messagesSearch

THE RISK

Low Risk

Why messagesSearch needs a policy

The tool performs a search query across Telegram messages, returning results without modifying, deleting, or executing any actions. This is a classic read operation with no destructive, financial, or execution consequences. The low severity reflects minimal blast radius—malicious use would be limited to information disclosure.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'messagesSearch' and description 'Searches messages across the archive or live Telegram API' both indicate a retrieval operation with no side effects.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access messagesSearch gives an agent:

POLICY

How to control messagesSearch

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 messagesSearch:

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "messagesSearch": {}
  }
}

messagesSearch is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

Create a free account and register Telegram MCP Server — nothing to install.
Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.

CAP THIS TOOL →

Free to start. No card required.

EXPLORE

Related tools and policies

More Telegram MCP Server tools

Destructive contactsAliasRemove Removes alias for a contact. Destructive groupsMembersRemove Removes members from a group. Destructive groupsLeave Leaves a group chat or channel. Destructive groupsInviteLinkRevoke Revokes the primary invite link for a group. Write contactsTagsRemove Removes tags from a contact. Write autoTagChannels Auto-tags channels based on title, username, and cached metadata. Write groupsJoin Joins a group using an invite link or code. Write mediaDownload Downloads media from a message to a local file.

All 38 Telegram MCP Server tools →

Read tools on other servers

M-Team MCP Server get_torrent_detail YouTube MCP Server search_channel Android Forensics ADB MCP Server parse_browser_history 0xarchive web3_challenge

Go deeper

The MCP Attack Database → Documented attack patterns against MCP deployments — and the policies that stop them.
Data exfiltration → How read access becomes an exfiltration channel when chained with untrusted content.
MCP token cost → What connecting this server costs in context-window tokens on every request.
Rate Limiting MCP Tool Calls: A Practical Guide →
MCP Security: Why Prompt Guardrails Aren't Enough →

FAQ

Questions about messagesSearch

What does the messagesSearch tool do? +

Searches messages across the archive or live Telegram API. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Telegram MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on messagesSearch? +

Register the Telegram MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for messagesSearch: 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.

What risk level is messagesSearch? +

messagesSearch is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit messagesSearch? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the messagesSearch 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.

How do I block messagesSearch completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for messagesSearch. 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.

What MCP server provides messagesSearch? +

messagesSearch 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.

Enforce policy on every Telegram MCP Server tool call.

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.

CHECK YOUR STACK →