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"
bun "$SCRIPT" search "search term" -n 20
Search in specific chatbun "$SCRIPT" search "keyword" --chat 2124832490
Filter by senderbun "$SCRIPT" search "topic" --from @username
Combined: search in chat from specific senderbun "$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.