export-telegram-group-members

Export Telegram group members using Telethon — admin auth required for full member visibility. Session and export history are stored in Redis, so you can run the tool on any device from just a .env file (no re-login, no copying session/CSV files).

How to use

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/tiennm99/export-telegram-group-members.git

2. Install requirements:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Create a new Telegram app at https://my.telegram.org and get the api_id and api_hash.
4. Create a free Redis database (e.g. Upstash) and copy its rediss:// connection URL.
5. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in API_ID, API_HASH, PHONE, GROUP_IDS, and REDIS_URL.
6. Run the script:

python main.py

The first run asks for the Telegram login code once, then stores the session in Redis. Any later run — on any device pointed at the same Redis — reuses that session and does not prompt again.

Configuration

Variable	Description
PHONE	Telegram account phone (e.g. +1234567890)
API_ID / API_HASH	From my.telegram.org
GROUP_IDS	Comma-separated group IDs to export
REDIS_URL	Redis connection string (rediss://default:<password>@<host>:<port>)
REDIS_PREFIX	Key namespace (default telegram-export); isolates keys when sharing Redis with other projects

How data is stored

All data lives in Redis under REDIS_PREFIX. No key references another, so deleting any key can never corrupt another's state:

<prefix>:session:<phone>                        -> StringSession string (login)
<prefix>:run:<phone>:<yyyymmddhhmmss>:<group_id> -> one group's export as JSON:
                                 { group_id, title, time,
                                   members: [{ id, username, first_name, last_name }] }

Each group is written as its own key per run; all groups in one run share the same yyyymmddhhmmss timestamp. Read the history programmatically:

from common import list_exports

for rec in list_exports():       # sorted by (time, group_id)
    print(rec['time'], rec['group_id'], rec['title'], len(rec['members']), 'members')

Rate limits and visibility notes

• Telegram limits how fast you can fetch participants; large groups may take longer.
• For supergroups, only admins can retrieve the full member list — regular members see a partial list or get an error.
• For private groups where you are not a member, access will be denied.

Security

• The session string grants full access to your Telegram account. It lives only in Redis (use a TLS rediss:// URL) and is never written to disk or committed to git.
• .env is git-ignored. Never commit your REDIS_URL or session string.

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE.