How to use Google Apps Script to automatically fetch website data from GA4 and send it to Telegram?

Generate query parameters through GA4 Query Explorer, use Google Apps Script to call the Google Analytics Data API to retrieve data, and then use the Telegram Bot API to automatically send messages to the specified channel, achieving daily scheduled automatic data notifications and improving data monitoring efficiency.

What authorization settings should be noted when using Google Apps Script to operate the GA4 Data API?

The first time you run it, you need to authorize the Google Apps Script user account and ensure that the account has access permissions to the GA4 report. After successful authorization, the script can run automatically and access GA4 data, avoiding query failures due to insufficient permissions.

How to set up Google Apps Script to automatically run GA4 data queries and Telegram notifications on a schedule?

Set the trigger conditions in the Google Apps Script editor by choosing a time-driven trigger, specifying the function name to execute and the execution frequency. Once completed, the system will automatically run the GA4 data query and send Telegram notifications at the specified time, achieving full automation.

How to customize GA4 query metrics and dimensions to meet different data needs?

Use the GA4 Query Explorer tool to select the required metrics and dimensions, generate the corresponding JSON query parameters, and adjust the AnalyticsData API request in Google Apps Script according to these parameters to flexibly obtain the needed data.

What to do when Telegram Bot fails to send messages or hits rate limits?

Add error handling in Google Apps Script. If a Telegram API 429 rate limit error is received, the program will pause for one second and then automatically retry sending, ensuring messages are successfully delivered and avoiding being blocked due to sending too quickly.

GA4 Data Alerts Automation｜3-Step Guide to Build Free Telegram Bot Notifications

Simple 3 Steps — Build a Free GA4 Automated Data Notification Bot

Using Google Apps Script for RPA: Connecting GA4 + Telegram Bot Data Notification Robot by Yourself

Photo by BoliviaInteligente

Introduction

Since around 2020, I have been exploring how to use available tools to implement RPA. Initially, it was just to automate personal routine tasks. Later, at work, I joined larger organizations and often encountered cross-team or person-dependent tasks, as well as repetitive tasks. That’s when I realized the true benefits of RPA automation.

For example: a repetitive task occurs 10 times a month, each time taking 30 minutes to handle, and 60 people are involved. The team spends 3,600 hours per year on this. If 100 hours are invested to develop automation, the time saved afterward can be used for more valuable work; effectively, 3,600 hours of wasted labor plus 3,600 hours of more worthwhile output.

For more details, please refer to my previous article:

Other RPAs I Have Done:

[GMail to Slack] Forward Gmail Messages to Slack Using Google Apps Script
[Google Form x Google Sheet x Slack] Create a Fully Automated WFH Employee Health Status Reporting System with Slack
[Big Query x Slack ] Crashlytics + Big Query: Building a More Real-Time and Convenient Crash Tracking Tool
[Google Analytics x Slack] Crashlytics + Google Analytics Automatic Query for App Crash-Free Users Rate
[Github Webhook x Line Notify] Create a Free Github Repo Star Notifier in 3 Steps Using Google Apps Script
[Slack x OpenAI (ChatGTP)] Slack & ChatGPT Integration
[Google Analytics x Google Sheet] Automate Daily Data Reports with Google Apps Script RPA
[iOS Shortcut x Line x Reminders] iOS Shortcut Automation Use Case — Auto Forward SMS and Auto Create Reminder Tasks
[Apple Store API x Google Play Console API x Github Action] Github Action x ZReviewTender Free and Fast Deployment of Your App Store Review Monitoring Bot
[Telegram Bot] 10-Minute Quick Migration from Line Notify to Telegram Bot Notifications
[Medium to Jekyllrb] Effortlessly Migrate Medium to a Self-Hosted Website

From the backend data, many articles have been indexed by ChatGPT and various GenAI services, indirectly helping many non-engineers who want to try using RPA to solve problems. Therefore, I will continue to share RPA scenarios from my life and work, along with my solutions — ZRealm Robotic Process Automation.

Commercial Time

If you and your team need automation tools or process integration, whether it’s Slack App development, Notion, Asana, Google Sheets, Google Forms, GA data, or any other integration needs, feel free to contact me for development.

