Noureddine RAMDI / Telegram Drive: Using Telegram as Personal Cloud Storage with a Native Desktop File Explorer

Created Tue, 05 May 2026 16:46:42 +0000 Modified Sat, 23 May 2026 20:41:27 +0000
926 Words
github-stars typescript rust tauri desktop-app telegram-api file-storage

caamer20/Telegram-Drive

Telegram Drive takes an unconventional approach to personal file storage by using Telegram’s cloud as a backend for a desktop file explorer. Instead of relying on traditional cloud storage services, it maps Telegram’s “Saved Messages” and private channels into a folder structure you can navigate and manage like a filesystem. This design lets you store and stream files on Telegram while interacting with them through a native desktop app built with modern web and system technologies.

How Telegram Drive maps Telegram to a filesystem interface

At its core, Telegram Drive uses Telegram’s messaging API as a storage backend. Your “Saved Messages” chat becomes the root folder, and additional private channels you create act like subfolders. Files you upload to these chats appear as files in the virtual filesystem.

The desktop app is built using Tauri v2, which bundles a Rust backend with a React frontend into native binaries for macOS, Windows, and Linux. The backend utilizes the Grammers library to interact efficiently with the Telegram API, handling authentication and file operations. The frontend is a React app written in TypeScript, styled with TailwindCSS and enhanced with Framer Motion animations.

The user interface mimics a traditional file explorer with familiar folder navigation and file management features. It supports drag-and-drop uploads, virtual scrolling to handle large numbers of files without UI lag, built-in media streaming for videos and audio, and a PDF viewer with infinite scroll. This combination provides a smooth and responsive user experience even when browsing thousands of files.

A key architectural point is that all API keys and user data remain local on the client machine. There are no third-party servers involved, which keeps your data private and under your control.

Technical strengths and tradeoffs

What distinguishes Telegram Drive is its clever repurposing of a messaging platform as a personal file storage backend. This involves a tradeoff: Telegram was not designed for filesystem semantics, so the app builds an abstraction layer on top to create folders and files out of chats and messages.

The Rust backend is solidly engineered using the Grammers Telegram client library, which provides low-level access to the Telegram protocol. This ensures efficient communication between the app and Telegram servers.

On the frontend, virtual scrolling is a smart solution for performance. Telegram users can accumulate thousands of files in their “Saved Messages” or channels, and rendering all of those at once would be prohibitively slow. Virtual scrolling renders only the visible subset, keeping memory and CPU use low.

The use of Tauri instead of Electron results in smaller binaries and lower resource consumption, which is important for a desktop app meant to be lightweight and cross-platform.

However, the design also has limitations. The filesystem abstraction depends on Telegram’s chat structure, which means some filesystem features, like fine-grained permissions or atomic renames, are not possible. Also, the app requires your own Telegram API credentials, which may be a barrier for some users.

The UI is polished but naturally limited by the underlying Telegram API constraints. For heavy file storage use cases, dedicated cloud services may still outperform in terms of speed and native filesystem integration.

Getting started with Telegram Drive

Prerequisites

  • Node.js (v18+): You can download it from the official Node.js website.
  • Rust (latest stable): Required to compile the Tauri backend. Install via rustup:
    • macOS/Linux:
      curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
    • Windows: Download and run rustup-init.exe from rustup.rs
    • Verify with rustc --version and cargo --version.
  • OS-specific build tools for Tauri:
    • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).
    • Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):
      sudo apt update && sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev
    • Windows: Install Visual Studio Build Tools with the “Desktop development with C++” workload. Also ensure WebView2 runtime is installed.
  • Telegram API credentials: You need your own API ID and API Hash:
    1. Log in to my.telegram.org.
    2. Go to “API development tools” and create a new application.

Installation steps

  1. Clone the repository:
 git clone https://github.com/caamer20/Telegram-Drive.git
  1. Change directory:
 cd Telegram-Drive
  1. Install dependencies:
 npm install
  1. Run the app in development mode:
 npm run tauri dev

This will compile the Rust backend (which may take 5 to 15 minutes the first time due to hundreds of Rust crates being compiled) and start the desktop app with hot-reloading.

To create production builds:

 npm run tauri build

Notes

  • You might see npm audit warnings during install; these usually relate to dev dependencies and aren’t critical.
  • All API keys and user data are stored locally; no external servers are involved.

Verdict

Telegram Drive offers an interesting alternative for personal file storage by building a native desktop interface on top of Telegram’s messaging infrastructure. The architecture is solid, combining a Rust backend with a modern React frontend, wrapped in Tauri for lightweight, cross-platform native apps.

Its main strength is the clever filesystem abstraction over a messaging API, complete with virtual scrolling and media playback features. Privacy-conscious users who already use Telegram extensively might find this an appealing way to store and stream files without adding another cloud service.

However, this approach isn’t without tradeoffs. The Telegram API limits some filesystem semantics, and the need to manage your own Telegram API credentials adds friction. Performance won’t match dedicated cloud storage providers, especially for large or frequent file operations.

Overall, Telegram Drive is best suited for developers or power users comfortable with setting up Rust and Node.js environments and looking for a privacy-focused, Telegram-based personal storage solution. It’s a neat example of bending existing infrastructure to new purposes, with a surprisingly polished UI and solid engineering under the hood.

→ GitHub Repo: caamer20/Telegram-Drive ⭐ 2,173 · TypeScript