tele-to-dc

A lightweight, self-hosted bot that automatically forwards messages from Telegram groups and channels to Discord. Runs as a single async process in Docker — no polling, event-driven, minimal footprint (~50–80 MB RAM). Works on Raspberry Pi.

• Forwards text, photos, videos, round videos (video notes), documents, audio, voice messages, stickers, polls, and albums
• Flexible many-to-many routing (many Telegram sources → many Discord channels)
• Smart media handling: re-uploads files under the size limit, uploads large files to catbox.moe (optional), or shows a "too large" notice
• Forwarded message attribution shown in embeds
• Optional admin-only /route slash commands for live route management
• Docker image built for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64

• Telegram API: Go to my.telegram.org/apps and create an app to get api_id and api_hash
• Discord bot token: Create a bot at discord.com/developers/applications. Invite it to your server with Send Messages, Embed Links, Attach Files permissions (and Use Application Commands if using slash commands)

mkdir data
cp config.example.yaml data/config.yaml

Edit data/config.yaml with your credentials and routes:

telegram:
  api_id: 12345678
  api_hash: "your_api_hash"

discord:
  token: "your_bot_token"
  commands_enabled: true   # set false to disable /route commands

routes:
  - name: "my-route"
    from:
      - -1001234567890     # Telegram channel/group ID
    to:
      - 987654321098765432  # Discord channel ID

To find Telegram chat IDs, forward a message to @userinfobot. For Discord channel IDs, enable Developer Mode and right-click the channel.

Telethon needs to authenticate with your Telegram account once:

docker compose run -it bot

Enter your phone number and the SMS code when prompted. The session is saved to ./data/ and reused on every future start.

docker compose up -d

Messages will forward automatically. No commands needed.

telegram:
  api_id: 12345678
  api_hash: "abc123"
  session_name: "tg_session"      # session file name in data/

discord:
  token: "your_token"
  commands_enabled: true           # false = pure forwarding, no slash commands

media:
  max_upload_size_mb: 25          # files under this are re-uploaded to Discord
  catbox_max_upload_size_mb: 200  # catbox.moe accepts uploads up to 200 MB
  max_file_size_mb: 200           # absolute ceiling; larger files are skipped (memory safety)
  catbox:
    enabled: false                 # upload large files to catbox.moe instead of showing a notice
    userhash: ""                   # optional catbox.moe account hash (empty = anonymous)

routes:
  - name: "route-name"
    from:
      - -1001234567890            # one or more Telegram chat IDs
    to:
      - 987654321098765432        # one or more Discord channel IDs
    # store: true                 # only with disk mode on: send AND keep the file in the cache dir

By default media is downloaded into RAM and uploaded from memory. To save memory on low-RAM hosts (e.g. Raspberry Pi), set these environment variables:

With disk mode on, temp files are deleted after forwarding unless the route sets store: true (send and keep). With disk mode off, everything stays in memory and store is ignored. Note: catbox restricts anonymous uploads from datacenter/server IPs (since Apr 2026) — if uploads fail from your server, create a free catbox account and set its userhash.

When commands_enabled: true, server administrators can manage routes without restarting:

Route changes are saved immediately but require a bot restart to take effect on the Telegram listener.

• Docker and Docker Compose
• A Telegram account (the bot reads as your account, not a bot account)
• A Discord bot token