tg

name	tg
description	Send text messages and files to a configured Telegram chat (group, channel, or DM with bot). Supports forum/topic groups. Reads bot token + chat ID from ~/.claude/.env so the skill itself contains no secrets.

Telegram Send

Send text messages and files to a Telegram chat via bot API. Works for groups, channels, DMs with the bot, and forum/topic groups.

Usage: /tg <message or filepath> [caption]

Examples:

• /tg Hello world — send a text message
• /tg Build deployed successfully to staging — send a text message
• /tg /path/to/screenshot.png — send a photo
• /tg /path/to/report.pdf Here is the report — send a document with caption
• /tg C:\path\to\file.txt Check this log — Windows paths work too

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First-time setup

This skill ships with no credentials. Configure it once per machine, then it works forever.

1. Create a bot

Open Telegram, message @BotFather, send /newbot, follow the prompts. You get a bot token that looks like 123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz....

2. Add the bot to the chat where you want messages

• Group / supergroup: add the bot as a member, then send any message in the group (use @yourbot ping if the group has privacy mode on).
• Channel: make the bot an admin.
• DM with the bot: send /start to the bot.

3. Find the chat ID

source ~/.claude/.env
curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/getUpdates" | python -m json.tool

Look for "chat": { "id": ... } in the response. Group/supergroup IDs are negative and start with -100. Save it.

For forum/topic groups only: open the topic in Telegram, copy the URL — it looks like https://t.me/c/<chat_id_no_-100>/<topic_id>. The second number is TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID.

4. Save credentials to ~/.claude/.env

Copy the template from ~/.claude/skills/tg/.env.example and fill in the values. The skill reads from ~/.claude/.env (a single shared env file across all your skills) — never from the skill folder itself, so the skill stays free of personal data.

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=<token from @BotFather>
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=<chat id, e.g. -1001234567890>
TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID=<optional, only for forum topics>

5. Verify

source ~/.claude/.env
curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/getMe"

If "ok":true and a bot info object comes back, you're set. If "ok":false, "error_code":401, the token is wrong or revoked — reset it with @BotFather.

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Skill instructions (for the agent)

1. Parse the arguments

• If the first argument (first word, or first quoted path) resolves to an existing file on disk → send as file. Everything after the file path is the caption.
• Otherwise → send the entire argument string as a text message.

2. Load config

source ~/.claude/.env

Required: TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID. Optional: TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID.

If a required var is missing, tell the user to follow the First-time setup section above and point them at ~/.claude/skills/tg/.env.example.

3. Send a text message

source ~/.claude/.env
THREAD_FIELD=""
[ -n "$TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID" ] && THREAD_FIELD=",\"message_thread_id\":$TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID"
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
  --data-binary "{\"chat_id\":\"$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID\"$THREAD_FIELD,\"text\":\"$MESSAGE\",\"parse_mode\":\"Markdown\"}")
echo "$RESPONSE"

Notes:

• Use --data-binary (not -d) so curl preserves UTF-8 bytes verbatim. On Windows Git Bash, -d can mangle multi-byte characters (em-dash, Hebrew, emoji) and trigger Bad Request: strings must be encoded in UTF-8.
• $MESSAGE must already be JSON-escaped (escape ", \, newlines). For complex strings, write the JSON to a tmp file and pass --data-binary @tmp.json.

4. Send a file

Determine the API endpoint by file extension:

• Images (.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, .webp) → sendPhoto, field photo=@<filepath>
• Everything else → sendDocument, field document=@<filepath>

For images:

source ~/.claude/.env
TOPIC_ARG=()
[ -n "$TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID" ] && TOPIC_ARG=(-F "message_thread_id=$TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID")
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -F "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  "${TOPIC_ARG[@]}" \
  -F "photo=@$FILEPATH" \
  -F "caption=$CAPTION" \
  "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendPhoto")
echo "$RESPONSE"

For documents:

source ~/.claude/.env
TOPIC_ARG=()
[ -n "$TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID" ] && TOPIC_ARG=(-F "message_thread_id=$TELEGRAM_TOPIC_ID")
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -F "chat_id=$TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  "${TOPIC_ARG[@]}" \
  -F "document=@$FILEPATH" \
  -F "caption=$CAPTION" \
  "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/sendDocument")
echo "$RESPONSE"

5. Check the response

• "ok": true → report success: "Message sent to Telegram" or "File sent to Telegram"
• "ok": false → show the "description" field from the error
• 401 Unauthorized from any endpoint → the token is invalid or revoked. Tell the user to get a new one from @BotFather.
• 400 Bad Request: chat not found → the bot isn't in the chat, or TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID is wrong. Re-run setup step 3.

6. Error cases to handle before calling the API

• File path provided but file doesn't exist → "File not found: <path>"
• No arguments provided → show usage examples
• Missing env vars → show setup instructions

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Limits

Telegram Bot API caps:

• Photos: 10 MB max
• Documents: 50 MB max

If a file exceeds these, inform the user before attempting the upload.

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Why config lives in ~/.claude/.env, not in this skill

This skill is intended to be portable / shareable. Keeping credentials in ~/.claude/.env (a per-user file, not part of the skill) means:

• The skill folder can be committed to git or shared publicly without leaking secrets.
• Multiple skills (Slack, ElevenLabs, etc.) can share one env file.
• A new user only needs .env.example as a template — the skill itself never changes per user.