_PATH = os.path.expanduser("~/.local/share/tg/")

# If you have problems with tdlib shipped with the client, you can install and
# use your own, for example:
TDLIB_PATH = "/usr/local/Cellar/tdlib/1.6.0/lib/libtdjson.dylib"

# you can use any other notification cmd, it is simple python string which
# can format title, msg, subtitle and icon_path paramters
# In these exapmle, kitty terminal is used and when notification is pressed
# it will focus on the tab of running tg
NOTIFY_CMD = "/usr/local/bin/terminal-notifier -title {title} -subtitle {subtitle} -message {msg} -appIcon {icon_path} -sound default -execute '/Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS/kitty @ --to unix:/tmp/kitty focus-tab --no-response -m title:tg'"

# You can use your own voice recording cmd but it's better to use default one.
# The voice note must be encoded with the Opus codec, and stored inside an OGG
# container. Voice notes can have only a single audio channel.
VOICE_RECORD_CMD = "ffmpeg -f avfoundation -i ':0' -c:a libopus -b:a 32k {file_path}"

# You can customize chat and msg flags however you want.
# By default words will be used for readability, but you can make
# it as simple as one letter flags like in mutt or add emojies
CHAT_FLAGS = {
    "online": "●",
    "pinned": "P",
    "muted": "M",
    # chat is marked as unread
    "unread": "U",
    # last msg haven't been seen by recipient
    "unseen": "✓",
    "secret": "🔒",
}
MSG_FLAGS = {
    "selected": "*",
    "forwarded": "F",
    "new": "N",
    "unseen": "U",
    "edited": "E",
    "pending": "...",
    "failed": "💩",
}

# use this app to open url when there are multiple
URL_VIEW = 'urlview'

# Specifies range of colors to use for drawing users with
# different colors
# this one uses base 16 colors which should look good by default
USERS_COLORS = tuple(range(2, 16))

# to use 256 colors, set range appropriately
# though 233 looks better, because last colors are black and gray
# USERS_COLORS = tuple(range(233))

# to make one color for all users
# USERS_COLORS = (4,)

# cleanup cache
# Values: N days, None (never)
KEEP_MEDIA = 7

FILE_PICKER_CMD = "ranger --choosefile={file_path}"
# FILE_PICKER_CMD = "nnn -p {file_path}"

MAILCAP_FILE = os.path.expanduser("~/.config/mailcap")

Mailcap file

Mailcap file is used for deciding how to open telegram files (docs, pics, voice notes, etc.). Path to the file can be overriden with MAILCAP_FILE in config file.

Example: ~/.mailcap

# media
video/*; mpv "%s"
audio/ogg; mpv --speed 1.33 "%s"
audio/mpeg; mpv --no-video "%s"
image/*; qView "%s"

# text
text/html; w3m "%s"
text/html; open -a Firefox "%s"
text/plain; less "%s"

# fallback to vim
text/*; vim "%s"

Keybindings

vi like keybindings are used in the project. Can be used commands like 4j - 4 lines down.

For navigation arrow keys also can be used.

Chats:

• j,k: move up/down
• J,K: move 10 chats up/down
• g: go to top chat
• l: open msgs of the chat
• m: mute/unmute current chat
• p: pin/unpin current chat
• u: mark read/unread
• r: read current chat
• c: show list of contacts
• dd: delete chat or remove history
• ng: create new group chat
• ns: create new secret chat
• /: search in chats
• ?: show help

Msgs:

• j,k: move up/down
• J,K: move 10 msgs up/down
• G: move to the last msg (at the bottom)
• l: if video, pics or audio then open app specified in mailcap file, for example:

  # Images
  image/png; qView "%s"
  audio/*; mpv "%s"
  

  if text, open in less (to view multiline msgs)
• e: edit current msg
• <space>: select msg and jump one msg down (use for deletion or forwarding)
• <ctrl+space>: same as space but jumps one msg up
• y: yank (copy) selected msgs with to internal buffer (for forwarding) and copy current msg text or path to file to clipboard
• p: forward (paste) yanked (copied) msgs to current chat
• dd: delete msg for everybody (multiple messages will be deleted if selected)
• i or a: insert mode, type new message
• I or A: open vim to write long msg and send
• v: record and send voice message
• r,R: reply to a current msg
• sv: send video
• sa: send audio
• sp: send picture
• sd: send document
• o: open url present in message (if multiple urls, urlview will be opened)
• ]: next chat
• [: prev chat
• u: show user info (username, bio, phone, etc.)
• c: show chat info (e.g. secret chat encryption key, chat id, state, etc.)
• ?: show help
• !: open msg with custom cmd