Telegram as Storage

A CLI tool that uses your Telegram bot as encrypted file storage. Files are compressed, encrypted locally, then uploaded to your private bot chat.

┌─────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│   CLI       │────▶│  Compress &   │────▶│  Telegram    │
│   FUSE      │     │  Encrypt      │     │  Bot API     │
└─────────────┘     └───────────────┘     └──────────────┘
       │                    │                     │
       ▼                    ▼                     ▼
┌─────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│ SQLite Index│     │ 49MB Chunks   │     │ Private Chat │
└─────────────┘     └───────────────┘     └──────────────┘

Why TAS?

| Feature | TAS | Session-based tools (e.g. teldrive) | |---------|:---:|:-----------------------------------:| | Account ban risk | None (Bot API) | High (session hijack detection) | | Encryption | AES-256-GCM | Usually none | | Dependencies | SQLite only | Rclone, external DB | | Setup complexity | 2 minutes | Docker + multiple services |

Key differences:

• Uses Bot API, not session-based auth - Telegram can't ban your account
• Encryption by default - files encrypted before leaving your machine
• Local-first - SQLite index, no cloud dependencies
• FUSE mount - use Telegram like a folder

Security Model

| Component | Implementation | |-----------|----------------| | Cipher | AES-256-GCM | | Key derivation | PBKDF2-SHA512, 100,000 iterations | | Salt | 32 bytes, random per file | | IV | 12 bytes, random per file | | Auth tag | 16 bytes (integrity) |

Your password never leaves your machine. Telegram stores encrypted blobs.

Limitations

• Not a backup - Telegram can delete content without notice
• No versioning - overwriting a file deletes the old version
• 49MB chunks - files split due to Bot API limits
• FUSE required - mount feature needs libfuse on Linux/macOS
• Single user - designed for personal use, not multi-tenant

Quick Start

# Install
npm install -g @nightowne/tas-cli

# Setup (creates bot connection + encryption password)
tas init

# Upload a file
tas push secret.pdf

# Download a file
tas pull secret.pdf

# Mount as folder (requires libfuse)
tas mount ~/cloud

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥18
• Telegram account + bot token from @BotFather
• libfuse for mount feature:

  # Debian/Ubuntu
  sudo apt install fuse libfuse-dev
    
  # Fedora
  sudo dnf install fuse fuse-devel
    
  # macOS
  brew install macfuse

CLI Reference

# Core
tas init                    # Setup wizard
tas push <file>             # Upload file
tas pull <file|hash>        # Download file
tas list [-l]               # List files (long format)
tas delete <file|hash>      # Remove file
tas status                  # Show stats

# Search & Resume (v1.1.0)
tas search <query>          # Search by filename
tas search -t <query>       # Search by tag
tas resume                  # Resume interrupted uploads

# FUSE Mount
tas mount <path>            # Mount as folder
tas unmount <path>          # Unmount

# Tags
tas tag add <file> <tags...>    # Add tags
tas tag remove <file> <tags...> # Remove tags
tas tag list [tag]              # List tags or files by tag

# Sync (Dropbox-style)
tas sync add <folder>       # Register folder for sync
tas sync start              # Start watching
tas sync pull               # Download all to sync folders
tas sync status             # Show sync status

# Share (temporary links)
tas share create <file>     # Create download link
tas share create <file> --expire 1h --max-downloads 3
tas share list              # Show active shares
tas share revoke <token>    # Revoke a share

# Verification
tas verify                  # Check file integrity

Automation

Skip password prompts for scripts and CI/CD:

# Environment variable
export TAS_PASSWORD="your-password"
tas push file.pdf
tas sync start

# Or use CLI flag (recommended for CI/CD)
tas push -p "password" file.pdf

Works great with:

• Cron jobs for automated backups
• GitHub Actions and GitLab CI
• Docker containers
• Shell scripts for batch operations

Auto-Start (systemd)

See systemd/README.md for running sync as a service.

Development

git clone https://github.com/ixchio/tas
cd tas
npm install
npm test  # 28 tests

Project Structure

src/
├── cli.js           # Command definitions
├── index.js         # Upload/download pipeline
├── crypto/          # AES-256-GCM encryption
├── db/              # SQLite file index
├── fuse/            # FUSE filesystem mount
├── sync/            # Folder sync engine
├── telegram/        # Bot API client
└── utils/           # Compression, chunking

License

MIT