This Article: Google Analytics 4 x Telegram Bot

This integration scenario follows the previous article “10-Minute Quick Migration from Line Notify to Telegram Bot Notifications”. I realized that my Medium backup site “zhgchg.li” has not been monitored for GA4 website data. So, I thought of creating a notification bot to send the past 7 days’ website data daily to a specified Telegram Channel to keep me informed.

This article is just a brief note. For a complete automated data report, please refer to the previous article “Using Google Apps Script to Implement Daily Data Report RPA Automation”.
Also, a previous article on fetching GA4 App Crash-free rate can be found here: “Crashlytics + Google Analytics Automatic Query for App Crash-Free Users Rate”.

The free limits, detailed usage, deployment, and features of Google Apps Script will not be further explained in this article. Please refer to the previous article.
Creating and using a Telegram Bot will not be further explained in this article. Please refer to the previous article.

Results

First, the final result: Google Apps Script automatically fetches my desired Google Analytics 4 website data between 12–1 PM every day, formats it into a message, and sends it to my Telegram Channel via a Telegram Bot. I can quickly review the website data from the past 7 days.

The data I want to monitor is:

Total page views screenPageViews in the last 7 days 7daysAgo ~ today
Active Users active7DayUsers
New Users newUsers
Top 10 Page Views screenPageViews / pageTitle
New Users Initial Source Medium newUsers / firstUserSourceMedium

You can customize and generate queries according to your own needs using GA Dev Tools.

Step 1. Use the GA4 Query Explorer official tool to generate data report query parameters

First, we need to use the official GA4 Query Explorer tool to generate the query parameters for the data report we need:

Select Property: Note down your property ID
The property ID will be used later when writing the Google Apps Script.
start date, end date: The date range for the report, can use YYYY-MM-DD or the magic variables yesterday, today, NdaysAgo.
metrics: Choose the metrics you want to query
dimensions: Select the dimensions you want to query
metric aggregations: Data aggregation rules

Here is an example based on my scenario:

property ID: 318495208
start_date: 7daysAgo
end_date: yesterday
Because GA data reports have a delay, querying data from the previous day to seven days ago is the most accurate.
metric aggregations: total

Other filters and limits can be set according to your needs:

Leave the filter empty since I don’t need it; I set the limit to 10 because I only want to know the Top 10.

Click “MAKE REQUEST” to generate the corresponding data report query parameters and results:

Note the following request parameters, which will be used later when writing the Google Apps Script:

{
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "name": "pageTitle"
    }
  ],
  "metrics": [
    {
      "name": "screenPageViews"
    }
  ],
  "dateRanges": [
    {
      "startDate": "7daysAgo",
      "endDate": "yesterday"
    }
  ],
  "limit": "10",
  "metricAggregations": [
    "TOTAL"
  ]
}

Result:

Compare with the data on GA to ensure accuracy, correctly matched ✅✅✅

Step 2. Create Google Apps Script & Use Google Analytics Data API to Query Data

Go to https://script.google.com/home
Create a new project and name it
Click “Services” -> “+” to add a new service
Select “Google Analytics Data API”
Click “Add”

Paste the Google Analytics Data API query code and combine:

The report query parameters generated from the previous steps:

{
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "name": "pageTitle"
    }
  ],
  "metrics": [
    {
      "name": "screenPageViews"
    }
  ],
  "dateRanges": [
    {
      "startDate": "7daysAgo",
      "endDate": "yesterday"
    }
  ],
  "limit": "10",
  "metricAggregations": [
    "TOTAL"
  ]
}

Convert to Code:

function execute() {
  Logger.log(JSON.stringify(fetchScreenPageViews("318495208")));
}

