Build a Telegram bot

The end state: a bot that answers every message with a timestamped echo, served by one of your hosts. This is the full version of the first workflow, including the Telegram side.

1. Create the bot with BotFather

  1. In Telegram, open a chat with @BotFather.
  2. Send /newbot, pick a display name, then a username ending in bot.
  3. BotFather replies with the bot token (123456789:AA…). Treat it like a password.
  4. Optional but useful: /setdescription, /setuserpic.

To send yourself messages you’ll also want your chat id: message your new bot once, then visit https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getUpdates — the message.chat.id field is it.

2. Store the credential

In the Nucleus: Admin → Credentials → New, template Telegram bot. Fill in botToken (and chatId if you want a default). The token is encrypted at rest; node configs will carry ${credential.telegram-bot.botToken} — a reference, not the value.

3. The workflow

Three nodes, wired left to right — this is the demo Flowdrome ships, on the canvas:

The Telegram Echo workflow in Studio: trigger, timestamp, reply
Telegram Echo in Studio: Bot updates (Telegram Trigger) → Now (Date & Time) → Echo reply (Telegram).

Build it in three steps:

  1. Bot updates — drop a Telegram Trigger from the library’s Input folder. In its properties, pick the telegram-bot credential (the token field becomes a vault reference) and leave Mode on polling — long-polling needs no public URL. Webhook mode is there when you have a reachable HTTPS endpoint.
The Telegram Trigger properties with the credential picked
The trigger's properties: credential picked, polling mode, 25 s poll timeout.

  1. Now (NY time) — a Date & Time node, Operation now, format yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss, timezone America/New_York, Output field receivedAt. It stamps each update with a readable local time.

  2. Echo reply — a Telegram output node with the same credential, Operation sendMessage, and Text using {{ }} expressions straight in the field:

    ⏰ {{ $json.receivedAt }} — You said: {{ $json.message.text }}

    No script node needed. Replying to the sender (rather than a fixed chat id) works too: set Chat id to {{ $json.message.chat.id }}.

4. Test in Studio

Test workflow, message the bot, watch the run light up. Open the trigger node’s output to see the full Telegram update envelope — handy for finding fields to use in expressions ($json.message.from.first_name, $json.message.chat.id, …).

5. Deploy it

Follow deploy to a host: pick a host and deploy — the host’s embedded engine starts polling Telegram from that machine immediately. The token is not in the deployed document — the host leases it from the vault at each run start.

Going further

The Telegram nodes go well beyond echo: the output node covers send/edit/delete/pin, media uploads (photo, document, audio, video — including binary input from upstream nodes), locations, media groups, chat management, callback-query answers and binary-safe file downloads. See the Telegram node reference and Telegram Trigger reference.