Okay, here is the setup for a Telegram bot that downloads YouTube videos using `yt-dlp`. **Prerequisites:** 1. **PHP 8.1+ with `curl` extension enabled.** 2. **`yt-dlp` installed** on the server where the bot will run. You can usually install it via pip (`pip install yt-dlp`) or download the executable from its [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases). Ensure the `yt-dlp` command is accessible in your system's PATH or provide the full path in the configuration. 3. **A Telegram Bot Token:** Get one from BotFather on Telegram. 4. **Write Permissions:** The script needs write permissions in the `DOWNLOAD_PATH` directory. $chatId, 'text' => $text, 'parse_mode' => 'HTML', // Or 'MarkdownV2' ]; if ($replyToMessageId) { $params['reply_to_message_id'] = $replyToMessageId; } return apiRequest('sendMessage', $params); } /** * Sends a video file to a specific chat. * * @param int|string $chatId Target chat ID. * @param string $videoPath Path to the video file. * @param string|null $caption Optional caption for the video. * @param int|null $replyToMessageId Optional message ID to reply to. * @return array|null API response or null on failure. */ function sendTelegramVideo(int|string $chatId, string $videoPath, ?string $caption = null, ?int $replyToMessageId = null): ?array { if (!file_exists($videoPath) || !is_readable($videoPath)) { error_log("Video file not found or not readable: $videoPath"); return null; } $params = [ 'chat_id' => $chatId, 'video' => new CURLFile($videoPath), // Use CURLFile for uploads ]; if ($caption) { $params['caption'] = $caption; } if ($replyToMessageId) { $params['reply_to_message_id'] = $replyToMessageId; } // Use a longer timeout specifically for file uploads $url = TELEGRAM_API_URL . 'sendVideo'; $ch = curl_init(); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $params); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Content-Type: multipart/form-data']); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 300); // 5 minutes for upload, adjust as needed $response = curl_exec($ch); $error = curl_error($ch); $errno = curl_errno($ch); curl_close($ch); if ($errno) { error_log("Curl error during video upload ($errno): $error"); return null; } $responseData = json_decode($response, true); if (!$responseData || !$responseData['ok']) { $errorCode = $responseData['error_code'] ?? 'N/A'; $description = $responseData['description'] ?? 'No description'; error_log("Telegram API error (sendVideo): [$errorCode] $description"); // Specific check for file size issues if (str_contains($description, 'too large')) { sendTelegramMessage($chatId, "Sorry, the video is too large for me to send (Telegram limit is 50MB for bots).", $replyToMessageId); } return null; } return $responseData; } /** * Extracts YouTube video URLs from text. * * @param string $text The text to search within. * @return array An array of found YouTube URLs. */ function findYouTubeUrls(string $text): array { // Regex to find YouTube URLs (handles various formats) $pattern = '/(?:https?:\/\/)?(?:www\.)?(?:youtube\.com\/(?:watch\?v=|embed\/|v\/)|youtu\.be\/)([a-zA-Z0-9_-]{11})/'; preg_match_all($pattern, $text, $matches); $urls = []; if (!empty($matches[0])) { // Return full matched URLs return array_unique($matches[0]); } return []; } /** * Downloads a YouTube video using yt-dlp. * * @param string $url The YouTube video URL. * @param string $downloadDir The directory to save the video in. * @return array ['success' => bool, 'filePath' => ?string, 'error' => ?string, 'title' => ?string] */ function downloadYouTubeVideo(string $url, string $downloadDir): array { // Sanitize URL just in case, although yt-dlp is generally robust if (!filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) { return ['success' => false, 'filePath' => null, 'error' => 'Invalid URL provided.', 'title' => null]; } // Generate a unique filename base to avoid collisions $uniqueId = uniqid('yt_'); $outputTemplate = escapeshellarg($downloadDir . '/' . $uniqueId . '.