n8n is an open-source workflow automation tool that connects apps and services with a visual editor — similar to Zapier but free to self-host. If you have repetitive digital tasks (syncing data, sending notifications, processing webhooks), n8n can automate them.
What n8n Can Automate
Sending a Slack message whenever a new row is added to a Google Sheet. Automatically creating a Notion page from a form submission. Scraping a website on a schedule and emailing you the results. Posting to social media at a scheduled time. Forwarding specific emails to a Telegram bot. Processing incoming webhooks and routing the data to multiple services.
Getting Started with n8n
The easiest way to try n8n is the cloud version (n8n.io — free tier available). For long-term use, self-hosting with Docker is more economical. n8n’s visual canvas shows nodes (apps or actions) connected by arrows. Each node represents a step: trigger → action → action. You configure each node with credentials and parameters.
Key Concepts
Triggers start a workflow: schedule (cron), webhook, email receipt, or a new entry in a database. Nodes transform or route data: IF conditions, Set (rename/transform fields), Code (run custom JavaScript). Credentials are stored securely and reused across workflows.
Practical Example
A useful beginner workflow: every morning at 8am (Schedule trigger) → fetch RSS feed of your favourite news source (HTTP Request node) → filter items containing a keyword (IF node) → send matching headlines to Telegram (Telegram node). This takes about 15 minutes to build.
Combining with AI
n8n has built-in AI agent nodes that connect to OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), and other LLMs. This enables workflows like: receive email → extract key information with AI → create a task in your project management tool. The AI agent node handles the natural language layer without custom code.
