tdl
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Node.js bindings to TDLib (Telegram Database library)
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# tdl [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/tdl) [](https://github.com/eilvelia/tdl/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
`tdl` is a fairly simple JavaScript wrapper for [TDLib][] (Telegram Database library),
a library to create [Telegram][] clients or bots.
[TDLib]: https://github.com/tdlib/td
[Telegram]: https://telegram.org/
- [Requirements](#requirements)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Getting started](#getting-started)
- [API](#api)
- [Types](#types)
- [Other JavaScript runtimes](#other-javascript-runtimes)
- [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
- [Issue tracker](#issue-tracker)
<a name="requirements"></a>
## Requirements
- Node.js v16 or newer
- The tdjson shared library (`libtdjson.so` on Linux, `libtdjson.dylib` on macOS, `tdjson.dll` on Windows), of TDLib version 1.8.0 or newer
- In rare cases, a C++ compiler and Python installed to build the node addon[^1]
[^1]: `tdl` is packaged with pre-built addons for Windows (x86_64), GNU/Linux (x86_64, arm64; glibc >= 2.22), and macOS (x86_64, arm64; v10.14+). If a pre-built binary is not available for your system, then the node addon will be built using node-gyp, requiring Python and a C++ toolchain (C++14 is required) to be installed (on Windows, MSVS or Build Tools). Pass `--build-from-source` to never use the pre-built binaries. arm64 binaries are not tested in the CI. Linux binaries are statically linked against libstdc++.
<a name="installation"></a>
## Installation
1. Install tdl: `npm install tdl`
2. [Build][tdlib-building] TDLib or install pre-built TDLib libraries
(`npm install prebuilt-tdlib`)
3. If you use TypeScript, types for TDLib are installed separately,
see the [Types](#types) section
To use `tdl`, you need to get TDLib first, which is dynamically loaded by `tdl`.
The tdjson shared library should be present in the system search paths
(otherwise the path to libtdjson can be specified manually in `tdl.configure`).
> **Tip**: When building TDLib, the libraries can be installed into the system
> using `cmake --install .` (optionally specify the `--prefix` option, the
> default is `/usr/local`) after TDLib has been built successfully. This command
> may require `sudo`.
[tdlib-building]: https://github.com/tdlib/td#building
### prebuilt-tdlib
Instead of building TDLib from source, you can possibly install pre-built TDLib
libraries distributed through the `prebuilt-tdlib` npm package. An example of
using libraries from `prebuilt-tdlib` is present in the section below. The
supported systems are x86_64 & arm64 GNU/Linux, x86_64 & arm64 macOS, and
x86_64 Windows. To install `prebuilt-tdlib` for a specific TDLib version
instead of latest, for example v1.8.30, run `npm i prebuilt-tdlib@td-1.8.30`.
The available versions of `prebuilt-tdlib` can be found by running
`npm info prebuilt-tdlib dist-tags`. See the README of [prebuilt-tdlib][] for
additional information.
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/prebuilt-tdlib)
[prebuilt-tdlib]: packages/prebuilt-tdlib/README.md
<a name="getting-started"></a>
## Getting started
```javascript
const tdl = require('tdl')
// If libtdjson is not present in the system search paths, the path to the
// libtdjson shared library can be set manually, e.g.:
// tdl.configure({ tdjson: '/usr/local/lib/libtdjson.dylib' })
// The library directory can be set separate from the library name,
// example to search for libtdjson in the directory of the current script:
// tdl.configure({ libdir: __dirname })
// Instead of building TDLib yourself, the aforementioned prebuilt-tdlib can be
// used as follows:
// const { getTdjson } = require('prebuilt-tdlib')
// tdl.configure({ tdjson: getTdjson() })
const client = tdl.createClient({
apiId: 2222, // Your api_id
apiHash: '0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef' // Your api_hash
})
// Passing apiId and apiHash is mandatory,
// these values can be obtained at https://my.telegram.org/
client.on('error', console.error)
// Aside of receiving responses to your requests, the server can push to you
// events called "updates" which can be received as follows:
client.on('update', update => {
console.log('Received update:', update)
})
async function main () {
// Log in to a Telegram account. By default, with no arguments, this function will
// ask for phone number etc. in the console. Instead of logging in as a user,
// it's also possible to log in as a bot using `client.loginAsBot('<TOKEN>')`.
