Can n8n integrate with a self-hosted Telegram bot?

Below is an overview based on the official documentation:

Official Support

n8n’s Telegram nodes (both the Telegram and Telegram Trigger nodes) are designed to work with the standard Telegram Bot API. In the current setup, you provide a bot access token obtained from BotFather, and the node communicates with Telegram’s official API endpoints. There isn’t an option in the credentials or node settings to specify a custom API endpoint—meaning n8n expects to interact with Telegram’s own servers rather than a self-hosted instance.

Using a Locally Hosted Telegram Bot

• Direct Out-of-the-Box Support:
  n8n does not currently provide direct support or configuration fields to change the default Telegram API base URL. This means that if you host your own telegram-bot-api (for instance, on localhost or another server), n8n’s Telegram nodes won’t automatically point to that instance.

• Additional Configuration or Customization:
  If you require using a locally hosted Telegram bot (perhaps to overcome certain limitations), you might need to take extra steps such as:

  • Customizing the Node Code: Forking or extending the existing Telegram node to allow specifying your own base URL.
  • Feature Request: Submitting feedback to the n8n community or GitHub repository to add support for custom API endpoints in future releases.

Important Consideration

Even if you manage to point n8n to your self-hosted instance, keep in mind that Telegram operates under the constraint that a bot can only register a single webhook at a time. Additionally, if your local instance is behind a reverse proxy or not exposed via HTTPS, you might run into further webhook configuration challenges.

Conclusion

To summarize, n8n’s integration with Telegram is built around the standard API provided by Telegram’s servers. Using a locally hosted Telegram bot isn’t supported directly through configuration, so any such setup would require extra development work. If you decide to pursue a custom solution, consider the networking, webhook, and security implications involved.