Telegram Channel Scraper: Posts + Media + Metadata

📦 Telegram Channel Scraper: Posts + Media + Metadata Extract channel name, bio, subscriber count, recent posts, views, reactions, and all media with direct download links. This actor scrapes structured content from public Telegram channels using the Telegram API via a pre-authorized session string. --- ### ✅ What This Actor Does - Connects to Telegram automatically (no setup required) - Parses public channels (by username or link) - Retrieves: - Channel name and subscriber count - Latest posts (text, views, reactions, links, media) - Direct media URLs (.jpg, .mp4, .pdf, etc.) - Handles: - Text-only and media-only messages - Full reaction counts and link extraction - Skips: - Ads, empty posts, and outdated messages - Starts from most recent post and works backwards --- ## 🧾 Input You don’t need to enter any credentials — they’re already preconfigured. Just provide three simple fields: | Field | Type | Required | Description | |------------|--------|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | channels | string | ✅ | Comma-separated list of channel usernames or links (e.g. @channel1, @channel2) | | limit | number | ❌ | Max number of posts per channel (default: 10) | | daysBack | number | ❌ | Number of days to look back from today (default: 7) | 📌 Example input json { "channels": "@channelname, @channelname, @channelname", "limit": 5, "daysBack": 3 } !!! Important: To avoid Telegram FloodWait limits on `contacts.ResolveUsername`, the actor now processes **up to 10 channels per run**. If you need to scrape more channels, please split them into several runs. --- ## ▶️ How to Run 1. Open the actor in Apify Console. 2. Fill in the input fields: - channels: @channel1, @channel2 - limit: 5 (optional) - daysBack: 3 (optional) 3. Click Save, then Run. 4. Watch live logs and access results from: - Dataset (post content, text, reactions, views) - Key-Value Store (media files with public links) --- ## 📤 Output Each post is saved as a separate record in the default dataset (JSON format). Text-only and media-only messages are handled independently. json { "channel": "@channel_name", "channelLink": "https://t.me/channel_name", "subscribers": 12345, "postId": 101, "postUrl": "https://t.me/channel_name/101", "date": "2025-05-31T17:38:00.000Z", "text": "Example post content", "views": 3456, "reactions": [ { "emoji": "👍", "count": 42 }, { "emoji": "❤️", "count": 18 } ], "likes": 60, "links": ["https://example.com"], "hasMedia": true, "mediaUrls": [ "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/<storeId>/records/channel_101_101.jpg?disableRedirect=1" ] } --- ## 🛠 Use Cases - Competitive/viral content monitoring - Telegram market research - Dataset building for AI/ML models - Public media archiving - Social listening and trend analysis - Automation for newsletter or curation projects --- ## 🚀 Deploy Now First run may take 1–2 minutes to initialize dependencies. Subsequent runs are faster and optimized. --- ## Troubleshooting If you see empty results: - Ensure ENV variables API_ID, API_HASH, STRING_SESSION are set and valid. - Try public channels only and set daysRange=3..7. - Increase maxPosts to 20..50. --- ## ⚠️ Telegram Post Grouping Behavior Important note: Telegram’s internal interface sometimes displays a single post as a combination of text + media, but via the Telegram API, these are delivered as two separate messages. As a result, you may see two records in the dataset with: - The same date or very close timestamps - Consecutive postId values - One record containing only text, the other containing only media This is expected behavior. The actor captures exactly what the Telegram API provides without merging or altering message structure. To reconstruct the post visually: - Use matching postId timestamps - Optionally merge adjacent records if they share a context --- ## Update (2025-10-10) ✅ Fixed AUTH_KEY_DUPLICATED by adding a per-session lock (prevents concurrent reuse of the same Telegram auth key). ✅ Improved error messages for session conflicts. ✅ Internal stability tweaks for Telegram requests and media downloads. ## Changelog 2025-12-05 ✅ Added explicit handling and logging for Telegram contacts.ResolveUsername FloodWait errors. ✅ When Telegram returns a FloodWait, the actor now stops processing further channels in that run and adds a telegram_rate_limit record to the dataset with a human-readable explanation. ✅ Limited the number of channels processed per run to 10 to reduce the risk of hitting global FloodWait on the shared Telegram session. ✅ Updated input description to recommend no more than 10 channels per run and documented this behavior in the README. --- ## 🔐 License & Usage This actor is a proprietary paid product. - ❗ It is not open source - 📦 It is licensed for private and commercial use only by subscribers - 🛑 Any unauthorized copying, reselling, or redistribution is strictly prohibited - 🧑‍💻 All activity is logged for abuse prevention and fair use enforcement To get access or report a bug, please contact the creator. --- Made with 💙 for Telegram research & automation.