await client.login()
// Invoke a TDLib method. The information regarding TDLib method list and
// documentation is below this code block.
const me = await client.invoke({ _: 'getMe' })
console.log('My user:', me)
// Invoke some other TDLib method.
const chats = await client.invoke({
_: 'getChats',
chat_list: { _: 'chatListMain' },
limit: 10
})
console.log('A part of my chat list:', chats)
// Close the instance so that TDLib exits gracefully and the JS runtime can
// finish the process.
await client.close()
}
main().catch(console.error)
```
Instead of using CommonJS (`require('tdl')`), one can import `tdl` in an
EcmaScript module through the interoperability with CommonJS:
`import * as tdl from 'tdl'`. Or alternatively import specific functions
using `import { createClient } from 'tdl'`.
The API list of TDLib methods, which are called using `client.invoke`, can be found at, e.g.:
- https://core.telegram.org/tdlib/docs/annotated.html (possibly outdated)
- or in the [td_api.tl][] file in the TDLib repository.
[td_api.tl]: https://github.com/tdlib/td/blob/d93a99e3351db82573d765ce4f5e84714c277518/td/generate/scheme/td_api.tl
In the TDLib documentation, the `bytes` type means a **base64-encoded** string.
`int64` accepts either a number or a string, pass string for large numbers.
`int32`, `int53`, and `double` are the number JS type.
If TypeScript types for TDLib are installed, note the types are annotated
with jsdoc comments, and the documentation can also be browsed directly in the
`.d.ts` file or in the autocompletion menu of the editor.
See also https://core.telegram.org/tdlib/getting-started for some basic
information on how to use TDLib (tdl handles the authorization part with
`client.login`). Note that the TDLib JSON interface actually sends a `@type`
field, but tdl renames it to `_`.
<!-- TODO: Add a guide on how to read the tl schema or similar? -->
Some short examples are available in the [examples/](examples/) directory.
<a name="api"></a>
## API
> **Note**: A more exhaustive documentation is available in the
> [TypeScript typings](packages/tdl/index.d.ts) file.
#### `tdl.configure(options: TDLibConfiguration) => void`
Configure several parameters such as libtdjson filename or verbosity level. This
function should be called before `tdl.createClient` or `tdl.execute`. Can be
called multiple times.
The possible parameters are:
```javascript
tdl.configure({
// Path to the library. By default, it is 'tdjson.dll' on Windows,
// 'libtdjson.dylib' on macOS, or 'libtdjson.so' otherwise.
tdjson: 'libtdjson.so',
// Path to the library directory. Defaults to the empty string.
libdir: '/usr/local/lib',
// Set the verbosity level of TDLib. Defaults to 1.
verbosityLevel: 1,
// Advanced options:
useOldTdjsonInterface: false,
receiveTimeout: 10,
})
```
Some examples:
- `tdl.configure({ tdjson: '/root/libtdjson.so', verbosityLevel: 5 })`
- `tdl.configure({ libdir: '/usr/local/lib', tdjson: 'libtdjson.dylib.1.8.6' })`
- `tdl.configure({ libdir: __dirname })` (use libtdjson from the directory of the current script, in CJS)
- `tdl.configure({ tdjson: require('prebuilt-tdlib').getTdjson() })` (use libtdjson from prebuilt-tdlib)
The path concatenation of `libdir` + `tdjson` is directly passed to
[`dlopen`][dlopen] (Unix) or [`LoadLibrary`][LoadLibraryW] (Windows). Check
documentation of your OS to find out where the shared library will be searched
for.
