Telegram Bot

Build Telegram bots for chatbots, notifications, AI assistants, and group automation. Based on n8n's Telegram workflow templates.

Overview

This skill covers:

• Bot setup and configuration

• Message handling patterns

• AI-powered assistants

• Notification workflows

• Group automation

Bot Setup

Creating a Bot

setup_steps:

  1. create_bot:

      - open: @BotFather on Telegram

      - command: /newbot

      - provide: bot_name

      - provide: bot_username (must end in 'bot')

      - receive: API_token

  2. configure_bot:

      - command: /setdescription

      - command: /setabouttext

      - command: /setuserpic

      - command: /setcommands

  3. get_chat_id:

      - start: conversation with bot

      - call: https://api.telegram.org/bot{TOKEN}/getUpdates

      - extract: chat.id from response

Bot Commands

commands:

  - command: /start

    description: "Start the bot"

  - command: /help

    description: "Show available commands"

  - command: /status

    description: "Check system status"

  - command: /subscribe

    description: "Subscribe to notifications"

  - command: /unsubscribe

    description: "Unsubscribe from notifications"

Message Handlers

Basic Message Handler

workflow: "Telegram Message Handler"

trigger: telegram_message

handlers:

  text_message:

    action: |

      1. Parse message text

      2. Determine intent

      3. Process request

      4. Send response

  command:

    pattern: "^/"

    action: route_to_command_handler

  photo:

    action: |

      1. Download photo

      2. Process with vision AI

      3. Respond with analysis

  document:

    action: |

      1. Download document

      2. Extract content

      3. Process and respond

  voice:

    action: |

      1. Download audio

      2. Transcribe with Whisper

      3. Process text

      4. Respond (text or voice)

  location:

    action: |

      1. Extract coordinates

      2. Lookup local info

      3. Respond with relevant data

n8n Workflow

workflow: "Telegram Bot n8n"

nodes:

  - name: "Telegram Trigger"

    type: "n8n-nodes-base.telegramTrigger"

    parameters:

      updates: ["message", "callback_query"]

  - name: "Route Message Type"

    type: "n8n-nodes-base.switch"

    parameters:

      rules:

        - output: 0

          condition: "{{ $json.message.text.startsWith('/') }}"

        - output: 1

          condition: "{{ $json.message.photo }}"

        - output: 2

          condition: "{{ $json.message.voice }}"

        - output: 3

          fallback: true

  - name: "Process with AI"

    type: "n8n-nodes-base.openAi"

    parameters:

      model: "gpt-4"

      messages:

        - role: "system"

          content: "You are a helpful Telegram assistant."

        - role: "user"

          content: "{{ $json.message.text }}"

  - name: "Send Response"

    type: "n8n-nodes-base.telegram"

    parameters:

      chatId: "{{ $json.message.chat.id }}"

      text: "{{ $json.response }}"

AI-Powered Bot

GPT-4 Integration

ai_bot:

  name: "AI Assistant Bot"

  system_prompt: |

    You are a helpful AI assistant on Telegram.

    Guidelines:

    - Be concise (Telegram has message limits)

    - Use emojis appropriately

    - Format with markdown when helpful

    - Ask clarifying questions if needed

  features:

    - conversational_memory: true

    - context_window: last_10_messages

    - tools: [web_search, calculator, weather]

  message_formatting:

    max_length: 4096

    split_long_messages: true

    use_markdown: true

Multi-Modal Bot

multimodal_bot:

  handlers:

    text:

      model: gpt-4

      action: chat_completion

    image:

      model: gpt-4-vision

      action: analyze_and_respond

    voice:

      transcribe: whisper

      process: gpt-4

      respond: text_or_voice

    document:

      extract: based_on_type

      summarize: gpt-4

      respond: text

Notification System

Alert Bot

workflow: "System Alert Bot"

triggers:

