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

📒 Telegram Expense Tracker to Google Sheets with GPT-4.1

> 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

1. User sends a text message on Telegram describing an expense
   (e.g., “Bought coffee for 50k at Highlands”)

2. 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.

3. 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

4. If valid:

   • The bot replies with a fun acknowledgment
   • The data is saved to a connected Google Sheet

5. 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

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