Send Telegram messages and files from the shell

TLDR

Send a text message

$ telegram "Hello, World."

Send with explicit token and chat id

$ telegram -t [BOT_TOKEN] -c [CHAT_ID] "Hello, World."

Send multi-line text via stdin (monospace)

$ ls -l | telegram -

Send Markdown

$ telegram -M "To *boldly* go, where _no man_ has gone before."

Send a file with a caption

$ telegram -f [results.txt] "Here are the results."

Send an image

$ telegram -i [photo.png]

Send a video

$ telegram -V [video.mp4]

List known chats (needs jq for pretty output)

$ telegram -t [BOT_TOKEN] -l

Read last received message

$ telegram -m

SYNOPSIS

telegram [-t *token*] [-c *chat_id*]... [-f *file* | -i *image* | -V *video*] [-M | -H] [*message* | -]

telegram (script from the telegram.sh project) sends messages, files, images, and videos through the Telegram Bot API using bash and curl. Typical uses are cron notifications, shipping small server files past awkward network paths, and piping command output to yourself.Create a bot with @BotFather, message the bot once from your client, then discover your chat_id with telegram -t *token* -l. Token and chat id can come from flags, environment variables (TELEGRAM_TOKEN, TELEGRAM_CHAT), or config files (see CONFIGURATION). Multiple -c values send to several chats.

PARAMETERS

-t *token*

Bot API token from BotFather.

-c *chat_id*

Destination chat id; repeatable for multiple chats.

-f *file*

Send a document/file.

-i *image*

Send a photo with preview.

-V *video*

Send a video file.

-M

Parse message as Markdown.

-H

Parse message as HTML (when supported by your script version).

-l

List known chats for the bot (jq improves formatting).

-m

Print the last received message: message id, sender id, chat id, text.

Read the message body from stdin (sent as monospace when piped).

*message*

Text to send; may include shell newlines.

Proxy: set HTTPS_PROXY (or put it in a config file) for curl-supported proxies such as socks5://127.0.0.1:1234.

CONFIGURATION

Settings are loaded in order (later wins):1. /etc/telegram.sh.conf2. ~/.telegram.sh3. ~/.telegram.sh.conf4. ./telegram.sh.conf (beside the script)5. Environment TELEGRAM_TOKEN / TELEGRAM_CHAT6. Command-line flagsExample file:

$ TELEGRAM_TOKEN="123456:AbcDefGhi-JlkMno"
TELEGRAM_CHAT="12345678"

Multiple chats can be defined as a bash array CHATS=(...). Keep the bot token secret.

CAVEATS

Only bash and curl are required; -l pretty-print needs jq. Message size and media types follow Telegram Bot API limits. Misconfigured tokens or chat ids fail at the API. This is not the official Telegram Desktop client (telegram-desktop).

RESOURCES

Source code

telegram