tgs sources inspect#

Fetch detailed information for a single Telegram source. Works for sources you are subscribed to as well as public channels you are not a member of.

Usage#

tgs sources inspect <ref> [flags]

The ref argument identifies the target source. Supported formats:

Format	Example	Description
`@username`	`@durov`	Public username with `@` prefix
`username`	`durov`	Public username without prefix
`id:<n>`	`id:-1001234567890`	Telegram peer ID (recommended for negative IDs — pflag eats bare `-N` as a flag)
Numeric ID	`12345`	Positive peer ID. For negative IDs use the `id:` form above, or insert `--` (e.g. `inspect -- -1001234567890`)
Phone number	`+79001234567`	For contacts and your own account
`-` or `@me`	`-`	Saved Messages (your personal chat)

Flags#

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description
`--no-stats`		bool	`false`	Skip expensive stats (total/24h/first messages)
`--no-cache`		bool	`false`	Disable peer and stats caches
`--max-wait`		int	`60`	Max seconds to wait on FLOOD_WAIT
`--profile`	`-p`	string		Account profile name

Profile resolution order when --profile is not set: TGS_PROFILE env -> .tgs.yaml file -> "default".

Examples#

Inspect a channel by username:

tgs sources inspect @durov

Inspect a group by numeric ID (use the id: form to avoid the CLI flag parser):

tgs sources inspect id:-1009876543210
# or with a literal `--` separator (note: command flags must come BEFORE `--`,
# since anything after the separator is treated as positional):
tgs sources inspect --no-stats -- -1009876543210

Inspect your Saved Messages:

tgs sources inspect -

Inspect a channel you are not subscribed to:

tgs sources inspect @somechannel

Skip expensive stats:

tgs sources inspect @durov --no-stats

Use a specific account profile:

tgs sources inspect @golang --profile work

Output#

Returns a single JSON object with the full source shape. The subscribed field indicates whether your account is a member.

{
  "id": -1001234567890,
  "type": "channel",
  "title": "Durov's Channel",
  "username": "durov",
  "access": "public",
  "members_count": 1234567,
  "has_comments": true,
  "linked_chat_id": -1009876543210,
  "verified": true,
  "unread_count": 0,
  "last_message": {"id": 4321, "date": "2026-05-28T08:15:00Z"},
  "subscribed": false,
  "description": "Pavel Durov's official channel.",
  "creation_date": "2015-08-26T10:00:00Z",
  "invite_link": "https://t.me/+abc",
  "stats": {
    "total_messages": 12345,
    "messages_24h": 3,
    "first_message": {"id": 1, "date": "2015-08-26T10:00:00Z"}
  }
}

For unsubscribed public channels, subscribed is false and stats is omitted from the JSON entirely. Display fields (title, username, access, members_count, description, verified, …) are still populated from the public channel info.

Additional fields (inspect only)#

Field	Type	Notes
`subscribed`	bool	Whether your account is subscribed to this source
`description`	string	Full description / about text
`creation_date`	string	RFC3339 UTC timestamp of when the chat/channel was created. Only set for channels/supergroups/groups — Telegram does not expose user registration dates
`invite_link`	string	Primary invite link; present when available

Boolean fields (verified, scam, fake, restricted, archived, pinned, saved, deleted, has_topics, gigagroup) appear only when true.

Flag notes#

--no-cache disables the peer cache (the BoltDB stored at $XDG_DATA_HOME/tgs/profiles/<profile>/cache.db, defaulting to ~/.local/share/tgs/profiles/<profile>/cache.db on Linux/macOS) so that @username resolves and any cached display snapshot are bypassed. The companion stats_cache.db next to it backs tgs sources list --with-stats — inspect does not use it.