Track Expenses Automatically with Telegram Bot using GPT-4o, OCR and Voice Recognition

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Built by Dmitrij Zykovic Dmitrij Zykovic
Created on June 06, 2026

Description

Personal Expense Tracker Bot 💰

AI-powered Telegram bot for effortless expense tracking. Send receipts, voice messages, or text - the bot automatically extracts and categorizes your expenses.

✨ Key Features

📸 Receipt & Invoice OCR** - Send photos of receipts or PDF invoices, AI extracts expense data automatically
🎤 Voice Messages** - Speak your expenses naturally, audio is transcribed and processed
💬 Natural Language** - Just type "spent 50 on groceries" or any text format
🌍 Multilingual** - Processes documents in any language (EN, DE, PT, etc.)
📊 Smart Statistics** - Get monthly totals, category breakdowns, multi-month comparisons
🔒 Private & Secure** - Single-user authorization, only you can access your data
⚡ Zero Confirmation** - Expenses are added instantly, no annoying "confirm?" prompts

🎯 How It Works

Send expense data via Telegram:
Photo of receipt
PDF invoice
Voice message
Text message

AI processes automatically:
Extracts amount, date, vendor
Categorizes expense
Stores in organized format

Query your expenses:
"Show my expenses for November"
"How much did I spend on groceries?"
"Compare last 3 months"

📋 Expense Categories

Groceries, Transportation, Housing, Utilities, Healthcare, Entertainment, Dining Out, Clothing, Education, Subscriptions, Personal Care, Gifts, Travel, Sports, Other

🔧 Setup Requirements

1. Telegram Bot
Create a Telegram bot via @BotFather and get your API token.

Configure credentials for nodes:
Input, WelcomeMessage,
GetAudioFile, GetAttachedFile, GetAttachedPhoto
ReplyText, NotAuthorizedMessage, DeleteProcessing

2. OpenRouter API
Get API key from OpenRouter for AI processing.

Configure credentials for:
Gpt4o (main processing)
Sonnet45 (expense assistant)

3. Ainoflow API
Get API key from Ainoflow for storage and OCR.

Configure Bearer credentials for:
GetConfig, SaveConfig
ExtractFileText, ExtractImageText
TranscribeRecording
JsonStorageMcp (MCP tool)

🏗️ Workflow Architecture

| Section | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| Message Trigger | Receives all Telegram messages |
| Bot Privacy | Locks bot to first user, rejects unauthorized access |
| Chat Message / Audio | Routes text and voice messages to AI |
| Document / Photo | Extracts text from files via OCR and forwards to AI |
| Root Agent | Routes messages to Expense Assistant, validates responses |
| Expense Assistant | Core logic: stores expenses, calculates statistics |
| Result / Reply | Sends formatted response back to Telegram |
| Cleanup / Reset | Manual trigger to delete all data (⚠️ use with caution) |

💬 Usage Examples

Adding Expenses
📸 [Send receipt photo]
→ Added: 45.50 EUR - Groceries (Lidl)

🎤 "Bought coffee for five euros"
→ Added: 5.00 EUR - Dining Out (coffee)

💬 "50 uber"
→ Added: 50.00 EUR - Transportation (uber)

Querying Expenses
"Show my expenses"
→ November 2025: 1,250.50 EUR (23 expenses)
Top: Groceries 450€, Transportation 280€, Dining 220€

"How much on entertainment this month?"
→ Entertainment: 85.00 EUR (3 expenses)

"Compare October and November"
→ Oct: 980€ | Nov: 1,250€ (+27%)

📦 Data Storage

Expenses are stored in JSON format organized by month (YYYY-MM):
{
"id": "uuid",
"amount": 45.50,
"currency": "EUR",
"category": "Groceries",
"description": "Store name",
"date": "2025-11-10T14:30:00Z",
"created_at": "2025-11-10T14:35:22Z"
}

⚠️ Important Notes

First user locks the bot** - Run /start to claim ownership
Default currency is EUR** - AI auto-detects other currencies
Cleanup deletes ALL data** - Use manual trigger with caution
No confirmation for adding** - Only delete operations ask for confirmation

🛠️ Customization

Change default currency in agent prompts
Add/modify expense categories in ExpenseAssistant
Extend Root Agent with additional assistants
Adjust AI models (swap GPT-4o/Sonnet as needed)

📚 Related Resources

Create Telegram Bot
OpenRouter Credentials
Ainoflow Platform

💼 Need Customization?

Want to adapt this template for your specific needs? Custom integrations, additional features, or enterprise deployment?

Contact us at Ainova Systems - We build AI automation solutions for businesses.

Tags: telegram, expense-tracker, ai-agent, ocr, voice-to-text, openrouter, mcp-tools, personal-finance

Nodes Used (9)

AI Agent
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.agent
AI Agent Tool
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.agentTool
Calculator
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.toolCalculator
HTTP Request
n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest
MCP Client Tool
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.mcpClientTool
OpenRouter Chat Model
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.lmChatOpenRouter
Simple Memory
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.memoryBufferWindow
Telegram
n8n-nodes-base.telegram
Think Tool
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.toolThink