Pattern 2: Contact Form Pipeline

Module 4 · Section 3 of 6

Pattern 2: Contact Form Pipeline

What it does: Receives a contact form submission via webhook, stores it in a database, sends a Telegram notification with the key details.

Why it exists: I built a contact API for jimchristian.net. Rather than having the API endpoint do everything, I had it do the minimum: validate the input, store the submission, and fire a webhook to n8n. n8n handles the notification. This separation means I can change the notification behaviour without touching the API code.

The nodes:

1. Webhook trigger — HTTP POST. The contact API sends a JSON body containing name, email, subject, and message.

2. Set node — Formats a notification message. I pull the four fields and build a readable summary:

   New contact from {{ $json.body.name }} ({{ $json.body.email }})
   Subject: {{ $json.body.subject }}
   
   {{ $json.body.message }}

3. Telegram node — Sends the formatted message. I use a specific Telegram group for contact notifications so I can reply in-thread.

4. Respond to Webhook — Returns a 200 OK to the API that called the webhook. Without this node, the webhook trigger holds the connection open until it times out. Always close the loop.

What to adapt: The payload fields depend on your form. The notification destination is your choice. If you want to route based on subject or message content — that’s where you’d add a classification step before the Telegram node, using the pattern from Module 3.

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