← Documentation: Instagram Reel to Notion Second Brain
Telegram is the entry point for the workflow. Configure a private bot first, then restrict its users before allowing messages to trigger paid extraction requests.
Open BotFather, send /newbot and choose a display name and an available username ending in bot.
Save the returned token in an n8n Telegram API credential and select it in 01 — Receive Reel From Telegram. Keep the token out of Code nodes, notes and shared workflow exports.
Replace the imported trigger's example allowed Telegram user ID with your own numeric user ID. The workflow is intended for personal use; unrestricted access could allow other people to consume your Apify and OpenAI quota.
Telegram delivers messages to n8n over HTTPS. For self-hosted n8n, configure the proxy or tunnel and webhook URL settings so the production endpoint is publicly reachable.
Use one active workflow per bot token. Competing workflows can replace the bot's webhook registration.
Activate the workflow and send /help or /start; the bot should reply without calling Apify. Then send a public link shaped like https://www.instagram.com/reel/SHORTCODE/. Inspect the trigger execution and normalized URL in 04 — Extract & Validate Reel URL.
If messages are ignored, check the allowed user ID and supported URL format. For no execution, check the token, activation and HTTPS endpoint. Outgoing Telegram errors require checking chatId, HTML parse mode and escaped reserved characters.
Continue with 02 · Apify Actor & Instagram Extraction. Only the first supported Instagram URL in a message is processed.