terrylica 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
- Session must exist:
~/.local/share/gramjs/<profile>.session- If missing, run
/tlg:setupfirst
- If missing, run
Usage
/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:
- Did the command succeed? — If not, fix the instruction or error table that caused the failure.
- Did parameters or output change? — If tg-cli.ts's interface drifted, update Usage examples and Parameters table to match.
- 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.