[Feature]: Import support for Telegram Desktop chat exports (+media folders)

[advokatb]

Feature Category

Export/Import

Problem Statement

I'm always frustrated when I have a large archive of a specific chat already exported from the official Telegram Desktop app (in HTML format + folders with media), but I cannot load/view this history inside Telegram-Archive.
Right now Telegram-Archive is great for live incremental backups, but it doesn't allow importing historical data that users already saved via Telegram's built-in export feature. This forces people to either:

keep two separate viewers/archives, or
lose access to nice Telegram-Archive web interface for old chats.

Many users (including me) have years of important chats exported as backup and would love to unify everything in one beautiful local viewer.

Proposed Solution

Add support for importing Telegram Desktop export format into Telegram-Archive database/viewer.
Ideal implementation could look like this:

New CLI command, e.g.:
telegram-archive import --path /path/to/exported_chat_folder --chat-id 123456789

The importer should:

• read result.json (Telegram's official export schema)
• parse messages, dates, senders, replies, media types
• import text messages, photos, videos, documents, voice messages, etc.
• copy/move/link media files into Telegram-Archive media storage (with deduplication if possible)
• correctly handle forwarded messages, service messages, pinned, edited messages if the fields are present

Optional flags:
--dry-run — show what would be imported without writing
--skip-media — import only text/metadata
--merge — try to add messages to an existing chat (by id or username)

After import the chat should appear in the web viewer just like normally backed-up chats.

Even partial support (e.g. only text + photos at first) would already be very useful.
Thanks for considering!

Alternatives Considered

No response

Additional Context

No response

Contribution

• I would be willing to help implement this feature

[GeiserX]

Seems logical to implement this. Will do, but I have no time for testing, as I have never downloaded them. Will you be able to test @advokatb in your own? I will let you know once I have some nice :dev tags in dockerhub

[GeiserX]

I've implemented this in PR #82. Here's what's included:

New CLI command: telegram-archive import

# Basic import (auto-detects chat ID from export)
telegram-archive import -p /path/to/ChatExport

# Import with explicit chat ID
telegram-archive import -p /path/to/export -c -1001234567890

# Dry run (validate without writing)
telegram-archive import -p /path/to/export --dry-run

# Skip media, text only
telegram-archive import -p /path/to/export --skip-media

# Merge into existing chat
telegram-archive import -p /path/to/export --merge

Supported content:

• Text messages (plain + rich text entities)
• Photos, videos, documents, voice messages, stickers, animations
• Service messages (pins, group actions, joins, etc.)
• Forwarded messages, replies, edited messages
• Both single-chat and full-account exports

After import, the chat appears in the web viewer just like a live-backed-up chat.

The :dev Docker images are already built and available for testing. Would love your feedback once you get a chance to try it!