// Split into a separate function for easier reuse...
// Default startDate=7daysAgo, endDate=yesterday
// Other usages:
// e.g. fetchScreenPageViews("1111", "3daysAgo", "yesterday")
// e.g. fetchScreenPageViews("2222", "yesterday", "today")
function fetchScreenPageViews(propertyId, startDate = "7daysAgo", endDate = "yesterday") {
  const screenPageViewsMetric = AnalyticsData.newMetric();
  screenPageViewsMetric.name = "screenPageViews";

  const dateRange = AnalyticsData.newDateRange();
  dateRange.startDate = startDate;
  dateRange.endDate = endDate;

  const pageTitleDimension = AnalyticsData.newDimension();
  pageTitleDimension.name = "pageTitle";

  const request = AnalyticsData.newRunReportRequest();
  request.dimensions = [pageTitleDimension];
  request.metrics = [screenPageViewsMetric];
  request.dateRanges = dateRange;

  request.limit = 10;
  request.metricAggregations = "TOTAL";

  return AnalyticsData.Properties.runReport(request, "properties/" + propertyId);
}

Code Analysis:

// Metrics can be multiple, declare them separately...
const screenPageViewsMetric = AnalyticsData.newMetric();
screenPageViewsMetric.name = "screenPageViews";

// For example, another metric active1DayUsers:
const active1DayUsersMetric = AnalyticsData.newMetric();
active1DayUsersMetric.name = "active1DayUsers";

// Declare date range
const dateRange = AnalyticsData.newDateRange();
dateRange.startDate = startDate;
dateRange.endDate = endDate;

// Dimensions can be multiple, declare them separately...
const pageTitleDimension = AnalyticsData.newDimension();
pageTitleDimension.name = "pageTitle";

// For example, another dimension:
const firstUserSourceMediumDimension = AnalyticsData.newDimension();
firstUserSourceMediumDimension.name = "firstUserSourceMedium";

//

// Create Request object
const request = AnalyticsData.newRunReportRequest();
request.metrics = [active1DayUsersMetric, active1DayUsersMetric]; // Include all metrics...
request.dimensions = [pageTitleDimension, firstUserSourceMediumDimension]; // Include all dimensions...

request.dateRanges = dateRange;

// Only need top 10 rows
request.limit = 10;

// Set metric aggregation logic: Total (SUM)
request.metricAggregations = "TOTAL";

// Generate query result
return AnalyticsData.Properties.runReport(request, "properties/" + propertyId).rows;

The first time you run, authorization is required (if new permissions are needed due to code updates, re-authorization will be required):

In fact, you are authorizing Google Apps Script to run these programs using your account identity in the future, so you need to ensure that the account you choose has access to the corresponding GA reports.

After writing the code, click “Debug” -> then click “Review Permissions”

Select the account to execute, usually the current Google Apps Script account.

Select “Advanced” to expand -> Click “Go to XXX”
This is an app we made for our own use, so it does not require Google verification.

Click “Allow”

Allowing you to click “Debug” or “Run” later to execute the script:

Here, we first use Logger.log(JSON.stringify()) to get the output result:

{
  "kind": "analyticsData#runReport",
  "dimensionHeaders": [
    {
      "name": "pageTitle"
    }
  ],
  "rowCount": 71,
  "metadata": {
    "currencyCode": "TWD",
    "timeZone": "Asia/Taipei"
  },
  "rows": [
    {
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ],
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "166"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "109"
        }
      ],
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "Apple Watch Original Stainless Steel Milanese Band Unboxing \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "iOS ≥ 13.1 Using 'Shortcuts' Automation with Mijia Smart Home \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ],
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "101"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "Medium Partner Program Finally Open to Global (Including Taiwan) Writers! \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ],
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "85"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "77"
        }
      ],
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "iOS Shortcuts Automation Use Cases — Auto Forward SMS and Auto Create Reminders \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "51"
        }
      ],
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "Travelogue 9/11 Nagoya One-Day Flash Free Trip \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "42"
        }
      ],
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "The Past and Present of iOS Privacy and Convenience \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "iOS Vision framework x WWDC 24 Discover Swift enhancements in the Vision framework Session \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ],
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "34"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "iOS ≥ 18 NSAttributedString attributes Range Merging Behavior Change \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ],
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "30"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "30"
        }
      ],
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "The Story of Manually Building an HTML Parser \\| ZhgChgLi"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metricHeaders": [
    {
      "type": "TYPE_INTEGER",
      "name": "screenPageViews"
    }
  ],
  "totals": [
    {
      "dimensionValues": [
        {
          "value": "RESERVED_TOTAL"
        }
      ],
      "metricValues": [
        {
          "value": "1229"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Google Apps Script Successfully Requested GA Data! 🎉🎉🎉

