Manage recipes with AI-powered Telegram bot and Google Sheets database

Transform Your Telegram into a Smart Recipe Assistant!

Tired of scrolling through messy notes and bookmarks to find your favorite recipes? Wish you had a personal chef's assistant to help you in the kitchen?

Introducing the Culinary Companion for Telegram, an n8n workflow that turns your Telegram app into a powerful, AI-driven recipe management tool, using Google Sheets as your database.

🚀 Key Features

• Telegram Bot Interface: Interact with your recipe book using simple text commands.
• Google Sheets Database: Your single source of truth for recipes, easily viewable and editable outside of Telegram.
• AI-Powered Recipe Assistant: Utilizes Google Gemini or OpenAI to understand natural language for creating, modifying, and searching for recipes.
• Full Recipe Management (CRUD):
  • Create: Add new recipes conversationally.
  • Read: Fetch your full recipe list or view a single, detailed recipe card.
  • Update: Modify existing recipes with AI assistance.
• Command-Driven & AI-Driven: Use simple commands for direct actions (/list, /select) or have a conversation with the AI for more complex tasks (/search, /create, /modify).
• Formatted for Mobile: All responses are sent in clean, readable Markdown, perfect for viewing on the go.

⚙️ How It Works

The workflow is triggered by messages sent to your Telegram bot. A central Command Router (Switch node) determines the user's intent and directs the flow to the appropriate tool.

1. Command Routing

• A Telegram Trigger node listens for any new message.
• The Command Router (Switch node) immediately inspects the message text for keywords like /list, /select, /create, etc.
• Based on the command, the workflow branches into either a simple data fetch or a more complex AI-powered action.

2. Simple Recipe Lookups (/list & /select)

• /list:
  1. The Read Recipe Names (Google Sheets node) fetches all values from column A of your sheet.
  2. A Format List Message (Code node) transforms the raw data into a clean, numbered list.
  3. The formatted list is sent to you via the Telegram Send Recipe List node.
• /select [recipe name]:
  1. The Extract Select Param (Code node) isolates the recipe name from your command.
  2. The Lookup Recipe Row (Google Sheets node) searches for that specific recipe in your sheet and returns its full row of data.
  3. A Format Full Recipe (Code node) assembles the data into a beautifully formatted recipe card, complete with emojis and sections for ingredients, instructions, and notes.
  4. The final recipe card is sent via the Telegram Send Full Recipe node.

3. AI-Powered Recipe Management (/search, /create, /modify)

For more complex tasks, the workflow leverages a powerful AI agent.

• The user's command (e.g., /search chicken and rice or /create a pasta dish) is passed to the Recipe AI Agent.
• This agent is powered by either Google Gemini or an OpenAI Model.
• It is given a specific system prompt to act as a helpful, food-focused assistant with access to a set of tools.
• Tools Available to the AI:
  • Read Recipes Sheet: Allows the AI to read the entire Google Sheet to answer broad questions or find recipes based on ingredients.
  • Update Recipes Sheet: Gives the AI the power to add new rows (new recipes) or modify existing ones based on your conversation.
  • Think: A tool that allows the agent to process complex requests step-by-step before acting.
• Conversation Memory: The agent remembers the last few messages, allowing you to have a natural, back-and-forth conversation (e.g., "Create a new recipe" -> "What should it be called?" -> "Spicy Tacos").
• The AI's final, formatted response is sent back to you via the Telegram Send AI Response node.

🛠️ Setup Steps & Credentials

1. Telegram Bot:

   • Create a bot with @BotFather on Telegram to get your API token.
   • Add this token as a credential for the Telegram Trigger and all Telegram sender nodes.

2. Google Sheets:

   • Create a new Google Sheet.
   • Set up the first row with headers: Recipe Name, Cooking Time, Ingredients, Instructions, Notes.
   • Copy the Sheet ID from the URL (it's the long string of characters in the middle).
   • Paste the Sheet ID into the relevant fields in the Read Recipe Names, Lookup Recipe Row, and the Google Sheets Tools (Read Recipes Sheet, Update Recipes Sheet).
   • Create Google OAuth2 credentials and connect them to all Google Sheets and Google Sheets Tool nodes.

3. AI Provider (Choose One):

   • For Google Gemini: Get an API key from Google AI Studio, create a Google Gemini(PaLM) Api credential, and connect it to the Google Gemini Chat Model node.
   • For OpenAI: Get an API key from OpenAI, create an OpenAI credential, and connect it to the OpenAI Chat Model node.
   • Note: You only need to enable one of the two AI models.

💡 Customization & Learning

• Expand Your Database: Add more columns to your Google Sheet like Cuisine, Difficulty, or Rating, and modify the Format Full Recipe node to display them.
• Enhance the AI: Edit the system prompt in the Recipe AI Agent to change its personality or give it more specific instructions.
• Add New Tools: Create new tools for the AI agent, such as a function to fetch nutritional information from an external API based on ingredients.
• Different Triggers: Instead of a Telegram bot, you could trigger the /create function from a simple web form.