#### `tdl.createClient(options: ClientOptions) => Client`
Create a TDLib client.
```javascript
const client = tdl.createClient({
apiId: 2222, // Your api_id
apiHash: '0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef' // Your api_hash
// ... other options ...
})
```
The options that can be passed here have the following interface:
```typescript
type ClientOptions = {
apiId: number, // Can be obtained at https://my.telegram.org
apiHash: string, // Can be obtained at https://my.telegram.org
databaseDirectory: string, // Path, relative to cwd (defaults to '_td_database')
filesDirectory: string, // Path, relative to cwd (defaults to '_td_files')
databaseEncryptionKey: string, // Optional key for database encryption
useTestDc: boolean, // Use test telegram server (defaults to false)
tdlibParameters: Object, // Raw TDLib parameters
skipOldUpdates: boolean // Advanced option.
}
```
Of these fields, only `apiId` and `apiHash` are required. Any other field can be
omitted. They are more thoroughly described in the documentation comments
of TypeScript types.
The `tdlibParameters` option is described in
https://core.telegram.org/tdlib/docs/classtd_1_1td__api_1_1tdlib_parameters.html.
By default, in tdl, `tdlibParameters` is set to:
```javascript
tdlibParameters: {
use_message_database: true,
use_secret_chats: false,
system_language_code: 'en',
application_version: '1.0',
device_model: 'Unknown device',
system_version: 'Unknown',
api_id: options.apiId,
api_hash: options.apiHash,
database_directory: options.databaseDirectory,
files_directory: options.filesDirectory,
use_test_dc: options.useTestDc
}
```
In a real application, you probably want to change `device_model` and other
parameters.
#### `client.login(arg?: LoginDetails | (() => LoginDetails)) => Promise<void>`
Attach an update handler to log you in to your Telegram account.
```javascript
await client.login()
```
By default, `tdl` asks the user for the phone number, auth code, and 2FA
password (if needed) in the console. You can override the defaults with custom
functions that return promises, for example:
```javascript
// Example
await client.login({
async getPhoneNumber(retry) {
if (retry) throw new Error('Invalid phone number')
return '+9996620001'
},
async getAuthCode(retry) {
if (retry) throw new Error('Invalid auth code')
return '22222'
},
async getPassword(passwordHint, retry) {
if (retry) throw new Error('Invalid password')
return 'mypassword'
},
async getName() {
return { firstName: 'John', lastName: 'Doe' }
}
})
```
`getName` is called if the user is not signed up.
`client.login` is a pretty basic function that supports only a subset of
authentication methods available on Telegram. It is possible (and advisable for
larger apps) not to use the `client.login` helper and implement the
authorization process manually, handling `authorizationStateWaitPhoneNumber` and
other updates.
This function accepts the following interface:
```typescript
interface LoginDetails {
getPhoneNumber?: (retry?: boolean) => Promise<string>,
getEmailAddress?: () => Promise<string>,
getEmailCode?: () => Promise<string>,
confirmOnAnotherDevice?: (link: string) => void,
getAuthCode?: (retry?: boolean) => Promise<string>,
getPassword?: (passwordHint: string, retry?: boolean) => Promise<string>,
getName?: () => Promise<{ firstName: string, lastName?: string }>
}
declare function login(details?: LoginDetails | (() => LoginDetails)): Promise<void>
```
`getEmailAddress` and `getEmailCode` are called in TDLib >= v1.8.6 only.
#### `client.loginAsBot(token: string | (() => string | Promise<string>)) => Promise<void>`
Instead of logging in as a user, you can log in as a bot using a bot token.
```javascript
await client.loginAsBot('YOUR_BOT_TOKEN') // Enter your token from @BotFather
```
#### `client.on(event: string, callback: Function) => Client`
Attach an event listener. The `'update'` event can be used to iterate through
received updates.
