Interactive setup wizard for connecting Telegram to Claude Code via telegram-mcp.
Guides users through the entire process: getting API credentials, generating session string,
storing credentials securely, and registering the MCP server.
Triggers: "setup telegram", "connect telegram to claude", "telegram mcp setup",
"install telegram-mcp", "telegram integration", "telegram for claude"
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name
telegram-mcp-setup
description
Interactive setup wizard for connecting Telegram to Claude Code via telegram-mcp.
Guides users through the entire process: getting API credentials, generating session string,
storing credentials securely, and registering the MCP server.
Triggers: "setup telegram", "connect telegram to claude", "telegram mcp setup",
"install telegram-mcp", "telegram integration", "telegram for claude"
license
MIT
compatibility
Supports: macOS (primary), Windows (experimental).
Optional: Claude in Chrome extension for browser-guided setup of my.telegram.org.
Session generation: Python 3.10+ (lightest), Docker, or uv.
Connect your Telegram account to Claude Code so you can get message digests, search chat history, and draft replies — all from Claude.
Key Concepts (Glossary)
Before we start, here's what the technical terms mean:
MCP (Model Context Protocol) — the way Claude Code connects to external tools. Think of it as a "plugin system" for Claude.
Session string — an authentication token that lets the telegram-mcp tool access your Telegram account without you entering a code every time. It is MORE sensitive than a password (see Security section).
Docker — a tool that runs apps in isolated containers. Like a mini virtual machine. ~1GB download, ~4GB on disk.
API ID & API Hash — credentials you get from Telegram to register your "app." Free, takes 2 minutes.
Keychain (macOS) — Apple's built-in encrypted password storage. The security command is its terminal interface.
Terminal — the black window with a text prompt. On Mac: press Cmd+Space, type "Terminal", press Enter.
How Data Flows (Important)
Be transparent with the user about this:
telegram-mcp runs locally on the user's machine and fetches messages from Telegram servers.
When Claude processes those messages (summarize, search, draft replies), the message content is sent to Anthropic's API as part of the conversation.
The session token itself stays local — it never leaves the machine.
So: credentials = local only. Message content = sent to Anthropic when you ask Claude to process it. This is the same as copy-pasting messages into Claude manually.
Platform Router
Detect the user's OS first. Run:
uname -s # Darwin = macOS, Linux = Linux, MINGW/MSYS = Windows
macOS users: Follow the main workflow below.
Windows users: Direct them to references/windows-setup.md which is a self-contained guide. The instructions below are macOS-focused.
Python 3 available → Option QR (recommended) or Option B (lightest, no Docker needed)
Docker available → Option C (self-contained)
Nothing available → Install Python first: brew install python3 or download from python.org
Time Estimates (Honest)
Scenario
Time
Already have Python or Docker
10-15 min
Need to install Docker from scratch
30-45 min (1GB download + setup)
Need to install Python from scratch
15-25 min
Something goes wrong
Budget 1 hour
Tell the user upfront which scenario applies to them.
Step-by-Step Workflow
Step 1: Get Telegram API Credentials (~5 min)
Telegram requires every app to register — like getting a key card for a building. This is free.
If Claude in Chrome extension is available, use browser automation:
Open my.telegram.org:
Use tabs_create_mcp to open https://my.telegram.org
Tell the user:
"Please enter your phone number (with country code, e.g., +7...) in the browser and click 'Next'. You'll receive a verification code in Telegram — enter it on the page. Let me know when you're logged in."
Note: The site sometimes shows a CAPTCHA. If browser automation fails, ask the user to complete login manually.
After user confirms login, navigate to API tools:
Use navigate to go to https://my.telegram.org/apps
Check if app exists using get_page_text:
If "App api_id" is visible → extract existing credentials
If "Create new application" form is visible → help create new app
Short name: must be globally unique, 5-32 chars, letters only. Try the user's username + "claude" (e.g., "ivancloud"). If taken, add numbers.
Platform: "Desktop"
Description: optional
Extract credentials: Find "App api_id" (a number) and "App api_hash" (32-char hex string).
If no browser extension, guide the user to do this manually — it's straightforward.
Verification: User should have two values: a numeric API ID and a 32-character API Hash.
