Telegram trigger not activating

Niko1 · November 23, 2025, 10:07pm

Hi, i’m having trouble getting my telegram trigger to work. After hours of figuring out how to self-host a tunnel and finally getting everything to work, the telegram trigger is using the correct https webhook! Woohoo! At least i thought..

The Telegram chat trigger only works when i manually click on it to retrieve inputs, it doesn’t trigger on activation. I’ve already read the September post about the telegram trigger and that it could be solved by changing a node and saving the workflow, unfortunately, that is not the case for me. Anyone have any tips?

I’m running N8N Version: 1.120.4, and i use botfather for my bot/trigger

Running on Docker, but now Using a cloudflare server to host my own domain specifically for this Telegram bot

Activated the workflow, but now i get this message;

Because of limitations in Telegram Trigger, n8n can’t listen for test executions at the same time as listening for production ones

Parintele_Damaskin · November 23, 2025, 10:23pm

Hey @Niko1 !

Set as well in Docker compose file the variable eg:

WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com

Cheers!

Niko1 · November 23, 2025, 10:37pm

Hi, i’m having trouble getting my telegram trigger to work. After hours of figuring out how to self-host a tunnel and finally getting everything to work, the telegram trigger is using the correct https webhook! Woohoo! At least i thought..

The Telegram chat trigger only works when i manually click on it to retrieve inputs, it doesn’t trigger on activation. I’ve already read the September post about the telegram trigger and that it could be solved by changing a node and saving the workflow, unfortunately, that is not the case for me. Anyone have any tips?

I’m running N8N Version: 1.120.4, and i use botfather for my bot/trigger

Running on Docker, but now Using a cloudflare server to host my own domain specifically for this Telegram bot

Activated the workflow, but now i get this message;

Because of limitations in Telegram Trigger, n8n can’t listen for test executions at the same time as listening for production ones

hi @Parintele_Damaskin , i run N8N with this special command ; docker run -d --name n8n-temp -p 5678:5678 -e WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.metrobrasiltestdomain.online -v C:\Docker\n8n-data-temp:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

I’ve been trying for a while to find the docker compose file aswell but it is impossible for me, i found another one that doesn’t have the correct information about the n8n container

Niko1 · November 23, 2025, 10:42pm

Parintele_Damaskin · November 23, 2025, 10:56pm

Try :

docker stop n8n-temp
docker rm n8n-temp
docker run -d --name n8n-temp -p 5678:5678 -e WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.metrobrasiltestdomain.online -v C:\Docker\n8n-data-temp:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

P.S in case you have multiple images , better to remove them , otherwise it gets messy .

docker image prune

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 12:42pm

Hey @Parintele_Damaskin i tried it and it’s still not working, i also checked the webhook with postman like how this person recommends (Solved: Telegram Trigger configuration ) and at first it says it’s deleted and then when i cop the url into body it says the webhook is working.

Basically the main issue is that Telegram won’t run in active workflow because it gives this error;

Deactivate workflow to execute

Because of limitations in Telegram Trigger, n8n can’t listen for test executions at the same time as listening for production ones

So I think the Telegram bot it pulling both the test and production URL? idk, i’ve deleted all bots, created fresh credentials, acivated and de activated the workflow, tried everything that I could find online about this node and it just doesn’t work!

Parintele_Damaskin · November 24, 2025, 1:08pm

It means that the bot is used somewhere else.

1 bot per Trigger /project/ Webhook is allowed.

So , you cannot use in test and production in the same time(since 2 different url webhooks).

Either click to start the workflow to listen on test, OR activate the workflow and will listen on production in background.

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 2:04pm

@Parintele_Damaskin hey, so does that mean when i create the bot i can only create it in active workflow and then just to not touch it after?

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 2:08pm

@Parintele_Damaskin I just duplicated the workflow, made a fresh new bot, and it still gives me the same error, any ideas on how to resolve this?

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 2:31pm

@Parintele_Damaskin i’m checking docker and seeing the following reverse proxy error, maybe this is the cause, however i’m not savvy enough to fix it, maybe you know where i can fix it?

`ERR_ERL_UNEXPECTED_X_FORWARDED_FOR`

Added in 6.8.0.
This error is logged when the X-Forwarded-For header is set (indicating use of a proxy), but the trust proxy setting is false (which is the default value).This usually indicates a configuration issue that will cause express-rate-limit to apply it’s limits global rather than on a per-user basis. Refer to the troubleshooting proxy issues page for a guide to set the trust proxy value correctly.If this error occurs only rarely, and you do not have a reverse proxy, it may indicate a malicious user probing for vulnerabilities.This check will be prevented if a custom keyGenerator is supplied.Set validate: {xForwardedForHeader: false} in the options to disable the check.

Parintele_Damaskin · November 24, 2025, 3:34pm

If you have multiple proxies, increase the value accordingly.

N8N_PROXY_HOPS=1

I am assuming that you are behind a proxy(Traefik or Nginx).

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 3:50pm

@Parintele_Damaskin i created a fresh n8n cloud account, fresh telegram bot just to test the triggers’ functionality, however, even in there i get the same;

Deactivate workflow to execute

Because of limitations in Telegram Trigger, n8n can’t listen for test executions at the same time as listening for production ones

so i don’t think it has anything to do with my proxy after all, this is really strange, am i missing something in the telegram setup itself perhaps?

Parintele_Damaskin · November 24, 2025, 4:01pm

For testing, deactivate the workflow(toggle in right corner top the button) and use “Execute workflow” / test mode.

For production, activate(toggle back same button) the workflow and test by sending real messages (no test mode).

That is a strange behavior.

Since you say you did fresh even with an cloud instance is weird.

Can you record the screen and test to see?

ramin1 · November 24, 2025, 4:02pm

this is not an error. it is the way telegram works. you can only set a single webhook per bot. that totally make sense

ramin1 · November 24, 2025, 4:07pm

@Niko1

Did you register you webhook in Telegram?

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 4:18pm

hey, @ramIn1 thanks for helping , i just registered it and the webhook was set properly, i used the production url but it didn’t work, should i restart my n8n to confrim that it really doesn’t work?

Or, if you don’t register at the first time does that render the bot completely useless afterwards?

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 4:25pm

Niko1 · November 24, 2025, 4:27pm

@Parintele_Damaskin see the picture above, everything is fresh, here is the workflow, fresh aswell;

ramin1 · November 24, 2025, 4:43pm

i created a workflow and set the production url for one of my bots and it did work.

i add the Telegram Trigger and activate my workflow and set the production url for my bot webhook url using https://api.telegram.org/bot/setwebhook

ramin1 · November 24, 2025, 4:48pm

ok. what happens if you send a message using telegram bot

because you activated your workflow, you are not able to call your workflow manually anymore. that is totally fine. but you can send a message in your bot and telegram will deliver it to n8n and execute your workflow