Telegram notifications when comments are submitted

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Problem

Content authors need to respond quickly to comments on their content.

Solution

This Sanity Function sends a Telegram notification when a comment is posted, with a helpful link to open the comment in your Sanity Studio.

Benefits

• Simplifies content operations by providing a one-click way to enter the Studio
• Improves content velocity by allowing authors to respond to comments quickly

Requirements

• A Sanity project with Functions enabled
• A schema with a comment document type containing:
  • A comment field (string or text) for storing the comment content
• Node.js v22.x for local development

Schema Requirements

This function expects your schema to include a comment document type with:

• comment field - A string or text field containing the comment content
• The document type must be named comment

Example schema definition:

import {defineType} from 'sanity'

export const comment = defineType({
  name: 'comment',
  title: 'Comment',
  type: 'document',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'comment',
      title: 'Comment',
      type: 'text', // or 'string'
      validation: (rule) => rule.required(),
    },
    // Add other fields as needed
  ],
})

Usage Example

When a new comment type document is created, the function automatically:

1. Triggers on the on create event for comment type documents
2. Checks if the comment field is defined (using filter)
3. Sends a Telegram notification with a link to the comment in the Sanity Studio

Result: Content authors get a notification with a link to the comment in the Sanity Studio.

Implementation

1. Get your Telegram bot token

Visit https://core.telegram.org/bots#how-do-i-create-a-bot for more information.

• Message /newbot to @BotFather on Telegram to register your bot and receive its authentication token.
• Give your bot a name (e.g., "Sanity Content Notifications")
• Copy the bot token

2. Get your Telegram chat ID

• Open a chat with your bot in Telegram
• Send any message to your bot
• Open the following URL in your browser, replacing <YOUR_BOT_TOKEN> with your bot token

https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates

The response will be a JSON object containing your Chat ID.

3. Prepare your environment variables

• Create a .env file in the root of your project
• Add your bot token and chat ID to the .env file

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=<YOUR_CHAT_ID>
STUDIO_URL=http://localhost:3333

4. Initialize the example

Run this if you haven't initialized blueprints:

npx sanity blueprints init

You'll be prompted to select your organization and Sanity studio.

Then run:

npx sanity blueprints add function --example telegram-notify

5. Add configuration to your blueprint

// sanity.blueprint.ts
import {defineBlueprint, defineDocumentFunction} from '@sanity/blueprints'
import process from 'node:process'

const {TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID} = process.env
if (!TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN || !TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID) {
  throw new Error('TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID must be set')
}

export default defineBlueprint({
  // ...all other settings
  resources: [
    //...all other functions
    defineDocumentFunction({
      name: 'comment-telegram',
      event: {
        on: ['create'],
        filter: '_type == "comment" && defined(comment)',
        projection: '{_id, comment}',
      },
      env: {TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID},
    }),
  ],
})

6. Install dependencies

npm install

Testing the function locally

You can test the telegram-notify function locally using the Sanity CLI before deploying:

1. Basic Function Test

Test with the included sample document:

npx sanity functions test telegram-notify --file document.json

2. Interactive Development Mode

Start the development server for interactive testing:

npx sanity functions dev

3. Test with Custom Data

Test with your own document data:

npx sanity functions test telegram-notify --data '{
  "_type": "comment",
  "_id": "test-comment-123",
  "comment": "Loved this article, great read!"
}'

4. Test with Real Document Data

Capture a real document from your dataset:

# Export a real document for testing
npx sanity documents get "your-comment-id" > document.json

# Test with the real document
npx sanity functions test telegram-notify --file document.json

Testing Tips

• Use Node.js v22.x locally to match production runtime
• Test with real Telegram tokens - The function requires valid credentials to work
• Check function logs in CLI output for debugging

Deploying your function

Once you've tested your function locally and are satisfied with its behavior, you can deploy it to production.

Important: Make sure you have the Deploy Studio permission for your Sanity project before attempting to deploy.

Prerequisites for deployment

• Sanity CLI v3.92.0 or later
• Deploy Studio permissions for your Sanity project
• Node.js v22.x (matches production runtime)
• Valid Telegram bot token and chat ID

Deploy to production

1. Deploy your blueprint

From your project root, run:

npx sanity blueprints deploy

This command will:

• Package your function code
• Upload it to Sanity's infrastructure
• Configure the event triggers for new comment creation
• Make your telegram-notify function live in production
• Deploy .env file in the root directory if it exists

2. If not using an .env file, add environment variables manually

After deployment, if you're not using a .env file in your projects root, you need to add your Telegram credentials as environment variables:

npx sanity functions env add comment-telegram TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN "your-telegram-bot-token-here"
npx sanity functions env add comment-telegram TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID "your-chat-id-here"
npx sanity functions env add comment-telegram STUDIO_URL "https://your-studio.sanity.studio"

You can verify the environment variables were added successfully:

npx sanity functions env list comment-telegram

4. Verify deployment

After deployment, you can verify your function is active by:

• Creating a new comment and confirming Telegram notifications are sent
• Monitoring function logs in the CLI

npx sanity functions logs comment-telegram

Related Examples

• Slack Notify - Send a Slack notification when a document is published