Step 2: Generate Session String (~3-5 min)
IMPORTANT: This step requires an interactive terminal. Claude Code's Bash tool does not support interactive input. Instruct the user to open a separate Terminal window and run the commands there. Tell them:
"Open Terminal (Cmd+Space, type 'Terminal', press Enter). You'll run a Python script that asks for your phone number, verification code, and 2FA password if you have one."
IMPORTANT: If the user has 2FA enabled, they must know their 2FA password BEFORE starting. If they've forgotten it, they need to recover it via Telegram Settings first. This step cannot proceed without it.
WARNING: Telegram may silently suppress verification codes. Since February 2023, some accounts never receive SMS or in-app codes when authenticating new sessions — Telegram returns success but the code never arrives. This is a known upstream issue (Telethon #3835, #4041, #4050) with no reliable workaround. If the verification code doesn't arrive within 2 minutes, use Option QR below — QR code login bypasses this problem entirely.
Option QR: QR Code Login (Recommended)
QR code login avoids both the verification code delivery problem and multi-line paste issues. Claude should write a temp script file using the Write tool.
Write this to /tmp/telegram-session-qr.py:
import asyncio, sys
asyncdefmain():
from telethon import TelegramClient
from telethon.sessions import StringSession
from telethon.errors import SessionPasswordNeededError
api_id = int(input('Enter API ID: '))
api_hash = input('Enter API Hash: ')
client = TelegramClient(StringSession(), api_id, api_hash)
await client.connect()
try:
import qrcode
has_qrcode = Trueexcept ImportError:
has_qrcode = Falseprint('Note: qrcode package not found — printing raw URL instead.')
print('You can paste the URL into any QR code generator.\n')
whileTrue:
qr_login = await client.qr_login()
if has_qrcode:
qr = qrcode.QRCode(error_correction=qrcode.constants.ERROR_CORRECT_L)
qr.add_data(qr_login.url)
qr.make(fit=True)
print('\nScan this QR code with Telegram on your phone:')
print('(Telegram > Settings > Devices > Link Desktop Device)\n')
qr.print_ascii(invert=True)
else:
print(f'\nOpen this URL in a QR code generator and scan with Telegram:')
print(f'{qr_login.url}\n')
print('(Telegram > Settings > Devices > Link Desktop Device)')
try:
print('\nWaiting for you to scan... (expires in 30s)')
await qr_login.wait(timeout=30)
breakexcept asyncio.TimeoutError:
print('\nQR code expired. Generating a new one...')
continueexcept SessionPasswordNeededError:
password = input('\n2FA is enabled. Enter your 2FA password: ')
await client.sign_in(password=password)
breakprint('\n=== YOUR SESSION STRING (copy everything below) ===')
print(client.session.save())
print('=== END SESSION STRING ===')
await client.disconnect()
asyncio.run(main())
Then instruct the user to run in their separate Terminal:
The user scans the QR code in Telegram (Settings > Devices > Link Desktop Device), enters 2FA password if prompted, and gets the session string.
Option B: Python + venv (Lightest — no Docker needed)
Note: Homebrew Python 3.12+ blocks bare pip3 install with a "externally-managed-environment" error (PEP 668). The venv below avoids this.
Claude should write this to /tmp/telegram-session-gen.py using the Write tool:
from telethon.sync import TelegramClient
from telethon.sessions import StringSession
api_id = int(input('Enter API ID: '))
api_hash = input('Enter API Hash: ')
with TelegramClient(StringSession(), api_id, api_hash) as client:
print('\n=== YOUR SESSION STRING (copy everything below) ===')
print(client.session.save())
print('=== END SESSION STRING ===')
Then instruct the user to run in their separate Terminal:
# First pull takes 1-3 min depending on internet speed
docker run -it --rm bayramannakov/telegram-mcp:latest python session_string_generator.py
Note: Docker Desktop must be running. If not installed, it's a ~1GB download and needs ~4GB disk space.
