Telegram Channel Exporter

A Go application that fetches posts from public Telegram channels and exports them as structured JSON files with automatic GitHub Actions integration.

✨ Features

• 🚀 No API Required - Uses Telegram's public RSS feed
• 📝 Complete Post Data - Message content, dates, views, media, hashtags, mentions
• 🖼️ Media Extraction - Photos, videos, and uploaded files with URLs
• 🎨 Markdown Preserved - HTML formatting, links, and emoji support
• 🕐 Real Timestamps - Accurate dates with Unix timestamps
• 🔄 Auto-Export - GitHub Actions runs every 30 minutes
• 🌿 Clean Repository - Separate export branch, main stays clean
• 🛡️ Rate Limit Protection - Random delays and user agents

Installation

1. Clone or download this project
2. Install Go (if not already installed)
3. Run the application:

go run .

Or build it:

go build -o telefeed
./telefeed

📁 Project Structure

telefeed/
├── config.json          # Channel configuration
├── export/               # Local export folder (gitignored)
├── .github/workflows/    # GitHub Actions
├── main.go              # Main application
├── fetcher_colly.go     # Telegram data fetcher
├── exporter.go          # JSON export functionality
└── .gitignore           # Git ignore rules

🌿 Git Branch Strategy

• main: Source code and configuration only
• export: Contains JSON export files (auto-updated)

The export/ folder is gitignored to keep the main branch clean. Export files are automatically pushed to the export branch via GitHub Actions.

Configuration

Edit config.json to specify which channels to export:

{
  "channels": [
    "ircfspace",
    "vahidonline",
    "your_channel_name"
  ]
}

Note: Use only the username part without the @ symbol.

📊 Output Structure

Each channel is exported to export/{channel_name}.json with comprehensive data:

{
  "info": {
    "id": 0,
    "title": "Channel Title",
    "username": "channelname",
    "photo_url": "https://cdn.telesco.pe/file/..."
  },
  "posts": [
    {
      "id": 12345,
      "message": "Post content with <a href=\"links\">HTML formatting</a>",
      "date": "2026-05-03T09:30:00Z",
      "edited": false,
      "views": 1500,
      "forwards": 25,
      "replies": 10,
      "sender_name": "Sender Name",
      "media": [
        {
          "type": "photo",
          "url": "https://cdn.telesco.pe/file/...",
          "width": 800,
          "height": 600
        },
        {
          "type": "video", 
          "url": "https://cdn.telesco.pe/file/..."
        }
      ],
      "hashtags": ["#example", "#telegram"],
      "mentions": ["@user"],
      "links": ["https://example.com"]
    }
  ],
  "last_updated": 1777791234
}

🔄 Auto-Export with GitHub Actions

The project includes automated GitHub Actions that:

• Run every 30 minutes - Automatic channel updates
• Separate branches - Clean main branch, exports in export branch
• Rate limiting - Random delays and user agents
• Error handling - Continues even if some channels fail
• Detailed logging - Summary reports with file statistics

Branch Strategy

• main: Source code and configuration only
• export: JSON export files (auto-updated)

🛠️ Local Development

Manual Run

go run .

Docker Support

# Build and run
docker-compose up telefeed

# Auto-run every 30 minutes
docker-compose --profile scheduled up telefeed-scheduled

⚙️ Configuration

Edit config.json to specify channels:

{
  "channels": [
    "ircfspace",
    "vahidonline", 
    "your_channel"
  ]
}

🚀 Deployment

GitHub Actions (Recommended)

1. Push code to GitHub
2. Enable Actions in repository settings
3. Automatic exports every 30 minutes

Manual Deployment

# Build binary
go build -o telefeed

# Run with cron
*/30 * * * * cd /path/to/telefeed && ./telefeed

📋 Requirements

• Go 1.21 or higher
• Internet connection
• Public Telegram channels only

⚠️ Limitations

• Public channels only - No private channel support
• Recent posts - Limited by Telegram's public feed
• Rate limits - Built-in protection but may need adjustments
• HTML dependency - May break if Telegram changes web structure