`/debug` reported `Fetched::caption`, the site's built-in caption, so a chat's `/set_format` override never showed up in the preview — the command looked like a no-op, and the `/set_format` success reply now tells users to preview with `/debug`, which made that advice wrong. `preview_caption` mirrors the send paths instead: the per-site format override (`caption_from_fields`, empty → built-in) plus the long-post quoting. Reported from a live run against the test bot.
TelegramXMediaBot
A Telegram bot that turns post links from X / Twitter, Pixiv, Bluesky, Misskey (misskey.io), and Bilibili dynamics into media messages (images, video, GIF) with the post's title, author, and tags.
Features
- Sending a link in a private chat fetches and sends the images, videos and GIFs automatically; oversized media is split into batches (10 items per group)
- Text-only posts report "no media"; unsupported links are silently ignored. Fetch failures name the reason (post gone / content withheld / source risk control / site not enabled)
- Long posts (text ≥
CAPTION_QUOTE_TEXT_CHARS, default 200) show the text part of their caption inside a collapsible blockquote, with the link and author line left outside it - Inline queries (
@bot <link>) — except Pixiv images and locally transcoded animations, which Telegram cannot fetch (no Referer) and would show broken, so they are skipped; a supported link posted in a group gets a one-line hint to use the private chat or inline mode (channels stay silent) /startexplains the supported sites and how to use it;/helplists the commands plus argument syntax, the caption placeholders and the private-chat rule; the bot's profile description texts are set at startup/settingsshows this chat's configuration (forward channel, edit-before-forward, per-site caption formats, saved templates); templates are added with/set_templateand removed with/remove_template- Bind a forward channel for automatic forwarding; edit the caption before forwarding and apply custom templates (the prompt carries Confirm / Skip buttons, states its expiry, and is marked expired in place once it lapses)
- Failed sends are retried automatically with persistence; the notice names which link failed, how long the retry waits, or the final cause
- The chat action stays on screen for the whole fetch, so long jobs (ugoira transcode, large uploads) do not look stalled
- Pixiv ugoira animations are transcoded to MP4; Bluesky videos are remuxed (HLS stream → MP4)
- Photos exceeding Telegram's size/dimension limits are compressed automatically (original format kept, JPEG fallback only when needed)
- Link-result cache: after a successful send the Telegram file ids and caption fields are cached locally, so a repeated link is re-sent from local state — no source-site request, no media file stored (expiry controlled by
LINK_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS, default 7 days)
Quick start
# Required: BotFather token; optional: PIXIV_REFRESH_TOKEN (Pixiv is disabled without it)
export TELOXIDE_TOKEN=<token>
export PIXIV_REFRESH_TOKEN=<token>
cargo run -p xmedia-bot
Docker deployment (see docker-compose.yml.example):
docker build -t tgxmb .
docker run --rm -d --name tgxmb --env-file .env -v ./data:/app/data tgxmb
Environment variables: TELOXIDE_TOKEN (required), PIXIV_REFRESH_TOKEN, BOT_ADMIN, EDIT_MESSAGE_TTL_SECONDS, LINK_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS, RUST_LOG, TELOXIDE_PROXY, WEBHOOK*, TWITTER_AUTH_TOKEN (optional), BILIBILI_COOKIE (optional).
NSFW tweets: the public syndication endpoint does not return sensitive content. Setting TWITTER_AUTH_TOKEN (the auth_token cookie value of a logged-in x.com session) lets the bot fetch NSFW media in the logged-in state only when it hits a withheld tweet; without it the bot answers that the post's media is withheld and needs TWITTER_AUTH_TOKEN.
Bilibili dynamics are fetched anonymously by default (no login; the bot fetches bilibili's anonymous buvid3/buvid4 device cookies itself to raise the success rate). If the server's egress IP gets hard-flagged by bilibili (persistent risk control (-352) log lines or HTTP 412), set BILIBILI_COOKIE (the whole cookie string from a logged-in browser, e.g. SESSDATA=…; bili_jct=…) to restore access. Only a dynamic's images and animations are sent; an attached video degrades to its cover image.
Webhook deployment (needs a reverse proxy)
docker-compose.yml.example ships an nginx-proxy + acme-companion reverse-proxy orchestration. Pick one deployment shape:
With a domain
- Point a DNS A record at the server
- In compose set
VIRTUAL_HOSTandWEBHOOK_URLto the domain, and uncommentACME_HOST(set it to the domain) - acme-companion issues and renews certificates automatically — nothing manual
IP only
Let's Encrypt can issue certificates for public IPs (available since 2026, validity ~7 days, requires the shortlived profile). Use acme.sh to issue and renew automatically, no manual certificates:
-
Add an acme-ip service to compose (issue + daily auto-renewal check):
acme-ip: image: neilpang/acme.sh container_name: acme-ip command: daemon restart: always volumes: - certs:/acme.sh - html:/usr/share/nginx/html - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro networks: [proxy] -
First issuance (replace
<SERVER_IP>with the server's public IP; IPv6 works too, repeat-dfor more):docker compose exec acme-ip acme.sh --issue --server letsencrypt \ -d <SERVER_IP> --cert-profile shortlived --days 3 \ --webroot /usr/share/nginx/html \ --install-cert --cert-file /acme.sh/<SERVER_IP>.crt \ --key-file /acme.sh/<SERVER_IP>.key \ --reloadcmd "curl --unix-socket /var/run/docker.sock -X POST http://localhost/containers/nginx-proxy/kill?signal=HUP" -
In compose set
VIRTUAL_HOST: '<SERVER_IP>'andWEBHOOK_URL: 'https://<SERVER_IP>/'; noWEBHOOK_CERTneeded. Renewal is handled by the acme.sh daemon (--days 3= renew every 3 days, buffer against the 7-day validity), and a successful renewal HUP-notifies nginx-proxy to load the new certificate.Limitations: certificate validity ~7 days; only http-01/tls-alpn-01 validation (port 80 must be publicly reachable); no DNS-01, private IPs or IP ranges; at most 5 certificates per 168 hours for the same IP set. It is recommended to trial-issue with
--server letsencrypt_testfirst, then switch to the production server.