Option D: Python + uv (if uv is available)
# Install uv if needed (prefer Homebrew over curl|sh):
brew install uv
# OR: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh# Clone repo and generate session
git clone https://github.com/chigwell/telegram-mcp.git ~/telegram-mcp
cd ~/telegram-mcp && uv sync
uv run python session_string_generator.py
The user will be prompted for:
API ID (from Step 1)
API Hash (from Step 1)
Phone number (with country code: +7...) — not needed for Option QR
Verification code (arrives in Telegram app — check all devices) — not needed for Option QR
2FA password (if enabled)
If the verification code doesn't arrive (Options B/C/D): Wait 2 full minutes. Check ALL Telegram sessions (phone, desktop, web). Do NOT request new codes repeatedly — this triggers rate limiting. If nothing arrives after 2 minutes, cancel (Ctrl+C) and use Option QR instead.
Verification: The output is a long string of ~300-400 characters (letters, numbers, +, /, =). If it's shorter than 100 characters, something went wrong. Ask the user to copy it carefully — trailing whitespace or missing characters will cause silent failures later.
Step 3: Store Credentials in Keychain (~1 min)
On macOS, we use Keychain — Apple's encrypted password storage. The security command is its terminal interface.
Claude should run these commands automatically, substituting the user's actual values:
# Store API ID (the -U flag updates if entry already exists)
security add-generic-password -a "api_id" -s "telegram-mcp" -w "ACTUAL_API_ID" -U
# Store API Hash
security add-generic-password -a "api_hash" -s "telegram-mcp" -w "ACTUAL_API_HASH" -U
# Store Session String (use single quotes to handle special chars)
security add-generic-password -a "session_string" -s "telegram-mcp" -w 'ACTUAL_SESSION_STRING' -U
Replace USERNAME with the actual username (from whoami or $HOME).
Write the updated config back with the Write tool.
Fallback: If direct config editing isn't suitable, tell the user to run this in a separate Terminal (not inside Claude Code):
claude mcp add telegram-mcp -s user -- ~/.local/bin/telegram-mcp-docker
Verification:
python3 -c "import json; c=json.load(open('$HOME/.claude.json')); print('telegram-mcp' in c.get('mcpServers',{}))"
Should print True.
Important: If using Docker, Docker Desktop must be running every time the user uses Telegram in Claude Code. If they close Docker Desktop, Telegram tools will silently stop working. Tell the user this.
Step 5: Test Connection (~1 min)
Tell the user:
"Please restart Claude Code (close and reopen the terminal/app). Then ask me to show your Telegram chats."
After restart, test:
Use list_chats to verify the connection works.
Verification: A list of the user's Telegram chats should appear. If not, see Troubleshooting below.
Running multiple windows or scheduled jobs (avoid AuthKeyDuplicatedError)
Important: a single session string must never be used by two live connections at
once. The default stdio setup spawns one telegram-mcp process per Claude window, so
two open windows — or an interactive window plus a scheduled/headless job (e.g. a morning
brief) — both connect with the same key. Telegram then permanently kills the key
(AuthKeyDuplicatedError); only a re-issued session string recovers it.
If the user will run more than one window, or any scheduled/background job that reads
Telegram, set this up so it can't happen. Centralize (Option A) is the recommended
fix; a separate per-job session (Option B) is the no-Docker fallback.
Option A — Centralize over HTTP (recommended). Run telegram-mcp once as a
long-lived local service that every window + job shares, so there's only ever one
connection:
Then register in ~/.claude.json with the HTTP transport instead of the command
entry (and keep the port bound to 127.0.0.1 only — it's full account access):
Now all windows + jobs share one connection — the key can't duplicate and Telegram works
in every window at once. (MCP_TRANSPORT=sse + type:sse also works for older clients.)
Keep mode default (all) if you use drafts/sending.
Option B — Separate session per job (no-Docker fallback). Give each scheduled/headless
job its OWN session string: run the QR generator again, store it under a second Keychain
account (e.g. session_string_scheduler), and point only that job at it. Two different
keys never collide. Set TELEGRAM_DEVICE_MODEL when generating it so it's labeled in
Telegram > Settings > Devices.
Session String: Understanding the Risks
Be honest with users about what the session string can do. It is more sensitive than a password because:
A password needs 2FA to be useful. A session string bypasses 2FA — it is a post-authentication token.
It stays valid indefinitely until the session is explicitly terminated in Telegram.
There is no notification when someone uses a stolen session string.
