Stripe failed payments to Telegram

What you get

A Telegram message (private chat or group) when an invoice charge fails: customer, email, amount, and invoice link.

You need a bot (BotFather), token, and chat_id. First you prove the destination with curl; wiring a signed Stripe sender is the next step.

Flow

Event JSON: Stripe webhooks. Bot and chat_id: Alerts with a Telegram bot.

Requirements

A Telegram bot with its token and the chat_id, and Start already tapped
For the first half, nothing else
For the second: a Stripe account in test mode and somewhere to host the receiver — see the warning below

Bot and chat

If you do not have a bot yet: @BotFather (opens in a new tab) → /newbot → name and a username that ends in bot → copy the token.
Open the t.me/… link BotFather gives you, tap Start (or add the bot to a group with permission to send; group ids are usually negative).
Get the chat_id (replace paste-your-token-here with the BotFather token):

bash

TOKEN="paste-your-token-here"
curl -sS "https://api.telegram.org/bot${TOKEN}/getUpdates"

Look for:

json

"chat": {
  "id": 123456789,
  "type": "private"
}

That "id" is the chat_id. If result is empty, send another message to the bot and try again. Detail and groups: Telegram bot alerts.

Test the destination

Also replace 123456789 with your chat_id.

bash

TOKEN="paste-your-token-here"
CHAT_ID="123456789"
curl -sS -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot${TOKEN}/sendMessage" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"chat_id\":${CHAT_ID},\"text\":\"Failed payment (test)\
Customer: cus_demo\
Email: demo@example.com\
Amount: 19.00 EUR\
Event: invoice.payment_failed\"}"

Expected result: "ok": true and the message in Telegram.

That proves the alert format and that the bot delivers to the chat. It does not prove a signed delivery from Stripe.

What you will map from Stripe

Stripe field	In the message
`customer`	Customer
`customer_email`	Email
`amount_due` / `currency`	Amount (cents → units; `1900` + `eur` = 19.00 EUR)
Invoice `id`	Invoice
Event `type`	Event
`hosted_invoice_url`	Link (when present)

Start with plain text (no parse_mode) so you do not fight escapes.

Wire Stripe

You already have the message rendered in Telegram. But Stripe cannot talk to Telegram directly: something has to receive the event, check it really came from Stripe, and translate it into the message text.

That is not a single curl. Options:

No-code (Zapier, Make, etc.): Faster if you do not want to write or host code.
Your own HTTPS endpoint: Stripe Dashboard → Developers → Webhooks → URL that verifies `Stripe-Signature`, then calls sendMessage.
Stripe CLI locally: Dev only: forwards to a process **you** run on a port; without that process there is no Telegram alert.

If you take the build-it-yourself path, the receiver does this, in this order. It is not code to copy, it is the script:

Receive the POST with the raw body.
Verify the signature with the signing secret (Stripe docs (opens in a new tab)).
If type === "invoice.payment_failed", map invoice → text (cents → units).
POST to https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/sendMessage with chat_id + text.
Return 2xx to Stripe quickly.
Dedupe on evt_… or invoice.id.

CLI example once you already have something listening on a local port (e.g. 4242):

bash

stripe listen --forward-to localhost:4242/webhook
# in another terminal:
stripe trigger invoice.payment_failed

You can stop after the Telegram destination test and leave the Stripe glue for when you have somewhere to host the receiver. Raw event shape: Stripe webhooks.

Docs: Stripe webhooks (opens in a new tab) · Bot API sendMessage (opens in a new tab).

Security

If the token leaks: BotFather → /revoke, update env/secrets.
Keep Stripe test and live endpoints separate.
An ops-alerts-only bot limits blast radius.
Plan for retries: Stripe may emit several payment_failed events for one invoice.

Common mistakes

What you see	Likely cause	What to do
No `chat_id`	No Start / no updates	Open the bot, Start, retry getUpdates
`Unauthorized`	Revoked or mistyped token	New token from BotFather
`chat not found`	`chat_id` from another chat or bot	Rediscover the id
Silent with curl OK	Looking at the wrong chat or group	Confirm the bot chat
Stripe “delivery failed”	Endpoint without 2xx or bad signature	Receiver logs; secret for that specific endpoint
Many messages for one customer	Retries without dedupe	Filter by invoice or space out alerts
Telegram 400	Malformed JSON or `parse_mode` without escaping	Start with plain text

Alternatives

Stripe email: Zero code; less visible on mobile.
Another chat Incoming Webhook: Same event, different destination (e.g. Discord or Slack).
Another source on the same bot: You can reuse token and chat_id for non-Stripe alerts.

Resources

Stripe webhooks Alerts with a Telegram bot Stripe → Discord Stripe — Webhooks Telegram — sendMessage