Lists available Telegram dialogs for the authenticated account, including unread message counts.
AI agents call listChannels to retrieve information from Telegram MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This is fundamentally a read operation that queries and returns information about available Telegram channels and dialog metadata. However, severity is elevated to 'medium' rather than 'low' because the data returned (list of channels and unread counts) reveals the user's Telegram communication patterns and engagement, which is sensitive personal information.
From the tool's definition Tool description states it 'Lists available Telegram dialogs for the authenticated account, including unread message counts.' This retrieves metadata about channels without modifying or executing actions.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access listChannels gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Telegram MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for listChannels:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"listChannels": {}
}
}listChannels is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Lists available Telegram dialogs for the authenticated account, including unread message counts. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Telegram MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Telegram MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for listChannels: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Telegram MCP Server. Nothing to install.
listChannels is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the listChannels rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for listChannels. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
listChannels is provided by the Telegram MCP Server MCP server (kfastov/tgcli). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Telegram MCP Server, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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38 Telegram MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.