%(ext)s'); $escapedUrl = escapeshellarg($url); $escapedFormat = escapeshellarg(YT_DLP_FORMAT); $ytDlpPath = escapeshellarg(YT_DLP_PATH); // Use escaped path // Get video metadata first (title, duration) without downloading $metadataCmd = sprintf( '%s --get-title --get-duration --skip-download %s', $ytDlpPath, $escapedUrl ); exec($metadataCmd . ' 2>&1', $metadataOutput, $metadataReturnVar); $videoTitle = 'YouTube Video'; // Default title $durationSeconds = null; if ($metadataReturnVar === 0 && count($metadataOutput) >= 1) { $videoTitle = trim($metadataOutput[0]); // First line is usually title if (isset($metadataOutput[1])) { // Parse duration (e.g., "HH:MM:SS" or "MM:SS" or "SS") $durationParts = explode(':', trim($metadataOutput[1])); $durationSeconds = 0; $multiplier = 1; while ($part = array_pop($durationParts)) { $durationSeconds += (int)$part * $multiplier; $multiplier *= 60; } } } else { error_log("yt-dlp metadata check failed for $url. Output: " . implode("\n", $metadataOutput)); // Don't necessarily fail here, maybe duration check isn't critical or title isn't available } // Check duration limit if enabled and duration was found if (MAX_DURATION_SECONDS > 0 && $durationSeconds !== null && $durationSeconds > MAX_DURATION_SECONDS) { return ['success' => false, 'filePath' => null, 'error' => sprintf("Video duration (%s) exceeds the limit of %d seconds.", gmdate("H:i:s", $durationSeconds), MAX_DURATION_SECONDS), 'title' => $videoTitle]; } // Construct the download command $cmd = sprintf( '%s -f %s -o %s %s', $ytDlpPath, $escapedFormat, $outputTemplate, $escapedUrl ); // Execute the command // Redirect stderr to stdout (2>&1) to capture errors exec($cmd . ' 2>&1', $output, $return_var); if ($return_var !== 0) { $errorOutput = implode("\n", $output); error_log("yt-dlp download failed for $url. Return code: $return_var. Output: $errorOutput"); // Try to provide a more user-friendly error $errorMessage = "Failed to download video."; if (str_contains($errorOutput, 'Unsupported URL')) { $errorMessage = "Unsupported URL."; } elseif (str_contains($errorOutput, 'Video unavailable')) { $errorMessage = "Video is unavailable."; } elseif (str_contains($errorOutput, 'Private video')) { $errorMessage = "Cannot download private videos."; } elseif (str_contains($errorOutput, 'age restricted')) { $errorMessage = "Cannot download age-restricted videos easily."; } return ['success' => false, 'filePath' => null, 'error' => $errorMessage, 'title' => $videoTitle]; } // Find the downloaded file (yt-dlp adds the extension) $downloadedFile = null; $files = glob($downloadDir . '/' . $uniqueId . '.*'); if (!empty($files)) { $downloadedFile = $files[0]; // Should only be one file matching the unique ID } if ($downloadedFile && file_exists($downloadedFile)) { return ['success' => true, 'filePath' => $downloadedFile, 'error' => null, 'title' => $videoTitle]; } else { error_log("yt-dlp seemed to succeed but the output file was not found for base ID $uniqueId in $downloadDir"); return ['success' => false, 'filePath' => null, 'error' => 'Download finished, but could not locate the video file.', 'title' => $videoTitle]; } } // --- Main Bot Logic (Long Polling) --- echo "Bot started. Listening for updates...\n"; error_log("Bot started. Listening for updates..."); // Also log to PHP error log $offset = 0; // Start with no offset while (true) { $updates = apiRequest('getUpdates', [ 'offset' => $offset, 'timeout' => 30, // Long poll timeout ]); if (!