```javascript
function onUpdate (update) {
console.log('New update:', update)
}
client.on('update', onUpdate)
client.on('error', console.error)
```
If an exception is thrown inside your event listener, it is emitted as the
`'error'` event (other things like invalid client options or potential internal
errors can also be emitted as `'error`'). Ideally, you should always have a
listener on `client.on('error')`, otherwise an unhandled promise rejection will
appear.
The other available event is `'close'`. After `close` (the
`authorizationStateClosed` update), it isn't possible to send requests and the
client should not be used anymore.
You may consider using reactive libraries like RxJS or most.js for convenient
event processing.
`client.addListener` is an alias for `client.on`.
#### `client.once(event: string, callback: Function) => Client`
Attach a one-time listener.
#### `client.off(event: string, listener: Function) => boolean`
Remove an event listener.
```javascript
function listener (u) {
console.log('New update:', u)
if (u?.authorization_state?._ === 'authorizationStateReady')
client.off('update', listener) // Removes the listener
}
client.on('update', listener)
```
The returned value indicates whether the listener has been successfully removed.
`client.removeListener` is an alias for `client.off`.
#### `client.iterUpdates() => AsyncIterableIterator<Td.Update>`
An alternative approach (added in tdl v8.0.0) to get updates is to use async
iterators instead of `client.on('update', ...)`:
```javascript
for await (const update of client.iterUpdates()) {
console.log('Received update:', update)
if (update._ === 'updateOption' && update.name === 'my_id') {
console.log(`My ID is ${update.value.value}!`)
break
}
}
```
#### `client.invoke(query: Request) => Promise<Reponse>`
Call a TDLib method asynchronously. If the request fails, the promise rejects
with `TDLibError` containing the error code and error message.
For the information regarding TDLib API list, see the "Getting started" section
of this README.
```javascript
const chats = await client.invoke({
_: 'getChats',
chat_list: { _: 'chatListMain' },
limit: 4000
})
```
```javascript
await client.invoke({
_: 'sendMessage',
chat_id: 123456789,
input_message_content: {
_: 'inputMessageText',
text: {
_: 'formattedText',
text: '👻'
}
}
})
```
#### `client.close() => Promise<void>`
Close the TDLib client.
```javascript
await client.close()
```
#### `tdl.execute(query: Request) => Td.error | Response`
Call a TDLib method synchronously. This function can be used only with the
methods marked as "can be called synchronously" in the TDLib documentation.
```javascript
const res = tdl.execute({
_: 'getTextEntities',
text: '@telegram /test_command https://telegram.org telegram.me'
})
```
`client.execute` is the same as `tdl.execute`.
#### `tdl.setLogMessageCallback(maxVerbosityLevel: number, cb: Function | null) => void`
Set the callback that is called when a message is added to the TDLib log. This
corresponds to the `td_set_log_message_callback` tdjson function. The callback
overrides the previously set callback.
<a name="types"></a>
## Types
> **Tip**: It is considerably more convenient to use `tdl` with TypeScript,
> which enables full autocompletion for the TDLib methods and objects along with
> the documentation.
While `tdl` works with any TDLib version (above the requirement), the TypeScript
types have to be installed specifically for the TDLib version you use. This can
be done via a small `tdl-install-types` utility, which downloads and generates
types for you. It can be called using `npx tdl-install-types` without
any separate installation.
```console
$ npx tdl-install-types [<options>] [<target>]
```
(Type "y" in case it asks to install the `tdl-install-types` package.)
The utility can generate types given a tdjson library file (e.g. `npx tdl-install-types ./libtdjson.so`), a TDLib git ref (examples: `npx tdl-install-types v1.8.0`, `npx tdl-install-types master`, `npx tdl-install-types 2de39ffffe71dc41c538e66085658d21cecbae08`), or a td_api.tl file (`npx tdl-install-types td_api.tl`). When called without arguments or with the `prebuilt-tdlib` argument, it will generate types for the installed version of `prebuilt-tdlib`.
