Telegram Trigger Node Not Receiving Messages in n8n

Below is a few tips to troubleshoot your issue with the Telegram Trigger node:

1. Check Your Webhook URL

For Telegram the webhook URL must be HTTPS. When you run n8n with the tunnel option, it prints a public URL that you must use. Make sure that the URL registered with Telegram (via the WEBHOOK_URL setting) is the HTTPS tunnel URL that n8n provided. In Docker you can pass the environment variable like so:

BASHCopied
docker run --name n8n-tunnel \
  -p 0.0.0.0:5678:5678 \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  -e WEBHOOK_URL=https://<your-tunnel-id>.loca.lt \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n start --tunnel

Replace <your-tunnel-id>.loca.lt with your actual tunnel hostname. This ensures that Telegram can reach your n8n instance.

2. Webhook Registration for Telegram

Remember that Telegram lets you register only one webhook per bot. If you switch between testing and production endpoints, Telegram might only send events to one of them. Before testing, double-check that the webhook on Telegram’s side is registered to the correct HTTPS URL. You can use Telegram’s API (or the BotFather commands) to check and update the webhook if necessary.

3. Reverse Proxy and Websockets

If you’re running n8n behind a reverse proxy, you need to ensure websocket support is enabled. Although your container is using a tunnel (which typically handles the public URL correctly), this is an important factor if you ever run n8n in a production system behind a proxy.

Summary

Your Telegram Trigger node shows “Listening for test event” because n8n is waiting for an incoming message on the registered webhook URL. Since Telegram only sends events to the webhook URL that was registered, you must ensure that:

• Your tunnel URL is HTTPS and is used as the public webhook endpoint.
• Telegram’s webhook is set to this HTTPS tunnel URL.
• You are not inadvertently switching between testing and production endpoints.

Once the correct webhook is registered and your public URL is reachable by Telegram, your Telegram Trigger node should receive messages as they arrive.

Hope this helps you get your first node running!