Telegram MCP Server

Remote control AI coding assistants (Claude Code / Codex) via Telegram

English | 简体中文

Why This Project?

Have you ever encountered these scenarios:

• 💤 Late at night in bed, you suddenly think of a bug that needs fixing, but don't want to get up and open your laptop?
• 🚇 On your commute, you want AI to refactor code for you, but your laptop isn't with you?
• 🏢 Multiple Claude Code or Codex sessions running on remote servers, and you want to check their progress anytime?
• ⏰ Long-running tasks (testing, building, refactoring) that take hours, but you don't want to sit in front of the computer?

Telegram MCP Server was created to solve these problems!

Through the MCP (Model Context Protocol), this project allows you to:

• 📱 Anytime, anywhere view and control AI coding assistants via Telegram
• 🔄 Multi-session management: Use screen on remote servers to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• 🌙 True unattended mode: Wait up to 7 days with smart polling, minimal system resources
• 💬 Simple interaction: Send messages via Telegram to give AI assistants next instructions

Perfect for:

• 24/7 remote servers
• Long-running tasks
• Multi-project parallel development
• Remote work from anywhere

Features

• 🌙 True Unattended Mode - Wait up to 7 days with smart progressive polling
• 📱 Remote Control - Control AI assistants from anywhere via Telegram
• 🔄 Two-way Communication - Send notifications, receive replies, continuous dialogue
• 📁 File Operations - View and download project files
• 🎯 Multi-session Management - Manage multiple projects simultaneously
• 🤖 Universal Support - Works with both Claude Code and Codex

⚡ Quick Start (New Users)

Installation & Setup (One Command)

# Use uvx (recommended, no installation needed, always latest version)
uvx --refresh telegram-mcp-server@latest --setup

This will:

1. ✅ Download the latest version from PyPI
2. ✅ Guide you through Telegram Bot setup
3. ✅ Auto-configure Claude Code / Codex / Gemini CLI
4. ✅ Test the connection

That's it! 🎉

Verify Installation

# Check version (should be 0.2.1 or higher)
uvx telegram-mcp-server@latest --version

Expected output:

telegram-mcp-server version 0.2.1
https://github.com/batianVolyc/telegram-mcp-server

📖 Detailed Installation

Method 1: Using uvx (Recommended)

# Always use latest version
uvx telegram-mcp-server@latest --setup

# Or using pip
pip install telegram-mcp-server

2. Setup

Option A: Automatic Setup (Recommended)

telegram-mcp-server --setup

Interactive wizard will help you:

• Create Telegram Bot
• Get credentials
• Auto-configure AI assistant

Option B: Manual Setup with mcp add

If you already have your Telegram Bot Token and Chat ID, you can quickly add using the mcp add command:

Claude Code:

claude mcp add \
  --transport stdio \
  telegram \
  --env TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=YOUR_TOKEN_HERE \
  --env TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=YOUR_CHAT_ID_HERE \
  -- \
  uvx telegram-mcp-server

Codex:

codex mcp add telegram \
  --env TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=YOUR_TOKEN_HERE \
  --env TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=YOUR_CHAT_ID_HERE \
  -- \
  npx -y telegram-mcp-server

Gemini CLI:

gemini mcp add telegram uvx telegram-mcp-server \
  -e TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=YOUR_TOKEN_HERE \
  -e TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=YOUR_CHAT_ID_HERE

💡 Tip: Replace YOUR_TOKEN_HERE and YOUR_CHAT_ID_HERE with your actual values

3. Usage

# Recommended: Start with bypass permissions mode
# Avoid interruptions due to permission confirmations during AI-Telegram interaction
# Note: Cannot run as root due to security mechanisms

# Claude Code
claude --permission-mode bypassPermissions

# Codex
codex --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox

# Gemini CLI (YOLO mode - auto-approve all MCP calls)
gemini --yolo

# In the AI assistant
> Enter unattended mode. Task: analyze project structure

Check results in Telegram and continue the conversation!

How It Works

AI Assistant (Claude Code/Codex)
  ↓ MCP Protocol
MCP Server (telegram-mcp-server)
  ├─ 8 tools (notify, wait, file operations, etc.)
  └─ Telegram Bot (background process)
      ↓ Telegram API
Your Telegram Client

Core Features

MCP Tools (8 tools)

• telegram_notify - Send structured notifications (recommended)
• telegram_wait_reply - Wait for user reply (blocking poll)
• telegram_unattended_mode - Unattended mode (smart loop)
• telegram_send_code - Send code (with syntax highlighting)
• telegram_send_image - Send images
• telegram_send_file - Send files
• telegram_send - Send free-form messages
• telegram_get_context_info - Get session context info

Telegram Commands (6 commands)

• /sessions - List all sessions
• /status <id> - Check session status
• /to <id> <msg> - Send message to session
• /file <id> <path> - View file
• /delete <id> - Delete session
• /help - Show help

Smart Polling

Progressive polling strategy, wait up to 7 days:

Use Cases

Scenario 1: Overnight Tasks

# 10 PM
> Enter unattended mode. Task: run full test suite and fix all errors

# 8 AM - check results in Telegram

Scenario 2: Remote Work

# At office
> Enter unattended mode. Task: refactor database access layer

# On the road - monitor and control via Telegram

Scenario 3: Multi-project Management (Remote Server + screen)

# SSH to remote server
ssh user@server

# Create multiple screen sessions
screen -S project-a
cd /path/to/project-a
TELEGRAM_SESSION="proj-a" claude --permission-mode bypassPermissions
# Ctrl+A D to detach

screen -S project-b
cd /path/to/project-b
TELEGRAM_SESSION="proj-b" codex --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox
# Ctrl+A D to detach

# Manage both projects in Telegram
# Sessions keep running even after closing SSH

Scenario 4: Late Night in Bed

# During the day, start session on server
screen -S night-task
TELEGRAM_SESSION="night-fix" claude --permission-mode bypassPermissions

# At night in bed, send commands via Telegram
/to night-fix Fix null pointer exception in auth.py

# Next morning, check results
/status night-fix

Configuration

Claude Code

Supports three configuration scopes:

MCP Server Configuration:

• User scope: ~/.claude.json - Global config
• Project scope: .mcp.json - Team shared
• Local scope: .claude.json - Project specific

Environment Variables (auto-configured):

• ~/.claude/settings.json - Contains MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT=604800000 (7-day timeout)

Codex

Global config: ~/.codex/config.toml

Auto-includes tool_timeout_sec = 604800 (7 days timeout)

Environment Variables

# Custom session name
TELEGRAM_SESSION="my-task" claude

# Custom max wait time
TELEGRAM_MAX_WAIT=86400 claude  # 24 hours

# Custom poll intervals
TELEGRAM_POLL_INTERVAL="10,30,60" claude

Troubleshooting

Issue: Telegram Bot Not Responding

# Check logs
tail -f /tmp/telegram-mcp-server.log

# Quick fix
cd telegram-mcp-server
./quick_fix.sh

Issue: Codex 60s Timeout

# Auto fix
./fix_codex_timeout.sh

Issue: Session Not Registered

# Reconfigure
telegram-mcp-server --setup

Documentation

• Configuration Guide - Detailed configuration
• Polling Mechanism - Smart polling explained
• Troubleshooting - Common issues
• How MCP Works - Technical architecture

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Claude Code or Codex
• Telegram account

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md

License

MIT License - see LICENSE

Support

• 🐛 Report Issues
• 💬 Discussions
• ⭐ Star if you find it useful!

Let AI coding assistants work for you, not you waiting for them 🚀