Telegram song requests played on your Spotify

Telegram song requests played on your Spotify

An n8n workflow that plays a song when you ask for it in Telegram. You write the name of a song, or describe it if you forget
the name. An AI model picks out the title and the artist, Spotify finds the track, puts it next in the queue and plays it, and
the bot tells you what is playing.

What is inside

• workflow.json: the workflow as n8n exports it, 13 nodes and two sticky notes. It holds no credential.
• README.md: these notes.

What we changed from the original copy

• Ask OpenAI about a track asked for gpt-4o-mini. OpenAI's deprecations page, read on 12 November 2026, lists that model for
  shutdown on 14 January 2027, with gpt-6-luna as its replacement. This copy names gpt-6-luna. The node has no tools, so
  the note about tool calls on OpenAI's model page does not apply. The prompt is unchanged.
• The original copy let anyone who found the bot control the music of its owner. Telegram Trigger is now on node version 1.2
  and its field Restrict to User IDs holds YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID. Until you put your own number there, the bot ignores everyone.
• Return message to Telegram has the option "Append n8n Attribution" off. On node version 1.1 and later, n8n adds the line "This
  message was sent automatically with n8n" when the option is unset.
• The one sticky note is rewritten, and a second one explains the user number. Neither has an outside link.
• Every credential reference and the webhook id of the author's trigger are removed, so you pick your own.

Before you start

• An n8n instance with a public HTTPS address. Telegram delivers updates by an HTTPS POST to the webhook address.
• A Telegram bot and its token. You make one by chatting with BotFather inside Telegram.
• An OpenAI API key with some credit.
• A Spotify Premium account. Spotify's reference says the queue call "only works for users who have Spotify Premium".
• A Spotify app in Spotify's developer dashboard, with its client ID and client secret. Spotify's rules, read on 12 November 2026,
  say an app in development mode works only when its owner has Premium, and it serves up to 5 users who are on its allowlist.
• Spotify open on a phone or a computer, so that it has an active device to play on.

Set it up

1. In n8n, create a workflow, open its menu and choose Import from File. Pick workflow.json.
2. In the Spotify developer dashboard, make an app. Add the redirect address that n8n shows in the Spotify credential, and copy the
   client ID and the client secret.
3. In Search track, add a Spotify OAuth2 credential with that client ID and secret, and connect your Spotify account. Select
   the same credential in Add song, Next Song, Resume play and Currently Playing.
4. In Ask OpenAI about a track, add an OpenAI credential with your API key.
5. In Telegram Trigger, add a Telegram credential with your bot token. Select the same credential in Return message to Telegram.
6. Find your Telegram user number. Clear the field Restrict to User IDs in Telegram Trigger, press Test workflow and send a message to
   your bot. In the output of Telegram Trigger, copy the id inside from. Put it in the field and save.
7. Start a song in Spotify, so that it has an active device. Press Test workflow and send play Yesterday by the Beatles to your bot.
8. Turn the workflow on, so that the bot keeps answering when you are away.

How a run goes

1. Telegram Trigger starts the run when you write to your bot.
2. Ask OpenAI about a track turns your text into a search line, such as track:Yesterday artist:The Beatles.
3. Search track asks Spotify for one match. If checks that the match has an id. Without one, Not found error message writes
   "Song not found".
4. Add song puts the track in the queue, Next Song skips to it and Resume play presses play. Resume play ignores its own
   error, because Spotify refuses the call when the player is already playing.
5. Currently Playing reads what plays, and Define Now Playing writes one line that holds "Now playing", the title, the artist and the album.
6. A failing Spotify step sends its error text on instead, so you read what went wrong in the chat.
7. Message parser keeps the text of whichever branch ended, and Merge joins it with the Telegram message to get the chat.
8. Return message to Telegram sends the text.

Change the look

• What the AI looks for: the prompt in Ask OpenAI about a track.
• The "not found" text: Not found error message.
• The "now playing" text: Define Now Playing.
• The model: the model name in Ask OpenAI about a track.
• Who may use the bot: the field Restrict to User IDs in Telegram Trigger. You can list several numbers with commas.

Good to know

• A request skips the song that is playing now. Next Song jumps to the queued track, so the current one is cut off. Spotify's
  reference also says the order of calls to its Player API "is not guaranteed", so now and then the wrong song can play.
• Spotify plays on the active device. If none is active, Spotify answers with an error, and the bot sends you that error as text.
• The AI guesses the title and the artist, and the search takes the first match. A vague description can give the wrong song.
• Spotify does not accept localhost as a redirect address. On an n8n that runs only on your own computer, use the address
  127.0.0.1 or put n8n behind an HTTPS address.
• Replies go out in Telegram's Markdown mode, which is the n8n default. A song name with a lone _ or * can make Telegram
  refuse the message.
• The bot reads text only. A photo or a voice message has no text, so the AI step stops with an empty text error.
• Your data: your message goes to OpenAI, and the search line goes to Spotify. The workflow stores nothing.
• Not run: we did not call Telegram, OpenAI or Spotify to test this file. We ran it in a test runner with stand-in answers
  for a found song, a missing song and a Spotify error.
• Credentials: the JSON holds none.