  - source: monitoring_system

    event: alert

  - source: ci_cd

    event: build_status

  - source: ecommerce

    event: new_order

notification_templates:

  alert:

    format: |

      🚨 *Alert: {severity}*

      *Service:* {service}

      *Message:* {message}

      *Time:* {timestamp}

      [View Dashboard]({dashboard_link})

  build:

    format: |

      {status_emoji} *Build {status}*

      *Project:* {project}

      *Branch:* {branch}

      *Commit:* `{commit_short}`

      {details}

  order:

    format: |

      🛒 *New Order!*

      *Order:* #{order_id}

      *Customer:* {customer}

      *Total:* ${total}

      *Items:* {item_count}

routing:

  by_severity:

    critical: [admin_group, on_call_user]

    warning: [team_group]

    info: [logging_channel]

Scheduled Notifications

scheduled_notifications:

  daily_digest:

    schedule: "9am daily"

    template: |

      📊 *Daily Summary - {date}*

      📈 Sales: ${sales} ({change})

      👥 New users: {new_users}

      🎫 Open tickets: {tickets}

      Have a great day! ☀️

  weekly_report:

    schedule: "Monday 9am"

    template: weekly_metrics_report

  reminder:

    trigger: custom_event

    template: |

      ⏰ *Reminder*

      {reminder_text}

      Scheduled by: {creator}

Group Automation

Welcome Bot

group_bot:

  on_member_join:

    action: |

      1. Check if new member

      2. Send welcome message

      3. Share rules

      4. Suggest introduction

    template: |

      👋 Welcome to {group_name}, {user_name}!

      Please:

      1. Read the /rules

      2. Introduce yourself

      3. Ask questions anytime!

      Enjoy your stay! 🎉

  on_member_leave:

    action: optional_goodbye

  moderation:

    - spam_detection: auto_delete + warn

    - link_filtering: whitelist_only

    - flood_control: rate_limit

Poll & Survey Bot

poll_bot:

  commands:

    /poll:

      format: "/poll Question | Option1 | Option2 | ..."

      action: create_poll

    /survey:

      action: start_multi_question_survey

    /results:

      action: show_aggregated_results

  features:

    - anonymous_voting: optional

    - multiple_choice: optional

    - scheduled_close: optional

    - export_results: to_sheets

Inline Features

Inline Keyboard

inline_keyboard:

  example:

    text: "Choose an option:"

    keyboard:

      - row:

          - text: "Option 1"

            callback_data: "opt_1"

          - text: "Option 2"

            callback_data: "opt_2"

      - row:

          - text: "Cancel"

            callback_data: "cancel"

  callback_handler:

    opt_1:

      action: process_option_1

      response: "You selected Option 1"

    opt_2:

      action: process_option_2

      response: "You selected Option 2"

    cancel:

      action: cancel_operation

      response: "Operation cancelled"

Inline Query

inline_mode:

  trigger: "@botname query"

  results:

    - type: article

      title: "{query} result"

      description: "Click to send"

      message_text: "Result for: {query}"

    - type: photo

      photo_url: "{search_result_image}"

    - type: gif

      gif_url: "{gif_url}"

Output Example

Request: "Create a Telegram notification bot for server alerts"

Output:

# Server Alert Telegram Bot

## Setup

1. Create bot with @BotFather

2. Get token: `123456:ABC-DEF...`

3. Get chat ID for alerts channel

## n8n Workflow

nodes:

1. Webhook (receives alerts)

2. Format Message

3. Telegram Send

## Alert Templates

**Critical Alert:**

🚨 CRITICAL ALERT

Server: production-web-01

Status: DOWN

Time: 2026-01-30 14:32:05 UTC

Details:

• CPU: 98%

• Memory: 95%

• Disk: 89%

[View Grafana] [Acknowledge]

**Recovery:**

✅ RECOVERED

Server: production-web-01

Downtime: 5 minutes

Status: All systems normal

Incident resolved automatically.

## Implementation

// Send alert function

async function sendAlert(severity, message, details) {

const emoji = {

critical: '🚨',

warning: '⚠️',

info: 'ℹ️',

success: '✅'

};

const text = ${emoji[severity]} *${severity.toUpperCase()}*\n\n${message}\n\n${details};

await telegram.sendMessage({

chat_id: ALERT_CHANNEL_ID,

text: text,

parse_mode: 'Markdown'

});

}

## Features

- Severity-based routing

- Inline action buttons

- Acknowledgment tracking

- Escalation rules

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Telegram Bot Skill - Part of Claude Office Skills