name: telethon-session description: Generate Telethon .session files for user-account login to Telegram. Use when: (1) user wants to test a Telegram bot as a real user, (2) user needs to interact with Telegram via user identity, (3) creating a Telegram session for Telethon-based automation, (4) mentions telethon, telegram session, or user-account login. NOT for: bot-token-based bots (no session needed).

Telethon Session Generator

Generate a .session file to authenticate a Telegram user account via Telethon.

Prerequisites

• telethon (install in a venv)
• API credentials from https://my.telegram.org (api_id + api_hash)

Recommended: set as system environment variables

Set these once, then you won't need to re-type them:

• TELEGRAM_API_ID
• TELEGRAM_API_HASH
• TELEGRAM_PHONE
• (optional) TELETHON_SESSION (default: telegram_session)

One-command interactive setup (writes a local .env)

Run:

bash scripts/setup_env.sh

This script will:

• Prompt you interactively for the 3 values (api_id/api_hash/phone)
• Write them to .env (gitignored)
• Tell you the exact source command to load them into your current shell

Option A: put them in a local .env file (recommended)

In this skill directory, create .env (it is ignored by git):

TELEGRAM_API_ID=__SET_ME__
TELEGRAM_API_HASH=__SET_ME__
TELEGRAM_PHONE=__SET_ME__
TELETHON_SESSION=telegram_session

Lock down file permissions:

chmod 600 .env

Template: .env.example

Option B: export them in your shell

export TELEGRAM_API_ID=__SET_ME__
export TELEGRAM_API_HASH="..."
export TELEGRAM_PHONE="+8613..."
export TELETHON_SESSION=telegram_session

Quick Start (generate session)

Interactive (safe: avoids putting secrets in command history)

python3 scripts/login.py --session telegram_session

The script will prompt for:

• api_id
• api_hash (hidden)
• phone
• Telegram login code (+ optional 2FA password)

On success, <session_name>.session is created in the working directory.

Common actions

Send a message

python3 scripts/send_message.py --api-id YOUR_ID --to @username --message "hi" --session telegram_session

(or omit --api-hash to be prompted with hidden input)

Read last messages from a dialog

python3 scripts/read_dialog.py --api-id YOUR_ID --with @username --limit 3 --session telegram_session

Key Notes

• Session file is reusable — no need to re-login unless Telegram invalidates it
• Do NOT commit .session files to version control (treat as secrets)
• Bot token ≠ session — bots use bot_token= in Telethon, no session file needed
• If pip install telethon fails on externally-managed Python, use a venv:

  python3 -m venv venv
  source venv/bin/activate
  pip install telethon
  

Using the Session File (code)

from telethon import TelegramClient