telegram-search-chats

THE RISK

Low Risk

Why telegram-search-chats needs a policy

This is a Read operation—it queries and retrieves information about Telegram chats, users, and channels without side effects. However, the severity is elevated to 'high' because the MCP server operates as a userbot with full access to the user's personal account ('full access to your chats, contacts, and message history').

From the tool's definition Tool performs search operations returning descriptive metadata ('Returns description and member count') without creating, modifying, or deleting data. Verbs used: 'Search for' and 'Returns' indicate retrieval-only functionality.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access telegram-search-chats gives an agent:

POLICY

How to control telegram-search-chats

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and MCP-Telegram, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for telegram-search-chats:

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "telegram-search-chats": {}
  }
}

telegram-search-chats 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 MCP-Telegram — 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 MCP-Telegram tools

Financial telegram-change-stars-subscription Cancel or restore a Telegram Stars subscription (payments.ChangeStarsSubscription). Pass c Financial telegram-convert-star-gift Convert a received Star Gift into Stars (non-reversible). The gift is removed from your pr Financial telegram-send-paid-reaction Send a paid reaction (★ Stars) on a channel post. Stars are spent from your balance. Optio Destructive telegram-clear-drafts Delete saved message drafts. Pass chatId to clear the draft for a single chat. Without cha Destructive telegram-clear-recent-emoji-statuses Clear your recently-used emoji status list (the Destructive telegram-close-poll Close a poll permanently. This is a one-way operation — closed polls cannot be reopened. Destructive telegram-delete-business-chat-link Delete a Telegram Business chat link by its slug. Requires Telegram Business subscription. Destructive telegram-delete-fact-check Remove a fact-check annotation. Requires fact-checker privileges.

All 181 MCP-Telegram 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 telegram-search-chats

What does the telegram-search-chats tool do? +

Search for Telegram chats, users, or channels by name or username. Returns description and member count. It is categorised as a Read tool in the MCP-Telegram MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on telegram-search-chats? +

Register the MCP-Telegram MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for telegram-search-chats: 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 MCP-Telegram. Nothing to install.

What risk level is telegram-search-chats? +

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

Can I rate-limit telegram-search-chats? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the telegram-search-chats 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 telegram-search-chats completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for telegram-search-chats. 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 telegram-search-chats? +

telegram-search-chats is provided by the MCP-Telegram MCP server (mcp-telegram/mcp-telegram). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every MCP-Telegram tool call.

Start from MCP-Telegram, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

CHECK YOUR STACK →