Telegram to Bale Forwarder

A Python bot that automatically forwards messages from Telegram to Bale messenger with support for text formatting, inline links, media groups, and inline keyboards.

Features

• Forward text messages with proper link formatting
• Forward single photos and media groups
• Support for inline keyboards (buttons)
• Automatic text cleaning and formatting
• UTF-16 to UTF-8 text entity conversion
• Retry mechanisms for failed requests
• Environment variable configuration
• Comprehensive logging

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• Telegram Bot Token
• Bale Bot Token
• Target Bale chat/channel ID

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/telegram-bale-forwarder.git
cd telegram-bale-forwarder

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Create your configuration file:

cp .env.example .env

4. Edit .env file with your bot tokens:

nano .env

Configuration

Edit the .env file with your bot credentials:

# Telegram Bot Token (get from @BotFather)
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token_here

# Bale Bot Token (get from Bale BotFather)
BALE_BOT_TOKEN=your_bale_bot_token_here

# Bale target chat ID (channel username with @ or chat ID)
BALE_CHAT_ID=@your_bale_channel_or_chat_id

Usage

Run the bot:

python main.py

The bot will:

1. Connect to both Telegram and Bale APIs
2. Start polling for new messages
3. Forward messages with proper formatting
4. Log all activities to telegram_bale_forwarder.log

To stop the bot, press Ctrl+C.

How It Works

1. Message Detection: Bot polls Telegram API for new messages
2. Link Processing: Extracts and formats inline links using UTF-16 entity data
3. Media Handling: Downloads photos and forwards them as media groups or single photos
4. Keyboard Support: Converts Telegram inline keyboards to Bale format
5. Text Cleaning: Removes problematic Unicode characters and formats text
6. Error Handling: Retries failed requests and falls back to plain text if markdown fails

Supported Message Types

• ✅ Text messages with inline links
• ✅ Single photos with captions
• ✅ Media groups (multiple photos)
• ✅ Messages with inline keyboards
• ✅ Mentions (@username)
• ✅ URL entities

Logging

The bot creates detailed logs in telegram_bale_forwarder.log including:

• Connection status
• Message processing details
• Error messages and retry attempts
• Success/failure status for each forward operation

Troubleshooting

Bot not receiving messages

• Ensure the Telegram bot token is correct
• Verify the bot is added to the source chat/channel
• Check that the bot has permission to read messages

Messages not appearing in Bale

• Verify Bale bot token is correct
• Ensure the bot is added to the target Bale chat/channel
• Check chat ID format (@channel_name or numeric ID)

Link formatting issues

• The bot automatically handles Persian/Arabic text with proper UTF-16 conversion
• Links are converted to Markdown format with proper spacing

Security Notes

• Keep your .env file private and never commit it to version control
• The .env.example file is safe to share as it contains no real tokens
• Bot tokens provide full access to your bots - treat them like passwords

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.