By default, the types are generated into a `tdlib-types.d.ts` file that you can
git-commit. The declaration file should be inside your project to work. When you
update the version of TDLib, don't forget to also update the types: it's
important to keep the types in sync with the interface TDLib actually uses.
```console
$ # Various examples:
$ npx tdl-install-types libtdjson.so # generate types for this shared library in the cwd
$ npx tdl-install-types 0ada45c3618108a62806ce7d9ab435a18dac1aab # types for this TDLib commit
$ npx tdl-install-types # tries to use prebult-tdlib
$ npx tdl-install-types prebuilt-tdlib # same as the above one
$ npx tdl-install-types v1.8.0 # types for the git tag in the TDLib repository
```
See `npx tdl-install-types --help` for additional information.
The types can be imported by using the `tdlib-types` module name:
```typescript
import type * as Td from 'tdlib-types'
// And use as: Td.message, Td.user, ...
```
That is, a package named `tdlib-types` does not need to be installed separately.
Note that when using `npx`, the version of `tdl-install-types` might be cached
and outdated if you are not appending the `@latest` tag
(`npx tdl-install-types@latest --help`). You can also install the utility
globally or per-project as a dev dependency.
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/tdl-install-types)
<a name="other-javascript-runtimes"></a>
## Other JavaScript runtimes
Since [bun][] is Node.js-compatible and [supports Node-API][bun-napi], `tdl`
should work out of the box, however the stability may not be the best yet.
[deno][] can also import `tdl` through the node compatibility via
`import * as tdl from 'npm:tdl'`. To use tdl in deno, you must ensure that your
deno version is 1.44.2 (2024-06-13) or greater. The Node-API implementation was
broken in older deno versions and can easily result in segfaults. There's a
small example in `examples/deno-example.ts`.
`tdl` depends on native libraries and cannot be used in the browser. However,
TDLib itself can possibly work in the browser by compiling it to WebAssembly.
There is an outdated official [tdweb][] library, for example. Previously, `tdl`
implemented basic browser support as well, but the idea has been dropped.
[bun]: https://bun.sh/
[bun-napi]: https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/issues/158
[deno]: https://deno.com/
[tdweb]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/tdweb
<a name="troubleshooting"></a>
## Troubleshooting
Some of the possible errors include:
<div align="right"><a name="not-found-error" href="#not-found-error">#</a></div>
- `Dynamic Loading Error: Win32 error 126` (Windows)
- `Dynamic Loading Error: dlopen(…) image not found` (macOS)
- `…cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory` (Linux)
The tdjson shared library or one of its dependencies (for example, libssl)
cannot be found. To troubleshoot dependency issues, try to run
`ldd libtdjson.so` on Linux or `otool -L libtdjson.dylib` on macOS. On Windows,
you can use an app like Dependency Walker.
Recheck the documentation of [dlopen][] (Linux), [dlopen][dlopen-macos] (macOS),
[Dynamic-Link Library Search Order][dllso] (Windows) to make sure the shared
library is present in the search paths. By default, Linux does not search in the
current working directory, while macOS does.
With `prebuilt-tdlib`, everything should work out of the box (on supported
systems).
[dllso]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-link-library-search-order#standard-search-order-for-desktop-applications
[dlopen-macos]: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/System/Conceptual/ManPages_iPhoneOS/man3/dlopen.3.html
[dlopen]: https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/dlopen.3.html
[LoadLibraryW]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/libloaderapi/nf-libloaderapi-loadlibraryw
<div align="right"><a name="filepath-spaces-error" href="#filepath-spaces-error">#</a></div>
- `fatal error: napi.h: no such file or directory`
- `error: no such file or directory: …/node-modules/node-addon-api`
The path to the directory where you execute `npm install` likely contains
spaces, which is not supported by gyp:
https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/issues/65#issuecomment-368820565.
<div align="right"><a name="no-native-build" href="#no-native-build">#</a></div>
- `No native build was found for platform=…`
A pre-built node addon is not available for your system[^1], and the node addon has
not been built from source. gcc, g++, python3, make should be available on your
system to build the tdl's node addon; `npm install` (or `npm ci` or similar)
should be run to execute the building. Also note that, for example, when
building a Docker container, you can't generally just copy the node modules from
the host system.
