# Telly, One of My Many Ideas Tucked Away

> Libcurl, Rust, and 15 spare minutes to turn a personal need into a command line tool.

Published: 2022-04-11 · Tags: Stories, Tools, Rust
Address: https://andrearaponi.it/stories/telly-client-telegram-rust/



## **The Best Ideas Are Born in Motion**
I've come to the conclusion that my most interesting ideas have come to me while exercising. Maybe I should live on a bike—or even running!

![Run, Andrea!](/imgs/telly/run-andrea.gif#center)

The idea for **Telly** was born while I was out running, bombarded by those annoying notification "dings," often from emails.

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## **A Reflection on Emails**
For quite some time, I happily used [iRedMail](https://www.iredmail.org/) to manage my former mail server.  
But we're truly drowning in **background processes**! 😱

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## **Why Is Monitoring Processes Crucial?**
In our hyperconnected world, monitoring processes like:
- **Rsync**
- **Cloud backups**
- **Container restores**  
and any other automation is vitally important.  

In my case, these processes ran as **crontab tasks**, with notifications sent via an SMTP server. However, this approach often left me buried in useless emails that I sometimes ignored or lost entirely.

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## **So, Why Telly?** 😱
![Hello Telly!](/imgs/telly/hello-telly.gif)

**Telegram and bots** are the perfect solution: they combine the immediacy of notifications with the simplicity of a messaging app.

Using the [Telegram API](https://core.telegram.org/bots/api) and a simple bot created with **BotFather**, I developed a **command line tool** built on [curl-rust](https://crates.io/crates/curl) to send messages via bot directly from the command line.

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## **The Benefits of Telly**
Thanks to Telly, I've replaced all monitoring emails for my services. Now, with a quick glance at Telegram, I can instantly read every notification.

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## **Why Not Just Use `curl` Directly?** 😅
Using a **type-safe** implementation of `curl` is a smart move:  
- It avoids **verbosity in scripts**.
- A **simple configuration file** adds tangible value.

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## **What to Expect from Telly's Future**
I'm already working on an evolved version with new features. This is just the beginning!  
If you want to ditch those old monitoring emails, you can find the code on [GitHub](https://github.com/andrearaponi/Telly). 😊