Track Expenses from Telegram to Google Sheets with GPT-4.1 Mini

Description

📒 Telegram Expense Tracker to Google Sheets with GPT-4.1
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> A lightweight automation that lets users log daily expenses via a Telegram bot and instantly saves them into Google Sheets—perfect for anyone looking to manage spending on the go with AI-powered structure and ease.
👤 Who’s it for
This workflow is for anyone who wants to log their daily expenses by simply chatting with a Telegram bot. Ideal for:
Individuals who want a quick way to track spending
Freelancers who log receipts and purchases on the go
Teams or small business owners who want lightweight expense capture

⚙️ How it works / What it does
User sends a text message on Telegram describing an expense
(e.g., “Bought coffee for 50k at Highlands”)

Message format is validated
If the message is text, it proceeds to GPT-4.1 Mini for processing.
If it's not text (e.g. image or file), the bot sends a fallback message.

OpenAI GPT-4.1 Mini parses the message and returns:
relevant: true/false
expense_record: structured fields (date, amount, currency, category, description, source)
message: a friendly confirmation or fallback

If valid:
The bot replies with a fun acknowledgment
The data is saved to a connected Google Sheet

If invalid:
A fallback message is sent to encourage proper input

🛠️ How to set up

1. Telegram Bot Setup
Create a bot using BotFather on Telegram
Copy the bot token and paste it into the Telegram Trigger node

2. Google Sheet Setup
Create a Google Sheet with these columns:
Date | Amount | Currency | Category | Description | SourceMessage
Share the sheet with your n8n service account email

3. OpenAI Configuration
Connect the OpenAI Chat Model node using your OpenAI API key
Use GPT-4.1 Mini as the model
Apply a system prompt that extracts structured JSON with:
relevant, expense_record, and message

4. Add Parser
Use the Structured Output Parser node to safely parse the JSON response

5. Conditional Logic Nodes
Is text message?
Checks if the message is in text format
Supported scenario?
Checks if relevant = true in the LLM response

6. Final Actions
If relevant**:
Send confirmation via Telegram
Append row to Google Sheet
If not relevant**:
Send fallback message via Telegram

✅ Requirements
Telegram bot token
OpenAI GPT-4.1 Mini API access
n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)
Google Sheet with access granted to n8n
Basic understanding of n8n node configuration

🧩 How to customize the workflow

| Feature | How to Customize |
|----------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Add multi-currency support | Update system prompt to detect and extract different currencies |
| Add more categories | Modify the list of categories in the system prompt |
| Track multiple users | Add username or chat ID column to the Google Sheet |
| Trigger alerts | Add Slack, Email, or Telegram alerts for specific expense types |
| Weekly summaries | Use a cron node + Google Sheet query + Telegram message |
| Visual dashboards | Connect the sheet to Looker Studio or Google Data Studio |

Built with 💬 Telegram + 🧠 GPT-4.1 Mini + 📊 Google Sheets + ⚡ n8n