You’ve lost a chat before.
Maybe it was a group you cared about. Or a DM with real info. Or just something you meant to save but forgot.
Telegram doesn’t back things up for you. Not really. And manual exports?
They’re slow. Fragile. Easy to forget.
I’ve watched people lose months of history because they waited too long.
That’s why I built and ran automated Telegram archives for years. Not as a demo, not as a side project, but as daily infrastructure.
How to Set up Tgarchiveconsole is the only thing I trust for this.
It’s command-line. Yes. But it’s also predictable.
Reliable. Built to run without babysitting.
I’ll walk you through every step. Even if you’ve never typed pip install before.
By the end, you’ll have a working archive (pulling) new messages, saving media, keeping everything safe.
No guesswork. No “just try this.” Just what works.
Step 1: Python, Pip, and Telegram Keys
Tgarchiveconsole is a Python tool. Not Java. Not Node.
Python.
You need Python installed. And pip. That’s it.
Open your terminal and run this:
python --version
If you get nothing. Or an error (you) don’t have Python. Go fix that first.
(No, “Python 2” doesn’t count.)
Then run:
pip --version
Same deal. If it fails, install pip too.
Once both work, install the tool:
pip install tgarchive
Now the hard part: your Telegram API keys.
Go to my.telegram.org. Log in with your phone number.
Click API development tools.
Fill out the form. App title? Call it “tgarchive”.
Short name? “tgarchive”. URL? Leave blank.
You’ll get an apiid and apihash. Copy both.
These are not passwords. They’re keys to your Telegram account. Treat them like house keys.
Don’t paste them in GitHub. Don’t email them. Don’t post them in Slack.
I’ve seen people leak these in public repos. Then their accounts get hijacked. It happens.
How to Set up Tgarchiveconsole starts here (no) shortcuts.
Keep those keys safe. Or don’t use this at all.
Step 2: Your config.ini File. Don’t Skip This
This file runs everything. No exaggeration. If it’s wrong, nothing works right.
I create mine in the same folder as tgarchiveconsole. Right there. No subfolders.
No guessing.
Name it exactly config.ini. Not config.txt. Not config.ini.example.
Just config.ini.
Here’s the [telegram] section:
apiid: Paste the number from Step 1. Not the string. Just the digits. apihash: Paste the long hex string from Step 1.
Copy all of it. No spaces, no line breaks. phone: Use full international format. Like +15551234567.
Not 555-123-4567. Not 15551234567. The plus sign is required. session: Pick a simple name like my_archive.session. This saves your login.
Without it, you’ll re-authenticate every time. Annoying. Unnecessary.
Now [archive]:
datadir: This is where everything goes. I use ./data. It creates a data folder right next to tgarchiveconsole. downloadmedia: Set this to true only if you actually want photos and videos saved.
It eats space fast. (I keep mine false unless I’m archiving a channel with zero text.)
mediadir: Only matters if downloadmedia = true. Put it inside data_dir, like media.
So your images land in ./data/media.
You need all these lines. No missing brackets. No typos.
Ini files are picky.
Here’s a clean template. Copy it. Paste it.
Fill in your values:
“`ini
[telegram]
api_id = 1234567
api_hash = abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789
phone = +15551234567
session = my_archive.session
[archive]
data_dir = ./data
download_media = false
media_dir = media
“`
Save it. Double-check spelling. Then run the tool.
How to Set up Tgarchiveconsole starts here. Not at the command line. It starts with this file.
Get it right. Or you’ll waste an hour debugging something that took two minutes to fix.
Pro tip: Open config.ini in a plain text editor (not) Word or Pages. Those add invisible characters. Notepad or VS Code only.
Step 3: Your First Archive Sync (It’s) Not Magic, It’s Just
Open your terminal. Right now.
Type this: tgarchiveconsole --sync
Hit enter. Don’t overthink it.
You’ll see a prompt for your phone number. Enter it. No +1?
Do it anyway.
Then Telegram sends you a login code. Paste it in.
If you use two-factor auth? Yes, you’ll type that password too. (I hate typing it every time.
So does everyone.)
You can read more about this in Tgarchiveconsole Pre-Orders.
The tool starts syncing. You’ll see lines scroll. Timestamps.
Message counts. A progress bar that actually moves.
It feels slow at first. That’s normal. Your first sync pulls everything.
Want to sync just one chat? Try this:
tgarchiveconsole --sync --group 'Linux Nerds'
Replace 'Linux Nerds' with your group name or ID. Names work. IDs work better if the name has spaces or weird characters.
Once done, run: tgarchiveconsole --build
That turns raw data into static HTML files. Your personal archive website.
You’ll get output like:
Built 42 pages
Wrote index.html
Done.
That’s it. No fanfare. No “success!” banner.
Just clean output.
How to Set up Tgarchiveconsole? Start here. Run those two commands.
Done.
Tgarchiveconsole pre orders are open if you want early access to new features and priority support.
Don’t wait for perfection. Sync first. Tweak later.
Advanced Tips and Common Troubleshooting
FLOODWAITX isn’t an error. It’s Telegram saying slow down. You hit their API limit.
Wait. That’s it. No config change.
No restart. Just wait X seconds.
I’ve watched people spend hours rewriting scripts when they just needed a coffee break. (True story.)
Cron jobs fix this long-term. On Linux or macOS, add this to your crontab:
0 /usr/local/bin/tgarchiveconsole --sync
That runs once per hour. No flooding.
No panic.
Windows users (yes,) Task Scheduler works. Yes, it’s clunky. But it gets the job done.
The --format flag changes how output looks. json is for machines. html is for you.
Pick json if you’re piping into another tool. Pick html if you want to open it in a browser and actually read it.
Need a proxy? Set http_proxy=http://your-proxy:8080 before running the command. Works instantly.
No flags needed.
You’ll run into version drift fast. If things stop working, check your install.
How to Update Tgarchiveconsole covers that in two minutes flat.
Always use the latest stable release.
Old versions break silently. You won’t know until it’s too late.
How to Set up Tgarchiveconsole? Start here (then) update.
Your Telegram Data Is Yours Again
I’ve seen too many people lose months of work chats. Or family photos. Or that one key document they swore they saved.
You’re not powerless here.
With How to Set up Tgarchiveconsole, you stop begging Telegram for access. You grab your data (full) history, files, media. And keep it safe offline.
No more “oops I deleted the group.” No more “where did that PDF go?”
It’s three commands. One config file. Done.
You’ll search your backups like Google. You’ll open them without internet. You’ll know exactly where everything lives.
Still worried about forgetting a backup? Set up cron. Let it run while you sleep.
Most people wait until it’s too late.
You won’t.
Open your terminal now.
Run tgarchiveconsole --sync.
Your first backup starts in under 30 seconds.