Telegram Trigger

Starts the workflow for every Telegram bot update — long-polls getUpdates (default) or serves a secret-token-validated webhook. Each update (message, edited message, channel post, callback query, inline query, …) becomes one run with the update object as input.

Finding it in the library

Search the builder's node library for Telegram Trigger (it lives under Input). A single click opens the in-editor docs panel shown here — description, ports, and every property, without leaving the canvas. Double-click (or drag) to add it to the workflow.

Library capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

Wired up in the builder

Telegram Trigger in a real, runnable flow — captured live from the Studio editor, exactly as it looks on your canvas. This is the same workflow used for the example input & output below.

Canvas capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

How it’s configured

The node’s Configure panel as it opens in the builder when you select the step — every setting laid out with real values. Click any field to edit it.

Config capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes. See the full property reference below.

Ports

This is a trigger — it starts runs and takes no input wire.

Ports are the node’s contract with its neighbours. In the editor a port label renders bold when wired and italic when optional; ◈ ports accept attachment carriers rather than data wires.

How data flows through it

As a trigger, Telegram Trigger starts runs — it takes no input wire. What it emits is the request wrapper: the event’s body becomes the payload, and the wrapper carries the event metadata around it (for an HTTP-style trigger that’s headers.*, request.method, request.path and query). Downstream nodes consume the content — the wrapper is unwrapped at each node boundary, and expression roots like {{ headers.x }} still resolve against the wrapper when you need the metadata. See Runs & run data for the envelope model.

Expressions in the config

String-typed properties accept {{ }} expressions evaluated against the incoming item at run time — e.g. {{ $json.customer.email }}. On this node that’s token, path, secretToken, publicUrl, baseUrl. JSON- and code-typed fields never interpolate — they are passed through literally.

Build it with AI

Every node in this reference is reachable through Flowdrome’s AI Copilot and the MCP tools — say what you want, and the graph surgery happens server-side. Node types resolve fuzzily, so the catalog label (Telegram Trigger) works as well as the exact type id (input.telegram).

In the Copilot panel (or any connected AI):

create a workflow that starts with telegram trigger and logs the result

As a step in a create_chain_workflow call:

{"type":"Telegram Trigger","config":{}}

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:48170/mcp -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "1", "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "add_node", "arguments": { "workflowId": "<id>", "type": "Telegram Trigger" } } }'

Example input & output

Captured from a real test run of the workflow above — this is what you see in the run data panel after pressing Test workflow.

{
  "update_id": 1,
  "message": {
    "text": "hi"
  }
}

{
  "update_id": 1,
  "message": {
    "text": "hi"
  }
}

Property reference

Every setting, with its type and default — the same fields shown configured in the panel above.

Using it

Polling — no public URL required

The trigger half of the shipped Telegram Echo demo needs two properties: pick the bot credential (the Token field then carries ${credential.telegram-bot.botToken}) and leave Mode on polling. Long-polling works from behind any NAT — only outbound internet needed.

Every Telegram update starts a run whose payload is the update object — run it once, open the run data panel (as in the example capture above), and you have the full field map for expressions: $json.message.text, $json.message.chat.id, $json.callback_query.data, ….

Tips

• Polling vs webhook. Polling needs only outbound internet. Webhook mode binds Path on the app’s server and requires a reachable HTTPS Public URL — set Secret token so the node can verify Telegram’s X-Telegram-Bot-Api-Secret-Token header.
• Filter updates at the source. Allowed updates (e.g. message, callback_query) keeps button-clicks and channel noise from starting runs you don’t want.
• In the editor vs deployed. Test runs poll the same Bot API; deployed apps serve the trigger continuously per the production trigger model.
• One bot token should drive one consumer at a time in polling mode — Telegram delivers each update to a single getUpdates caller.

Related nodes

The rest of the Input group — the same folder you’d scan in the editor’s library.

• HTTP Trigger Serves HTTP endpoints and starts the workflow with the request
• WhatsApp Trigger Starts the workflow when a WhatsApp message arrives (Meta Cloud API webhook)
• Slack Trigger Starts the workflow when a Slack event arrives (Events API)
• Discord Trigger Starts the workflow when a Discord message arrives — via the Gateway WebSocket (real-time messages) or an inte
• WebSocket Trigger Accepts a persistent WebSocket connection; each inbound message starts the workflow, and data sent to its feed
• Inject Injects static manual test payloads as workflow input.
• Manual Trigger Starts the workflow when run manually, passing your run/test data forward (empty item by default).
• Schedule Fires on a cron schedule or fixed interval, emitting a tick with the fire time.

This page is generated from the node registry by gen-node-docs.mjs on every site build — ports, properties, defaults and visibility rules cannot drift from the code. The screenshots and example data are captured from a live Flowdrome by npm run shots:nodes and npm run gen:examples. The hand-authored notes above are merged in.