Telegram APIs
We offer two kinds of APIs for developers. The Bot API allows you to easily create programs that use Telegram messages for an interface. The Telegram API and TDLib allow you to build your own customized Telegram clients. You are welcome to use both APIs free of charge.
You can also add Telegram Widgets to your website.
Bot API
This API allows you to connect bots to our system. Telegram Bots are special accounts that do not require an additional phone number to set up. These accounts serve as an interface for code running somewhere on your server.
To use this, you don't need to know anything about how our MTProto encryption protocol works — our intermediary server will handle all encryption and communication with the Telegram API for you. You communicate with this server via a simple HTTPS-interface that offers a simplified version of the Telegram API.
Bot developers can also make use of our Payments API to accept payments from Telegram users around the world.
TDLib – build your own Telegram
Even if you‘re looking for maximum customization, you don’t have to create your app from scratch. Try our Telegram Database Library (or simply TDLib), a tool for third-party developers that makes it easy to build fast, secure and feature-rich Telegram apps.
TDLib takes care of all network implementation details, encryption and local data storage, so that you can dedicate more time to design, responsive interfaces and beautiful animations.
TDLib supports all Telegram features and makes developing Telegram apps a breeze on any platform. It can be used on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux and virtually any other system. The library is open source and compatible with virtually any programming language.
Telegram API
This API allows you to build your own customized Telegram clients. It is 100% open for all developers who wish to create Telegram applications on our platform. Feel free to study the open source code of existing Telegram applications for examples of how things work here. Don't forget to register your application in our system.
Getting started
Creating an application
How to get your application identifier and create a new Telegram app.
User authorization
How to register a user's phone to start using the API.
Two-factor authentication
How to login to a user's account if they have enabled 2FA, how to change password.
Error handling
How to handle API return errors correctly.
Handling different data centers
How to connect to the closest DC access point for faster interaction with the API, and things to watch out for when developing a client.
Handling updates
How to subscribe to updates and handle them properly.
Handling PUSH-notifications
How to subscribe and handle them properly.
Channels, supergroups and groups
How to handle channels, supergroups, groups, and what's the difference between them.
Calling methods
Additional options for calling methods.
Uploading and Downloading Files
How to transfer large data batches correctly.
Pagination
How to fetch results from large lists of objects.
Security
Secret chats, end-to-end encryption
New feature for end-to-end-encrypted messaging.
Security guidelines
Important checks required in your client application.
Perfect Forward Secrecy
Binding temporary authorization key to permanent ones.
Optimization
Client optimization
Ways to boost API interactions.
API methods
Available method list
A list of available high-level methods.
API TL-schema, as JSON
Text and JSON-presentation of types and methods used in API.
Available layer list
A list of available schema versions.
Other articles
Admin, banned and default rights for channels, supergroups and groups
How to handle admin permissions, granular bans and global permissions in channels, groups and supergroups.
Min constructors
Sometimes, user and channel constructors met in group chat updates may not contain full info about the user: how to handle such constructors.
Account deletion
How to reset an account if the 2FA password was forgotten.
Telegram Passport
How to work with Telegram Passport directly using the MTProto API.
Telegram Payments
How to work with Telegram Payments directly using the MTProto API.
Styled text with message entities
How to create styled text with message entities
Message drafts
How to handle message drafts
Top peer rating
If enabled, the rating of top peers indicates the relevance of a frequently used peer in a certain category (frequently messaged users, frequently used bots, inline bots, frequently visited channels and so on).
Handling file references
How to handle file references.
Seamless Telegram Login
Handle Seamless Telegram Login URL authorization requests.
Web events
When interacting with HTML5 games and the websites of payment gateways, Telegram apps should expose the following JS APIs.