Telegram MCP Server

Revival update (September 2025). The server now runs on the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk transport, backed by the MtCute Telegram client and a sequential background archive worker writing into SQLite. Breaking changes. MCP clients must target http://localhost:8080/mcp; message history now lives in data/messages.db, and new sync tools drive archival jobs. The legacy implementation remains published as branch legacy-0.x and tag v0-legacy if you need the old /sse flow. Key changes: /mcp endpoint, MtCute session handling, message-sync job queue, SQLite archive, new CLI helpers in client.js.

An MCP server allowing AI assistants (like Claude or Cursor) to interact with your Telegram account using the user client API (not the bot API). The stack rides on the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk Streamable HTTP transport and exposes Telegram-oriented tools for listing dialogs, fetching messages, and managing background sync jobs.

Tools

Tool	Description
`listChannels`	Lists available dialogs/channels (limit configurable).
`searchChannels`	Searches dialogs by title or username.
`getChannelMessages`	Fetches recent messages (ID or username, optional regex filter).
`scheduleMessageSync`	Schedules a background job to archive a dialog into SQLite.
`listMessageSyncJobs`	Displays tracked sync jobs, cursors, and statuses.

Prerequisites

Node.js: Version 18 or later recommended.
Telegram Account:
- You need an active Telegram account.
- Two-Step Verification (2FA) must be enabled on your account (Settings → Privacy and Security → Two-Step Verification).
Telegram API Credentials:
- Obtain an api_id and api_hash by creating a new application at https://core.telegram.org/api/obtaining_api_id.

Installation

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/telegram-mcp-server.git # Replace with your repo URL
cd telegram-mcp-server

Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```

Configuration

There are two separate configurations that need to be set up:

MCP Server Configuration:

Configure the Telegram MCP server using environment variables (in a .env file or directly in your environment):
```
TELEGRAM_API_ID=YOUR_API_ID
TELEGRAM_API_HASH=YOUR_API_HASH
TELEGRAM_PHONE_NUMBER=YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER_WITH_COUNTRY_CODE # e.g., +15551234567
```
Replace the placeholder values with your actual credentials.
MCP Client Configuration:

Configure client software (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) to connect to the MCP server by modifying their configuration files:
```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "telegram": {
    "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp",
      "disabled": false,
      "timeout": 30
    }
  }
}
```
For Claude Desktop, the config file is located at:
- On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Important: Restart your MCP client to apply the changes.

Running the Server

Run the server:
```
npm start
```
On the first run the server will authenticate via MTProto. Enter the login code from Telegram and (if enabled) your 2FA password. After a successful login a persistent session file is saved under ./data/session.json, so restarts won't prompt again unless the session is revoked.
Point your MCP client at the same URL. Cursor/Claude will send the standard initialize → notifications/initialized → tools/list sequence, which the SDK transport handles automatically. Once connected you should see the Telegram toolset in the client UI.

Background Message Sync

Jobs and archived messages are stored in data/messages.db (SQLite).
The server processes sync jobs sequentially and waits between requests to avoid hitting Telegram rate limits.
Use the MCP tools to manage jobs:
```
scheduleMessageSync { "channelId": -1001234567890 }
listMessageSyncJobs {}
```
You can supply either the numeric chat ID or the public username as channelId. Jobs resume automatically when the server restarts. Job statuses transition through pending → in_progress → idle, moving to error if retries are required.

Troubleshooting

Login Prompts: If the server keeps prompting for login codes/passwords when started by the MCP client, ensure the data/session.json file exists and is valid. You might need to run npm start manually once to refresh the session. Also, check that the file permissions allow the user running the MCP client to read/write the data directory.
Cache Issues: If channels seem outdated or missing, restart the server; it will refresh the chat list on boot.
Cannot Find Module: Ensure you run npm install in the project directory. If the MCP client starts the server, make sure the working directory is set correctly or use absolute paths.
Other Issues: If you encounter any other problems, feel free to open an issue in this server repo.

Telegram Client Library

This repository also contains the underlying telegram-client.js library used by the MCP server. For details on using the library directly (e.g., for custom scripting), see LIBRARY.md.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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