All nodes/Integrations/Telegram

Telegram Get File

Downloads a Telegram attachment by file_id and stores it as a file reference that can be fed to an LLM/vision node or back into Send Telegram Message. The file_id comes from the recorded history ({{ nodes.telegram_history_1.rows[0].media_file_id }}). Not for the current message: the attachment of the message that started this run already arrives on the Entry node's Message output — wire that straight into Speech → Text or the model. The Bot API serves files up to 20 MB only. Uses the bot this workflow is deployed to; set 'Connection source' to 'External connection' to pick a different bot through the 'Telegram connection' port.

Try it

When to use it

Use this node when you hold a file_id from the recorded group history and need the bytes themselves: download a photo to show a model, save a document with File Write, or send it back into a chat.

For an attachment of the current turn the node is unnecessary: a file the user sent to the bot already arrives with the message at the scenario’s entry and reaches the LLM on its own. This node is about files that were not part of this turn.

How it works

Group-history recording deliberately stores attachments as references rather than bytes: downloading every photo in a busy chat means gigabytes of files nobody will ever open. This node is the lazy other half — it takes a file_id, downloads the content once and puts it into the workspace file store, handing on a file reference rather than base64.

Take the file_id from the Records port of Group History — for example {{ nodes.telegram_history_1.rows[0].media_file_id }}.

Common mistakes

• A 20 MB ceiling. The Bot API serves bots files up to 20 MB only (and the workspace upload limit applies when it is lower). Anything larger is unreachable for a bot.
• A file_id belongs to one bot. An id recorded by one bot cannot be downloaded by another, so wiring in a different Telegram Config is not a workaround here — it is a cause of refusal.
• The history’s Messages output carries no file_id — only Records does. That is the most common reason the field ends up blank.
• A blank file_id is an error, not a skipped step. A template that rendered to an empty string stops the node, by design: otherwise the next vision node would receive “no attachment” and answer confidently about nothing.
• The filename is not the original one. The Bot API does not return it, so the name comes from Telegram’s own storage path and the type is guessed from the extension.
• A file reference, not a path on disk. Wire the output into an LLM node, into Send Telegram Message or into Exit — they resolve such references themselves.

Inputs

Outputs

Configuration