---

A lightweight Telegram bot that relays messages from a source channel to a target channel after a configurable delay. Messages that are deleted or edited before the delay expires are handled gracefully -- deleted messages are never forwarded, and edits are picked up automatically. State is persisted in SQLite so nothing is lost across restarts.

Features

• Configurable delay -- set any delay in seconds between receiving and forwarding a message.
• Copy or forward -- choose between copying (no "Forwarded from" header) or native forwarding.
• Batch processing -- processes messages in configurable batch sizes to handle bursts efficiently.
• Deleted message handling -- messages deleted from the source channel before the delay elapses are silently skipped.
• Edited message handling -- if a message is edited before being sent, the updated version is forwarded.
• Retention cleanup -- a daily job purges old database records after a configurable retention period.
• SQLite persistence -- all message state is stored on disk, surviving container restarts.
• Lightweight -- runs on python:3.12-alpine with minimal dependencies.

Quick Start

1. Create a Telegram Bot

1. Open a conversation with @BotFather on Telegram.
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to obtain your Bot Token.
3. Add the bot as an administrator to both the source and target channels.

2. Get Channel IDs

The easiest way is to forward a message from each channel to @userinfobot or use the Telegram API. Channel IDs are typically negative numbers (e.g., -1001234567890).

3. Deploy with Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  channel-delay-cloner:
    image: drumsergio/telegram-delay-channel-cloner:0.0.1
    environment:
      BOT_TOKEN: "<your-bot-token>"
      SOURCE_CHANNEL: "<source-channel-id>"
      TARGET_CHANNEL: "<target-channel-id>"
      DELAY: 3600        # 1 hour
      POLLING: 30         # check every 30 seconds
    volumes:
      - messages_db:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  messages_db:

Then start it:

docker compose up -d

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default	Required
BOT_TOKEN	Telegram Bot API token from BotFather	--	Yes
SOURCE_CHANNEL	Chat ID of the source channel	--	Yes
TARGET_CHANNEL	Chat ID of the target channel	--	Yes
DELAY	Delay in seconds before forwarding a message	10	Yes
POLLING	Interval in seconds between batch processing runs	5	No
COPY_MESSAGE	True to copy (no forward header), False to forward natively	True	No
DB_LOCATION	Path to the SQLite database file inside the container	/data/messages.db	No
RETENTION_PERIOD	Number of days to keep processed message records	7	No
BATCH_SIZE	Maximum number of messages to process per polling cycle	10	No

How It Works

Source Channel                          Target Channel
     |                                       ^
     |  new message                          |  copy/forward
     v                                       |
  [Bot receives message]                     |
     |                                       |
     +--> SQLite: store message_id     ------+
          with forward_time = now + DELAY
                    |
                    v
          [Polling job every N seconds]
          Selects messages where forward_time <= now
          Forwards batch, removes from DB

1. The bot listens for new posts in the source channel.
2. Each message is stored in SQLite with a forward_time set to now + DELAY.
3. A repeating job runs every POLLING seconds, selects messages whose delay has elapsed, and forwards them in batches of BATCH_SIZE.
4. If a message was deleted from the source before the delay expires, the Telegram API returns an error and the message is silently removed from the database.
5. A daily cleanup job at midnight removes records older than RETENTION_PERIOD days.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
Bot does not forward anything	Bot is not an admin in both channels	Add the bot as administrator to source and target channels
message_id_invalid errors	Message was deleted from source before delay elapsed	Expected behavior -- the bot skips deleted messages automatically
Messages forwarded instantly	DELAY is set too low	Increase DELAY to the desired number of seconds
Database locked errors	Multiple instances writing to the same volume	Ensure only one container instance runs against each database file
Bot crashes on startup	Missing required environment variables	Verify BOT_TOKEN, SOURCE_CHANNEL, TARGET_CHANNEL, and DELAY are set

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/GeiserX/telegram-delay-channel-cloner.git
cd telegram-delay-channel-cloner
docker build -t telegram-delay-channel-cloner .

More Telegram Tools

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telegram-slskd-local-bot	Automated music discovery and download via Telegram
jellyfin-telegram-channel-sync	Sync Jellyfin access with Telegram channel membership

Maintainers

• @GeiserX

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Open an issue or submit a pull request.

This project follows the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct.

License

MIT