Telegram only accepts ports 443/80/88/8443.
Environment variables
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
TELOXIDE_TOKEN |
Bot token (required) |
PIXIV_REFRESH_TOKEN |
Pixiv refresh token; Pixiv is disabled without it (a pixiv link then gets an explicit "site not enabled" reply instead of silence) |
BILIBILI_COOKIE |
Optional bilibili cookie string (SESSDATA=…; bili_jct=…); only needed when the egress IP stays risk-controlled (device cookies are fetched automatically) |
BOT_ADMIN |
Admin chat IDs, comma-separated; receives start/stop notifications |
EDIT_MESSAGE_TTL_SECONDS |
Edit-before-forward record expiry in seconds, default 86400; once lapsed the prompt is rewritten in place to "expired — nothing was forwarded" (no extra message) |
LINK_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS |
Link-result cache expiry in seconds, default 604800 (7 days) |
CAPTION_QUOTE_TEXT_CHARS |
The text part of the caption (the joined {title} + {content}) is wrapped in a collapsible blockquote once it reaches this many characters, default 200; 0 disables |
DATA_DIR |
Data directory (where the SQLite task_queue.db lives), default data (relative to the working directory, created automatically) |
RUST_LOG |
Log level |
TELOXIDE_PROXY |
HTTP proxy (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:10808); applies to both the Telegram Bot API and site fetches — required on restricted networks (e.g. behind the GFW) |
LOCAL_USER_ID |
UID the container runs as, default 9001 |
VIRTUAL_HOST |
Public domain or IP; nginx-proxy routes by this |
VIRTUAL_PORT |
Port the bot listens on inside the container; nginx-proxy's forwarding target |
ACME_HOST |
Domain deployment: when set to the domain, acme-companion issues/renews certificates automatically |
DEFAULT_HOST |
nginx-proxy routes requests with unknown Host headers to this vhost (needed for IP access) |
DEFAULT_EMAIL |
acme-companion certificate notification email |
WEBHOOK |
true enables webhook mode (polling by default) |
WEBHOOK_LISTEN / WEBHOOK_PORT |
Listen address/port inside the bot container |
WEBHOOK_URL |
Public HTTPS URL (https://domain/ or https://IP/) |
WEBHOOK_CERT |
Optional; self-signed certificate path, only used for Telegram-side validation (TLS is terminated by the reverse proxy) |
WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN |
Update validation token (X-Telegram-Bot-Api-Secret-Token) |
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/start |
Welcome message |
/help |
List all commands and usage (this command table) |
/set_forward_channel <channel> |
Set the forward channel: @channel or channel ID; media messages are forwarded to it automatically afterwards |
/remove_forward_channel |
Remove the forward channel |
/edit_before_forward |
Toggle "edit before forward": when enabled, the bot posts a prompt after forwarding; replying to it edits the first forwarded message's caption (or tapping a template button applies one), then ↩️ Confirm forwards and 🛑 Skip drops this forward; the prompt states its expiry and is marked expired in place when it lapses (nothing is forwarded) |
/set_template <name> |
Reply to a message containing [] to save it as a named template; [] is replaced by the original post link when forwarding (used with "edit before forward") |
/remove_template <name> |
Remove a template (names are listed by /settings; the prompt's keyboard shows at most 60) |
/settings |
Show this chat's configuration: forward channel, edit-before-forward, per-site caption formats, saved templates |
/set_format <site> <format> |
Customize the caption format for one site. Sites: twitter / bsky / pixiv / misskey / bilibili. Placeholders: {url} {author} {author_url} {title} {content} {tags}; unknown placeholders are rejected with the list of valid ones, and - restores the site's built-in format (preview with /debug <link>) |
/clear_cache [link] |
Clear the link cache (admin only); with a link only that entry, otherwise everything |
/bot_dict |
Show the current chat state (debugging; admin only) |
/test <link> |
Parse a link and send its media; no channel forward, no edit-before-forward prompt (send only) |
/debug <link> |
Debug: parse a link and report the parse result only (site, title, author, tags, media list) — no media is sent |
Link processing works only in private chats; commands work in any chat. A supported link posted in a group gets a one-line hint to use the private chat or inline mode; channels stay silent.
Notes
- State is persisted in
data/task_queue.db; compose deployments use the bind mount./data(keep it a directory for easy backups) - The runtime needs ffmpeg (built into the Docker image)
- Tests:
cargo test --workspace