<div align="right"><a name="tdjson-already-loaded-error" href="#tdjson-already-loaded-error">#</a></div>
- `tdjson is already loaded`
If you use `node:worker_threads`, there are some caveats. `tdl` with the new
tdjson interface can be used in only one thread. With the old tdjson interface,
i.e. `tdl.configure({ useOldTdjsonInterface: true })`, it is indeed possible to
use `tdl` in multiple worker threads, however `tdjson` and `libdir` options of
`tdl.configure` will be ignored on subsequent tdl initializations. You might
also want to set `tdl.configure({ verbosityLevel: 'default' })` so the verbosity
level is set only once. The client should not be shared to other threads.
<div align="right"><a name="openssl-symbols-error" href="#openssl-symbols-error">#</a></div>
- `Error while reading RSA public key`
You can get this error if libtdjson is dynamically linked against OpenSSL and
some of the symbols got resolved into Node.js instead of the system OpenSSL.
Note that Node.js also uses OpenSSL (the distributed binaries are statically
linked against it) and exports the OpenSSL symbols. In the result, there are
two versions of OpenSSL in the same application. Then, using standard dlopen,
especially on Linux, most of the symbols will be resolved into libcrypto
inside the Node.js binary, not into the system libcrypto. It still can work
correctly if the versions are ABI-compatible, i.e. if TDLib is linked against an
OpenSSL version sufficiently similar to the version that Node.js uses
(`node -p "process.versions.openssl"`).
`tdl` tries to get around the symbol conflict issues by using `RTLD_DEEPBIND`
when available, so these issues should be rare in practice (unless you use
musl).
You can use `lldb` or `gdb` to check whether the symbols get resolved into
Node.js. For example, open `lldb -- node index.js` and set these breakpoints:
```
break set -r EVP_ -s node
break set -r AES_ -s node
break set -r BIO_ -s node
break set -r RSA_ -s node
break set -r CRYPTO_ -s node
```
It's also possible to set breakpoints inside the system OpenSSL:
```
break set -r . -s libcrypto.so.1.1
break set -r . -s libssl.so.1.1
```
To solve this issue, try to link TDLib statically against OpenSSL (the
`OPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS` option in cmake) or link it against the OpenSSL
version that Node.js uses.
Another possible option is to rebuild Node.js from source, linking it
dynamically against the same system OpenSSL. That way, there is only one
instance of OpenSSL in the application. For example, using [nvm][], you can
install Node.js v18 from source on GNU/Linux via this command:
```console
$ nvm install -s 18 --shared-openssl --shared-openssl-includes=/usr/include/ --shared-openssl-libpath=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/
```
[nvm]: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm
However, it's inconvenient for most users to rebuild Node.js.
Another hypothetical solution is to rebuild TDLib with the OpenSSL headers
distributed in Node.js (`<path-to-node>/include/node/`) without linking it to
anything, simply leaving the undefined symbols. Using this option, there is also
only one OpenSSL. I haven't checked that this works or that Node exports all the
symbols needed for TDLib. With this option, TDLib also should be rebuilt every
time Node.js updates the OpenSSL dependency.
This issue doesn't apply to Electron because it doesn't export the OpenSSL
symbols.
<div align="right"><a name="segfault-error" href="#segfault-error">#</a></div>
- Segmentation fault
The cause of the segfault might be the same as above. If you get segmentation
faults, open an issue.
<a name="issue-tracker"></a>
## Issue tracker
Reporting bugs (besides feature requests and other stuff) is very welcome in the
tdl's GitHub issue tracker. However, while I can answer some questions on how to
use TDLib itself, I do not know the entirety of TDLib API, and it may be
better (and faster to get the response) to ask questions related to TDLib
specifics in the `t.me/tdlibchat` group.