---
name: connect-telegram
description: Set up or repair the user's Telegram connection for Telepath, then answer what they actually asked. Use whenever they ask about their Telegram messages, chats, voice notes or files; mention Telegram, Телеграм or переписка; or when a Telepath tool is unavailable, asks for authentication, or reports no chats at all. Not for a search that simply found nothing — that is an ordinary empty result, not a setup problem.
---

# Connecting Telegram to Telepath

Telepath reads the user's own Telegram through a hosted MCP server. It needs two
halves, and a half-connected setup looks exactly like an empty inbox — which is
why this skill exists. Work out which half is missing, fix that one, then go back
and do what the user originally asked.

**First, make sure anything is actually broken.** If the Telepath tools work and
return chats, this skill has nothing to do: use them and answer. A search that
found nothing is an ordinary empty result — a connected archive with no match
for *this* query — not a setup problem. Walking a working user through setup is
worse than saying "nothing found", because it tells them something is wrong when
nothing is.

What does mean setup is incomplete: the tools are missing, they report an
authentication error, or they report **no chats at all**. Zero chats is not a
failed search; it means there is nothing to search.

**And do not stop at "you're connected now."** The user asked a question. Setup
is the detour, not the destination.

## Step 1 — is the connector authenticated?

Call a cheap Telepath tool, such as `telegram_list_chats`.

**If the tool is missing, fails to connect, or reports a 401 / authentication
error**, the connector is installed but not signed in. Say so briefly and give
the path for where the user is:

- **Claude app and Cowork**: **Customize → Plugins → Telepath → Connectors**.
  The connector shows one of two states there, and which one decides the step:
  **Not added** needs **Add** first and then **Connect**; **Not connected**
  needs only **Connect**. Say both, because installing the plugin adds neither
  the connector nor a sign-in, and a user who only hears "Connect" and sees no
  such button concludes the plugin is broken. Name the path exactly: a
  connector that ships with a plugin lives on that plugin's own Connectors tab,
  *not* in the general connector settings.
- **Claude Code**: run `/mcp`, pick **telepath**, and follow the browser.

Signing in is a Telegram login — there is no password to invent. It is what tells
the server whose archive this is. Wait for the user to say they are done, then
try the tool again.

## Step 2 — is Telegram itself connected?

A signed-in account with no bot added in Telegram has an empty archive. If the
tool succeeds but returns no chats, or a search over a period the user says
should have messages comes back empty, this is the missing half.

Tell them, in their own language, to open Telegram and do this once:

> **Settings → My Account → Chat automation** → add **@lemma_telepath_bot**

Add at most two of these, and only when they answer something the user is
actually facing. Someone who has connected nothing yet does not need to hear
about group chats and history imports — a wall of options at step one is how
people give up.

- It is available on **every** Telegram account — no Premium, no paid plan.
  Worth saying up front: most people assume this costs money.
- By default the bot gets **all** private chats. Anything excluded under
  *Chats the bot can access* never reaches the server at all. Say this when
  they ask what is shared, or hesitate about privacy.
- Archiving starts **from that moment**. Say this when they ask about old
  messages, or search for something older and find nothing. Then, and only
  then, `/import` in the bot takes a Telegram Desktop export.
- Groups are separate: add the bot to the group, then write one message there
  yourself. Say this only when they ask about a group.
- Step by step with pictures: https://telepath.lemma.company/start

The bot sends a confirmation in Telegram once it connects. That is the signal
the second half is done.

## Step 3 — answer the original question

As soon as the tools return real chats, carry out the request that started all
this. If the user asked what Yulia wrote, resolve the name with
`telegram_find_chat`, then read it with `telegram_get_messages`. Do not make them
ask a second time.