If a session string is compromised, an attacker can:
Read ALL messages in every chat, group, and channel
Send messages as the user (to clients, partners, anyone)
Download all shared files, photos, and documents
Access the full contacts list
Join/leave groups, create channels
All of the above silently, without triggering any alert
Read-only mode (recommended for cautious setups): the image supports
TELEGRAM_EXPOSED_TOOLS=read-only, which exposes only read tools (get/list/search) and
hides every write/destructive tool (send, delete, ban, edit, draft, …). Set it as an env
var on the launcher/service. Caveat: if you use drafts or sending, keep the default
(all) — read-only hides save_draft/send_message. There is still no per-chat
filtering: in all mode Claude can read every chat. Consider a test account for
sensitive setups.
Complete Revocation Checklist
If the user suspects their session string was compromised, or simply wants to disconnect:
Terminate the session in Telegram: Settings > Privacy & Security > Active Sessions > find "Unknown" or the MCP session > Terminate. If unsure which one, use "Terminate All Other Sessions."
Delete credentials from Keychain:
security delete-generic-password -a "api_id" -s "telegram-mcp"
security delete-generic-password -a "api_hash" -s "telegram-mcp"
security delete-generic-password -a "session_string" -s "telegram-mcp"
Remove MCP registration:
claude mcp remove telegram-mcp
Delete the launcher script:
rm ~/.local/bin/telegram-mcp-docker
Optionally delete Docker image:
docker rmi bayramannakov/telegram-mcp:latest
Optionally revoke API credentials at https://my.telegram.org/apps (only if you suspect API ID/Hash were leaked too).
Troubleshooting
Pre-setup Issues
"I don't have Terminal / don't know how to open it"
On Mac: press Cmd+Space, type "Terminal", press Enter. A window with a text prompt appears — that's where commands go.
"I don't have Docker or Python"
Python is the lighter option. Install via: brew install python3 (if Homebrew is installed) or download from https://python.org. Docker is ~1GB download — only use it if you specifically want it.
"I don't have Homebrew"
Install: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Or skip Homebrew entirely — download Python directly from python.org.
"I don't have git"
Install Xcode CLI tools: xcode-select --install (this gives you git). Or skip git entirely and use Option A (pip) which doesn't need it.
Setup Issues
CAPTCHA on my.telegram.org
The site sometimes shows CAPTCHAs that browser automation can't handle. Have the user complete login manually in the browser, then extract API ID and Hash from the page.
Short name "already taken" when creating app
The short name must be globally unique. Try adding numbers: "claudebot123", or use the user's initials + "tgmcp".
Telegram sends code to wrong device
The code is sent to ALL active Telegram sessions. If the user's phone is unavailable, check Telegram Desktop, Web, or any other logged-in device. If no device is available, Telegram falls back to SMS after a delay.
2FA password forgotten
Cannot proceed without it. User must recover via Telegram Settings > Privacy > Two-Step Verification > Forgot Password (requires recovery email). If no recovery email was set, this is a dead end — consider using a different Telegram account.
Session generation hangs
Ctrl+C and retry. If Telegram is rate-limiting the phone number (e.g., too many code requests), the user may need to wait 1-24 hours.
"Could not find the input entity"
Chat ID format issue:
For users: use numeric ID or username without @
For channels: use username or numeric ID
For supergroups: prepend -100 to the numeric ID
"Docker daemon is not running"
Open Docker Desktop app and wait 1-2 minutes for it to start (whale icon in menu bar stops animating). First launch after install can take longer.
MCP server not appearing after registration
claude mcp remove telegram-mcp
claude mcp add telegram-mcp -s user -- ~/.local/bin/telegram-mcp-docker
claude mcp list
Then restart Claude Code.
Session expired / AUTH_KEY_UNREGISTERED
Regenerate session string using the same method from Step 2, then update Keychain:
security add-generic-password -a "session_string" -s "telegram-mcp" -w 'NEW_SESSION_STRING' -U
Security Best Practices
Never share session string — it gives full account access, bypassing 2FA
Use Keychain — avoid plaintext .env files when possible
Use draft mode — always save_draft, never auto-send messages
Check active sessions periodically — Telegram > Settings > Privacy > Active Sessions
Rotate every 90 days — regenerate session string as hygiene practice
Know the data flow — when Claude processes your messages, content goes to Anthropic's API for processing (same as pasting text into Claude manually)
Consider a test account first — if you have sensitive business chats, try setup with a secondary Telegram account before connecting your main one
