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

Telegram Expense Tracker to Google Sheets with GPT-4.1 .jpg) > 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 - expenserecord: 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: - 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, expenserecord, 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