tgcast

Lightweight Telegram Bot API broadcast engine for Python.

• Self-contained — no external server, just pip install and go
• Priority queues with weighted round-robin (5:3:1) and starvation prevention
• Rate limiting — global + per-chat token buckets, auto-adapts to Telegram 429
• Campaigns — broadcast to millions in batches, crash-safe with idempotent enqueue
• SQLite — WAL mode, single-file, zero config
• Templates — YAML with locale fallback, or plug in your own renderer
• Media — send photos and documents (file_id, URL, or local path)

Intended use: transactional notifications and opt-in messaging. Please respect Telegram Bot API policies.

Install

pip install tgcast

For YAML templates:

pip install tgcast[templates]

Requires Python 3.11+.

Quickstart

import os
import signal
from tgcast import Telecast, Task

eng = Telecast(bot_token=os.environ["BOT_TOKEN"])
eng.start()

task_id = eng.enqueue(Task(
    chat_id=123456789,
    text="Hello from tgcast!",
))
print(f"Enqueued: {task_id}")

signal.pause()
eng.shutdown()

Or as a context manager:

with Telecast(bot_token="...") as eng:
    eng.enqueue(Task(chat_id=123, text="Hi!"))

See examples/ for more.

API

# Lifecycle
eng = Telecast(bot_token="...", store_dsn="tgcast.db")
eng.start()
eng.shutdown()

# Tasks
task_id = eng.enqueue(Task(...))
status = eng.task_status(task_id)

# Campaigns
cid = eng.create_campaign(CampaignConfig(name="...", template_key="..."))
eng.add_recipients(cid, [Recipient(chat_id=1), ...])
eng.start_campaign(cid)
eng.pause_campaign(cid)
stats = eng.campaign_stats(cid)

# Dead-letter queue
tasks, total = eng.dlq_list(limit=20, offset=0)
eng.dlq_requeue(task_id)

Templates

YAML with locale fallback (exact -> base -> en):

welcome:
  en: "Hello, {name}!"
  ru: "Привет, {name}!"

eng = Telecast(
    bot_token="...",
    templates_path="templates.yaml",
)
eng.enqueue(Task(
    chat_id=123,
    template_key="welcome",
    locale="ru",
    vars={"name": "Иван"},
))

Or a custom renderer:

class MyRenderer:
    def render(self, key: str, locale: str, vars: dict) -> str:
        return f"Hi {vars['name']}!"

eng = Telecast(bot_token="...", template_renderer=MyRenderer())

Media

from tgcast import Telecast, Task, TaskKind

eng.enqueue(Task(
    chat_id=123,
    kind=TaskKind.SEND_PHOTO,
    photo="https://cdn.example.com/banner.jpg",
    caption="Check this out!",
))

eng.enqueue(Task(
    chat_id=123,
    kind=TaskKind.SEND_DOCUMENT,
    document="/path/to/report.pdf",
    caption="Monthly report",
))

photo and document accept file_id, URL, or local file path.

Configuration

All parameters have sensible defaults. Only bot_token is required.

Idempotency

Set Task.idempotency_key to prevent duplicate sends:

eng.enqueue(Task(
    chat_id=123,
    text="Order confirmed",
    idempotency_key="order:456:confirmation",
))

Campaign tasks auto-generate keys: campaign:{id}:{chat_id}.

License

MIT