Telegram Integration

Send Telegram notifications from Apify actors. Notify when runs complete, send data summaries, alerts, and custom messages via Telegram Bot API. Perfect for workflow automation and real-time notifications.

Features

• Automated data collection
• Structured output format
• Error handling
• Pay-per-event billing

Quick Start

{
  "input": "your input here"
}

Demo Mode

Set demoMode: true to test with sample data (no charges). When you're ready for real results, set demoMode: false or omit it.

{
  "demoMode": true,
  ...
}

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
botToken	string	Yes*	-	Telegram Bot API token from @BotFather
chatId	string	Yes*	-	Chat/group/channel ID to send to
message	string	No	-	Message text (supports Markdown/HTML)
parseMode	string	No	Markdown	Markdown, MarkdownV2, or HTML
disableNotification	boolean	No	false	Send silently (no sound)
imageUrl	string	No	-	URL of image to attach
documentUrl	string	No	-	URL of document to attach
replyToMessageId	integer	No	-	Reply to a specific message
webhookData	object	No	-	Apify webhook payload to auto-format
webhookUrl	string	No	-	URL to send results to (Zapier, Make, n8n, etc.)
demoMode	boolean	No	false	Test without sending (returns sample)

*Not required in demo mode

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Output Format

{
  "success": true,
  "messageId": 12345,
  "chatId": "123456789",
  "text": "✅ Scraping Complete - 25 new leads!",
  "sentAt": "2024-12-23T10:30:00Z"
}

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Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event billing:

Pay-Per-Run

Component	Cost
Apify Compute	~$0.001-0.005/run
Telegram API	Free

Cost Comparison

Notifications/Month	This Actor	PagerDuty	Opsgenie
100	~$0.50	$19/mo	$19/mo
1,000	~$5	$19/mo	$19/mo
10,000	~$50	$99/mo	$79/mo

No monthly subscription. Pay per notification.

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Use Cases

1. Actor Completion Alerts

{
  "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
  "chatId": "123456789",
  "message": "✅ *Scraping Complete*\n\nFound 25 new leads in Miami!",
  "parseMode": "Markdown"
}

2. Webhook Integration (Auto-Trigger)

Set up a webhook on your scraping actor:

{
  "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
  "chatId": "-1001234567890",
  "webhookData": {
    "actorId": "localhowl~local-leads-scraper",
    "runId": "abc123",
    "status": "SUCCEEDED",
    "datasetItemCount": 150
  }
}

Auto-formats to:

🤖 Actor Run Complete

Actor: local-leads-scraper
Status: ✅ SUCCEEDED
Items: 150
Duration: 2m 34s

3. Daily Summary Reports

{
  "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
  "chatId": "123456789",
  "message": "📊 *Daily Scraping Report*\n\n• Leads scraped: 500\n• New listings: 23\n• Errors: 0",
  "parseMode": "Markdown"
}

4. Error Alerts

{
  "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
  "chatId": "123456789",
  "message": "❌ *Actor FAILED*\n\nlocal-leads-scraper crashed at 3:42 PM\n\nError: Rate limit exceeded"
}

5. Send Images

{
  "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
  "chatId": "123456789",
  "message": "📸 Today's best performing post:",
  "imageUrl": "https://example.com/chart.png"
}

6. Send Documents/Reports

{
  "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
  "chatId": "123456789",
  "message": "📄 Weekly report attached:",
  "documentUrl": "https://example.com/report.pdf"
}

---

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Common Problems & Solutions

"Invalid API key" error

Cause: Your API key is wrong, expired, or doesn't have the right permissions. Fix: Double-check your API key. Make sure you copied it exactly without extra spaces.

"Rate limit exceeded" error

Cause: You've hit the API's rate limits. Fix: Wait a few minutes, then try again. Consider reducing the number of concurrent requests.

Empty or incomplete results

Cause: The target may have anti-scraping protection or the data doesn't exist. Fix:

• Check if the URL/search query is correct
• Try with different parameters
• Some sites may block automated access

Demo data showing instead of real results

Cause: demoMode is still set to true. Fix: Set demoMode: false and provide your API key(s).

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal