Find a Telegram chat
telegram_find_chatFind a person, group or channel by a partial name/title, @username, public Telegram link or numeric chat ID. Use chat_type to filter channels, groups or private chats. With Session, exact @usernames/public links resolve directly through Telegram; partial names search up to 1000 recent account dialogs, case-insensitively. Without Session, search is limited to this account's archive. A post link resolves its chat, not the specific post. This does not join channels or perform global fuzzy search. Clarify ambiguous matches; use a known chat_id directly. If the requested channel cannot be read with the current connection, explain /session in @lemma_telepath_bot; do not require channel ownership or bot admin rights just for Session reading. Management of an owned channel uses /channels separately. On no matches, explain only the observed search scope in the user's language; do not invent a cause or say the chat does not exist. For a Session name-search miss, explain the 1000-dialog bound and try a known exact @username/public link; otherwise ask for one or a more precise name. For an exact-username miss, ask the user to check the username; do not treat it as a confirmed access denial. For a confirmed archive-only miss, say the chat is absent from the saved archive; not yet connected or no saved messages are possibilities, not established facts. Offer the relevant setup path, not every option: private conversations use Telegram Chat Automation, selecting @lemma_telepath_bot and the desired chats, then saving; send /setup to https://t.me/lemma_telepath_bot for device-specific steps. For an owned channel, send /channels to that bot, choose Connect my channel and add it as administrator. For a group, an administrator can add @lemma_telepath_bot as a group administrator; the connected user must be a member. Do not request delete, ban or invite permissions just for reading. Bot API saves new messages received after setup; older history needs /import or accessible Session reads. If the user prefers not to add a bot, cannot add it, or wants to read someone else's accessible channel, offer Session: open https://t.me/lemma_telepath_bot, send /session, tap Connect Telegram and sign in by QR or phone on the connection page. Session also reads the user's own chats; private channels still require account access. Never ask for login codes/passwords in the assistant chat. Do not prescribe reconnection solely for an empty result or require setup for already usable archive content. If the tool errors, distinguish that from zero matches: explain the reported reason and an appropriate next step. Respect a returned retry delay; do not describe a timeout or temporary service failure as lost permissions. If the cause is unknown, say so and suggest retrying or support at https://t.me/hellolemma.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| limit | No | How many candidates to return. Default 20; Session returns at most 50, archive search at most 100. | |
| query | Yes | Partial name/title, exact @username, public t.me link, or numeric chat id. | |
| chat_type | No | Filter by chat type. group includes basic groups and supergroups; channel means broadcast channels. |