N8N Tools TelegramInstall

Overview

The "Get Updates" operation of the "Updates" resource in this Telegram node allows you to retrieve incoming updates for your Telegram bot. This includes messages, edited messages, channel posts, inline queries, callback queries, and other events that your bot receives from users or chats.

This operation is useful when you want to poll Telegram for new activity instead of using webhooks. For example, you might use it to:

• Fetch new messages sent to your bot.
• Monitor user interactions like inline queries or callback button presses.
• Build custom workflows that react to Telegram events without setting up a webhook.

Practical example: You can periodically run this node to get all new messages sent to your bot, then process those messages in n8n to respond, log, or trigger other automations.

Properties

The "Options" property lets you specify any extra parameters supported by the Telegram Bot API's getUpdates method, such as offset, limit, timeout, or allowed_updates, formatted as a JSON object.

Example value for Options:

{
  "offset": 123456,
  "limit": 100,
  "timeout": 0,
  "allowed_updates": ["message", "edited_channel_post"]
}

Output

The output of the "Get Updates" operation is a JSON object representing the response from the Telegram Bot API's getUpdates method. This typically contains an array of update objects, each describing an event such as a new message, edited message, or callback query.

The structure generally looks like:

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": [
    {
      "update_id": 123456789,
      "message": { /* message object */ }
    },
    {
      "update_id": 123456790,
      "callback_query": { /* callback query object */ }
    }
    // more updates...
  ]
}

Each update object varies depending on the type of event it represents.

This node does not output binary data for this operation.

Dependencies

• Requires a valid Telegram Bot API token configured via an API key credential.
• Requires a subscription and API key for the external "N8N Tools API" service, which validates usage before forwarding requests to Telegram.
• The node uses the "N8N Tools API" base URL and API key for authentication and request validation.
• No additional environment variables are needed beyond these credentials.

Troubleshooting

• Invalid subscription or API key error: If you receive an error about invalid subscription or API key, verify that your API key credential for the external service is correct and active.
• Malformed JSON in Options: Ensure that the JSON entered in the "Options" field is valid JSON syntax; otherwise, parsing errors will occur.
• Unknown operation error: This node supports only predefined operations per resource. Using an unsupported operation name will cause an error.
• Network or API errors: Check network connectivity and Telegram Bot API status if requests fail unexpectedly.

Links and References

• Telegram Bot API - getUpdates
• Telegram Bots Documentation
• n8n Documentation - Creating Custom Nodes