$updates || empty($updates['result'])) { // Sleep briefly on error or no updates to avoid busy-waiting sleep(1); continue; } foreach ($updates['result'] as $update) { $offset = $update['update_id'] + 1; // Update offset for next poll if (isset($update['message'])) { $message = $update['message']; $chatId = $message['chat']['id']; $messageId = $message['message_id']; $text = $message['text'] ?? ''; if (empty($text)) { continue; // Skip messages without text } $youtubeUrls = findYouTubeUrls($text); if (!empty($youtubeUrls)) { // Process the first found URL $url = $youtubeUrls[0]; echo "Found YouTube URL: $url in chat $chatId\n"; error_log("Found YouTube URL: $url in chat $chatId"); // Send confirmation message $statusMsg = sendTelegramMessage($chatId, "Found YouTube link. Attempting to download...", $messageId); // Attempt download $downloadResult = downloadYouTubeVideo($url, DOWNLOAD_PATH); if ($downloadResult['success']) { $filePath = $downloadResult['filePath']; $title = $downloadResult['title'] ?? basename($filePath); echo "Download successful: $filePath\n"; error_log("Download successful: $filePath"); // Edit status message before sending video if ($statusMsg && isset($statusMsg['result']['message_id'])) { apiRequest('editMessageText', [ 'chat_id' => $chatId, 'message_id' => $statusMsg['result']['message_id'], 'text' => "Download complete. Sending video: '{$title}'...", ]); } else { sendTelegramMessage($chatId, "Download complete. Sending video: '{$title}'...", $messageId); } // Send the video $sendResult = sendTelegramVideo($chatId, $filePath, $title, $messageId); if ($sendResult) { echo "Video sent successfully to chat $chatId.\n"; error_log("Video sent successfully to chat $chatId."); // Optionally delete the status message after success if ($statusMsg && isset($statusMsg['result']['message_id'])) { apiRequest('deleteMessage', [ 'chat_id' => $chatId, 'message_id' => $statusMsg['result']['message_id'], ]); } } else { echo "Failed to send video for URL: $url\n"; error_log("Failed to send video for URL: $url"); // Don't send another message if sendTelegramVideo already sent one (e.g., file too large) if (!str_contains(error_get_last()['message'] ?? '', 'too large')) { sendTelegramMessage($chatId, "Sorry, I couldn't send the video after downloading.", $messageId); } } // Clean up the downloaded file if (file_exists($filePath)) { unlink($filePath); echo "Cleaned up temporary file: $filePath\n"; error_log("Cleaned up temporary file: $filePath"); } } else { // Download failed $error = $downloadResult['error'] ?? 'Unknown download error.'; echo "Download failed for URL: $url. Error: $error\n"; error_log("Download failed for URL: $url. Error: $error"); // Edit status message or send new one if ($statusMsg && isset($statusMsg['result']['message_id'])) { apiRequest('editMessageText', [ 'chat_id' => $chatId, 'message_id' => $statusMsg['result']['message_id'], 'text' => "Download failed: {$error}", ]); } else { sendTelegramMessage($chatId, "Download failed: {$error}", $messageId); } } } // end if !empty($youtubeUrls) } // end if isset($update['message']) } // end foreach update // Optional: Add a small delay to prevent hammering the API in case of rapid loops // usleep(250000); // 250ms } // end while(true) echo "Bot stopped.\n"; error_log("Bot stopped."); **How to Run:** 1. **Save the files:** Create `config.php` and `bot.php` in the same directory (e.g., `/home/user/`). 2. **Edit `config.php`:** Replace `'YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE'` with your actual bot token. Verify `YT_DLP_PATH` and `DOWNLOAD_PATH`. 3. **Create Download Directory:** Manually create the `downloads` directory specified in `config.php` (e.g., `/home/user/downloads/`) and ensure it's writable by the user running the PHP script (often `www-data` if run via a web server, or your user if run via CLI). bash mkdir /home/user/downloads chmod 775 /home/user/downloads # Adjust ownership if needed, e.g., chown www-data:www-data /home/user/downloads 4. **Install `yt-dlp`:** Make sure `yt-dlp` is installed and accessible. Test it from the command line: `yt-dlp --version`. 5. **Run from Command Line:** ```bash php /home/user/bot.php ``` The script will run continuously, polling Telegram for new messages. Keep the terminal open or use a process manager like `screen` or `systemd` to run it in the background. Now, send a message containing a YouTube link to your bot, and it should attempt to download and send back the video.