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AI-powered receipt and expense tracker with Telegram, Google Sheets & OpenAI

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Created by: Khairul Muhtadin || khmuhtadin
Khairul Muhtadin

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Last update 5 days ago

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Automatically capture, categorize, and log expenses from receipts, PDFs, voice notes, or text. Powered by AI, delivered through Telegram, stored in Google Sheets.

Last updated: September 2026.

Who is this for?

Small business owners, freelancers, digital nomads, and finance professionals who want to kill manual expense tracking and automate financial data entry through chat, AI, and cloud tools.

What problem is this workflow solving?

Receipts and expenses come in every format: paper, PDF, voice. Handling them by hand is slow and error-prone. This workflow automates the whole chain, OCR, categorization, validation, and reporting, so your finances stay organized with zero manual effort.

What You Get

  • Complete Smart_Money_Manager.json n8n workflow
  • API credential setup guide
  • Google Sheets sample template
  • AI prompt customization examples
  • Troubleshooting & error handling logic
  • Bonus video tutorial (if provided)
  • Telegram support from the developer

What this workflow does

Triggers

  • Runs on Telegram message (text, image, voice note, PDF)
  • Smart inline menu to select income or expense tracking

Processing

  • Auto-detects content type (photo, PDF, voice note, or text)
  • Transcribes voice using OpenAI Whisper
  • Extracts data from images using Google Vision OCR
  • Parses PDFs via LlamaIndex
  • Uses OpenAI GPT-4 for intelligent expense categorization and validation
  • Categorizes by income/expense, with subcategories like Food, Transport, etc.
  • Parses currency and performs logic validation on totals

Logging

  • Automatically appends categorized transaction data into Google Sheets
  • Adds details like date, merchant, item list, payment method, etc.
  • Saves both income and expenses with conditional Google Sheet routing

Notifications

  • Sends detailed transaction summaries via Telegram
  • Warns users of errors or invalid inputs with friendly retry guidance
  • Voice-command friendly for hands-free logging

How to customize this workflow to your needs

  • Add custom expense types — edit categorization prompts in the GPT node
  • Enable multi-language or multi-currency support by modifying AI prompts
  • Route to different Google Sheets by user ID, business unit, or project
  • Expand to other platforms — Add Slack or email notifications
  • Enhance validation with stricter logic for budgets, tax codes, or policy rules

Setup Instructions

Requirements:

  • n8n instance (Cloud or self-hosted)
  • Telegram Bot API credentials (Bot API docs)
  • Google Cloud (Vision API)
  • OpenAI API key
  • LlamaIndex API key
  • Google Sheets API
  • Redis (optional, for session memory)

Step-by-step:

  1. Import workflow.json into your n8n instance
  2. Configure credentials for all services: Telegram, OpenAI, Google, Redis
  3. Set up your Google Sheets with defined columns
  4. Modify AI prompts (optional) for categories and business rules
  5. Test by sending a receipt photo, PDF invoice, or voice note to your bot
  6. Monitor output in Google Sheets and Telegram summaries

Nodes Used

  • Telegram Trigger + Chat Node (bot interaction and input selection)
  • Switch/IF nodes (content-type routing and condition checking)
  • OpenAI Whisper & GPT-4 (voice transcription and categorization)
  • Google Vision OCR (receipt image processing)
  • LlamaIndex PDF API (PDF parsing and extraction)
  • Google Sheets Append (expense logging and formatting)
  • Redis (session and state tracking)
  • Custom JS nodes (data transformation and formatting)

Quick Answers

What can I send the bot?
Text, receipt photos, PDFs, or voice notes. It detects the type automatically.
Where does my data go?
Categorized rows land in your Google Sheets with date, merchant, items, and payment details.
Is Redis required?
No. It is optional, only for session memory.

Made by: khmuhtadin
Tag: finance, expense-tracker, telegram, openai, google-sheets
Category: Finance & Productivity
Need a custom? Contact Me

Take control of your finances with zero manual work. Let Smart Money Manager handle the receipts, so you can focus on growing your business.

Additional info

Built with n8n. Need an assessment on your business? Feel free to reach out at https://khmuhtadin.com/consultation/