Step 3. Put It All Together! Google Apps Script + GA4 + Telegram Bot

Follow the previous article “10-minute Quick Migration from Line Notify to Telegram Bot Notification” to create your Telegram Bot and get the Bot Token & the Channel Chat ID where you want to send messages.

const telegramToken = "XXXX" // Insert your Telegram Bot Token
//

function execute() {
  const screenPageViewsReport = fetchScreenPageViews("318495208");
  
  //
  const total = parseInt(screenPageViewsReport.totals[0].metricValues[0].value);
  var message = "Total Views: "+total.toLocaleString()+"\n";

  screenPageViewsReport.rows.forEach(function(element, index) {
    const pageTitle = element.dimensionValues[0].value;
    const value = parseInt(element.metricValues[0].value);

    message += "[Top "+(index + 1)+"] "+pageTitle+": "+value.toLocaleString()+"\n";
  });

  sendNotifyMessage(message, -xxxx); // Insert your Channel Chat ID
}


// Send message to the specified Telegram Channel Chat ID
function sendNotifyMessage(message, chatId) {
  var url = "https://api.telegram.org/bot"+telegramToken+"/sendMessage";
  
  const payload = {
    "chat_id": chatId,
    "text": message,
    "disable_web_page_preview": true
  } 
  const options = {
    'method': 'post',
    'contentType': 'application/json',
    'muteHttpExceptions': true,
    'payload': JSON.stringify(payload)
  };

  const response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, options);
  const data = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());

  if (data["ok"] == undefined \\|\\| data["ok"] != true) {
    if (data["error_code"] != undefined && data["error_code"] == 429) {
      Utilities.sleep(1000);
      sendNotifyMessage(message, chatId);
    }
  }
}

function fetchScreenPageViews(propertyId, startDate = "7daysAgo", endDate = "yesterday") {
  const screenPageViewsMetric = AnalyticsData.newMetric();
  screenPageViewsMetric.name = "screenPageViews";

  const dateRange = AnalyticsData.newDateRange();
  dateRange.startDate = startDate;
  dateRange.endDate = endDate;

  const pageTitleDimension = AnalyticsData.newDimension();
  pageTitleDimension.name = "pageTitle";

  const request = AnalyticsData.newRunReportRequest();
  request.dimensions = [pageTitleDimension];
  request.metrics = [screenPageViewsMetric];
  request.dateRanges = dateRange;

  request.limit = 10;
  request.metricAggregations = "TOTAL";

  return AnalyticsData.Properties.runReport(request, "properties/" + propertyId);
}

Code Analysis:

//...
  // Find the total position in the report's returned JSON, parseInt converts the string to an INT number format
  // .toLocaleString() -> formats the number, 123456 -> 123,456
  const total = parseInt(screenPageViewsReport.totals[0].metricValues[0].value);
  var message = "Total Views: "+total.toLocaleString()+"\n";

  // Iterate through the data in the report's returned JSON to compose the message
  screenPageViewsReport.rows.forEach(function(element, index) {
    const pageTitle = element.dimensionValues[0].value;
    const value = parseInt(element.metricValues[0].value);

    message += "[Top "+(index + 1)+"] "+pageTitle+": "+value.toLocaleString()+"\n";
  });
//...

Run: Click “Run” or “Debug” above and make sure the method name selected is `execute`:

Success! 🎉🎉🎉

Set Up Scheduled Automatic Execution

The final step is to have the report bot run automatically on a schedule. Go to “Triggers” from the left menu:

Select the “Add Trigger” button at the bottom right corner

Select the function to execute: choose the method name “execute”
Select the deployment to run: choose “Head”
Select Event Source: Choose “Time-driven”
Select the time-based trigger type: choose your desired trigger frequency
Select Time Period: Choose the time you want the daily automatic trigger to run
If Execution Fails… Setting the Frequency of Notification Emails
Save

Done! It will now run automatically at the scheduled time. 🎉🎉🎉

Extended Tasks

Other data such as new users, source/medium, etc., can be obtained using the same code above. I won’t repeat it here—consider it your homework.