📦 Build Android App & Send to Telegram

Before you start to roll-out your app on the play store, with this action you can automate the release of your Android app by sending it to a Telegram chat or channel via a bot.

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🚀 Features

• 🔨 Builds and signs your Android app using ./gradlew assembleRelease
• 📤 Sends the resulting .apk file to a Telegram chat, group, or channel
• 💬 Optional message support with Markdown formatting
• 🔐 Uses Telegram Bot API
• 🛠️ Includes bundletool for advanced AAB processing (e.g., validation or APK extraction)

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🔧 Inputs

Name	Description	Required	Default
token	Telegram bot token	✅ Yes	–
chat_id	ID of the target chat or channel	✅ Yes	–
keystore_base64	base64 encoded string of your keystore file	✅ Yes	-
keystore_password	The password to your keystore	✅ Yes	-
key_alias	The key alias	✅ Yes	-
key_password	The key password	✅ Yes	-
message	Optional message to send with APK	❌ No	🚀 New Android Release
build_type	Type of build artifact (apk or aab). Accepted values: apk, aab. Note: AAB is recommended for Google Play submissions.	❌ No	apk

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GitHub secrets

You need to set the following secrets in your GitHub repository to use this action:

Secret Name	Description
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	The token of your Telegram bot.
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID	The ID of the chat, group, or channel to send to.
KEYSTORE_BASE64	Base64-encoded string of your keystore file.
KEYSTORE_PASSWORD	The password for your keystore.
KEY_ALIAS	The alias of the key in your keystore.
KEY_PASSWORD	The password for the key in your keystore.

To set these secrets:

1. Go to your GitHub repository.
2. Navigate to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.
3. Click New repository secret and add each secret listed above.

---

📸 Example

name: Android Release

on:
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build-and-send:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Build & Send to Telegram
        uses: nebiyuelias1/[email protected]
        with:
          keystore_base64: ${{ secrets.KEYSTORE_BASE64 }}
          keystore_password: ${{ secrets.KEYSTORE_PASSWORD }}
          key_alias: ${{ secrets.KEY_ALIAS }}
          key_password: ${{ secrets.KEY_PASSWORD }}
          chat_id: ${{ secrets.TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID }}
          bot_token: ${{ secrets.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN }}
          message: "🚀 New Android release by ${{ github.actor }}!
          build_type:"aab" #Optional;set to "apk" or "aab" (defaults to "apk")
          

✍️ Adding Signing Config to Your Gradle File

To build and sign your Android app, you need to configure the signing settings in your build.gradle file. Below are the steps for both Groovy DSL and Kotlin DSL formats.

"Note: For AAB builds (build_type: aab), ensure your project supports the bundleRelease task. This may require enabling the Android App Bundle in your build.gradle (e.g., android.bundle settings) and verifying compatibility with the Android Gradle Plugin. See Google's documentation for details."

For Groovy DSL (build.gradle):

android {
    ...
    signingConfigs {
        release {
            keyAlias System.getenv("KEY_ALIAS")
            keyPassword System.getenv("KEY_PASSWORD")
            storeFile file("keystore.jks")
            storePassword System.getenv("KEYSTORE_PASSWORD")
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
            minifyEnabled true // Enable ProGuard or R8 for release builds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

For Kotlin DSL (build.gradle.kts):

android {
    ...
    signingConfigs {
        create("release") {
            keyAlias = System.getenv("KEY_ALIAS")
            keyPassword = System.getenv("KEY_PASSWORD")
            storeFile = file("keystore.jks")
            storePassword = System.getenv("KEYSTORE_PASSWORD")
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        getByName("release") {
            signingConfig = signingConfigs.getByName("release")
            isMinifyEnabled = true // Enable ProGuard or R8 for release builds
            proguardFiles(getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android-optimize.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro")
        }
    }
}

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📥 How to Get Your Telegram chat_id

1. Create a bot using bot father or use an already existing bot.
2. Start a chat with your bot (search by username).
3. Send a message like "Hello".
4. Open this URL: https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getUpdates (replace <TOKEN> with your bot token) in your browser:
5. In the response, look for.

   "chat": {
       "id": 123456789,
   }

---

🔑 How to Create a Keystore File

To build and sign your Android app, you need a keystore file. Follow these steps to create one:

1. Open a terminal or command prompt.
2. Run the following command to generate a keystore file:

   keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-release-key.jks -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias my-key-alias

   Replace my-release-key.jks with your desired keystore file name and my-key-alias with your preferred alias.
3. You will be prompted to enter the following details:
   • Keystore password
   • Key alias
   • Key password
   • Personal information (e.g., name, organization, etc.)
4. After completing the prompts, the keystore file (my-release-key.jks) will be created in the current directory.
5. Convert the keystore file to a Base64-encoded string:

   base64 my-release-key.jks > keystore_base64.txt

   This will create a file (keystore_base64.txt) containing the Base64-encoded string of your keystore.
6. Copy the contents of keystore_base64.txt and set it as the KEYSTORE_BASE64 secret in your GitHub repository.

   Notes: Keep your keystore file and passwords secure. Do not share them publicly. Use the same alias and passwords when configuring the GitHub secrets.

🛠️ Advanced AAB Processing

The action includes bundletool (version 1.17.1) in the Docker image, which can be used for advanced AAB processing, such as validating the AAB file or extracting APKs for testing. While the action currently sends the AAB file directly to Telegram, you can extend the entrypoint.sh script to use bundletool for additional tasks. See the bundletool documentation for details.

🛑 Troubleshooting

Here are common issues and solutions when using this action:

-"Artifact not found" error: -Ensure your Gradle file is configured correctly for assembleRelease (APK) or bundleRelease (AAB). -For AAB builds, verify that the bundleRelease task is supported in your project (e.g., Android Gradle Plugin version 3.2.0 or higher). -Check the GitHub Actions logs for Gradle build errors. -Telegram upload fails: -Verify that TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID are correct. -Ensure the file size is within Telegram’s limits (50MB for bots, 2GB for premium). -Check the Telegram Bot API response in the GitHub Actions logs for error details. -Keystore errors: -Confirm that KEYSTORE_BASE64 is a valid Base64-encoded string of your keystore file. -Ensure KEYSTORE_PASSWORD, KEY_ALIAS, and KEY_PASSWORD match the keystore’s configuration. If you encounter issues, contact [email protected] or [email protected]

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.