---
name: search-messages
description: user wants to search for messages across all Telegram chats or within a specific chat, find old messages by text, or look up Telegram message.
allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Grep, Glob
---

# Search Telegram Messages

Search messages globally across all chats or within a specific chat.

> **Self-Evolving Skill**: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

## Preflight

1. Session must exist: `~/.local/share/gramjs/<profile>.session`
   - If missing, run `/tlg:setup` first

## Usage

```bash
/usr/bin/env bash << 'EOF'
ROOT="$(cc-plugin-root tlg)"
SCRIPT="$ROOT/scripts/tg-cli.ts"

# Global search (all chats)
bun "$SCRIPT" search "search term" -n 20

# Search in specific chat
bun "$SCRIPT" search "keyword" --chat 2124832490

# Filter by sender
bun "$SCRIPT" search "topic" --from @username

# Combined: search in chat from specific sender
bun "$SCRIPT" search "query" --chat @groupname --from @sender -n 10
EOF
```

## Parameters

| Parameter    | Type       | Description                                                              |
| ------------ | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| query        | string     | Search text (required)                                                   |
| `--chat`     | string/int | Limit to specific chat (omit for global)                                 |
| `--from`     | string/int | Filter by sender                                                         |
| `-n/--limit` | int        | Max results (default: 20)                                                |
| `--preview`  | int        | Truncate each body to N chars (default: full text, multi-line indented). |

## Output Format

Default (full text, multi-line indented):

```
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM] [Chat Name] (id:12345) Sender: First line of body
    continuation line 1 (indented under header)
    continuation line 2
```

With `--preview 100`:

```
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM] [Chat Name] (id:12345) Sender: First line of body ⏎ continuation collapsed onto…
```

Use `--preview N` only for high-volume scans where you want one row per
message. Default = full text — long bodies are no longer silently
truncated at 150 chars (the prior default forced manual workarounds when
content actually mattered).

## Anti-Patterns

- **Flood risk**: Global search with common terms may hit rate limits (~30s wait per 10 requests)
- **Empty results**: Global search requires non-empty query string

## Post-Execution Reflection

After this skill completes, check before closing:

1. **Did the command succeed?** — If not, fix the instruction or error table that caused the failure.
2. **Did parameters or output change?** — If tg-cli.ts's interface drifted, update Usage examples and Parameters table to match.
3. **Was a workaround needed?** — If you had to improvise (different flags, extra steps), update this SKILL.md so the next invocation doesn't need the same workaround.

Only update if the issue is real and reproducible — not speculative.


---
Source attribution: terrylica
Original project: https://github.com/terrylica/cc-skills/blob/05b229e90559a414af83b5e29fc3bda1f73f8213/plugins/tlg/skills/search-messages/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025-2026 terrylica

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: terrylica
Original project: https://github.com/terrylica/cc-skills/blob/05b229e90559a414af83b5e29fc3bda1f73f8213/plugins/tlg/skills/search-messages/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Sales, Customer Support
Roles: Community Manager, Customer Success Manager, Support Agent
Specialties: API
Tools: Telegram
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: ff23cbf81db10602744e39c05969e8af37f1807bce20c495c6659891a01ff5a5