How to Use n8n to Automate Business Workflows

n8n is a versatile workflow automation tool. It simplifies multi-step pipelines with the help of a rich library of templates, including support for many popular applications, services, and tools. n8n features a powerful and intuitive GUI, allowing users to construct a complete no-code pipeline. This guide introduces n8n and explains how to run it as a Docker container. It also demonstrates how to use n8n to build a simple three-step workflow.

What is n8n?

n8n is a fair code open-source application that allows users to automate and streamline custom multi-stage workflows. Each workflow consists of a series of steps or modules, which n8n refers to as nodes. The output from one step transitions as the input for the subsequent stage. Each workflow starts with a trigger, such as a timer, that launches the sequence.

The wide-ranging n8n library makes it easy to interact with popular services like Facebook and Gmail. n8n includes support for common tasks including accessing a database, sending an email, logging into social media services, and building a webpage. For scenarios demanding greater complexity and flexibility, users can integrate segments of JavaScript code. An n8n workflow can integrate several different applications and services, allowing for increased efficiency.

n8n is considered a low-code tool. Low-code or no-code applications hide the complexity of low-level details and API integration. This allows users to interact with the tool at a higher level of abstraction. n8n includes an easy-to-use GUI canvas that simplifies workflow creation and allows users to build and connect nodes visually. It also features a library of integrations, providing built-in support for a large number of common applications and services. Consequently, it’s feasible to integrate numerous commonplace websites and tools within a singular pipeline.

To develop an n8n workflow, users first select and connect a node. Each node encompasses a visual interface for configuring application-specific parameters. For example, to retrieve data from a JSON file, users must specify the names of the required table columns. In many cases, a node can be built using drag-and-drop actions and point-and-click interactions. Users can add additional nodes to depict subsequent stages of the workflow. The GUI and visual canvas indicate the operational flow of the nodes and triggers. It also displays the inputs and outputs of each stage.

n8n is designed for technically-minded people who want to focus on high-level tasks rather than APIs and scripts. It is fast, scalable, and secure, and includes authentication capabilities. n8n can be installed using either npm or Docker. n8n has the following advantages:

• It permits a combination of code-based and UI-derived logic, with an easy-to-use interface.
• It provides support for hundreds of integrations, including common applications, tools, protocols, and websites.
• It can interlink multiple tools within a single pipeline, facilitating the exchange of information.
• It has a large community and a library of third-party extensions.
• It includes a built-in SQLite database.
• It permits rapid prototyping and iterative development.
• Each workflow permits multiple triggers, including Webhooks. It can synchronize data and applications in real-time.
• It allows users to branch and merge workflows. Workflows can be imported, modified, and exported.
• Users can add customized error handling.
• It can be self-hosted or run on the n8n cloud, allowing for horizontal scaling to increase capacity.

n8n is most commonly used in the following scenarios. However, its flexibility is useful in almost any automated setting.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Data analysis/data mining
• Mailing lists
• E-commerce
• Sales and marketing
• Product analytics
• Prototyping
• Incident reporting and monitoring

The free version on n8n places some caps on the number of workflows and users. In addition, the documentation is somewhat limited, and the application requires a technical mindset.

How does n8n work?

n8n is organized around three main concepts, workflows, nodes, and connections.

• Workflow: A workflow contains the entire sequence of events in a pipeline. It includes multiple nodes bound together using internal logic.
• Node: A node is a specific task or action within a larger workflow. Each node represents a modular and self-contained task, such as retrieving data or running a script. Users can base the nodes upon a library of Core nodes or Actions. Core nodes contain basic widely-used functionality, while Actions interact with external applications and services. Users can also create custom nodes.
• Connection: A connection links two nodes together, forming an execution chain within the workflow. Typically, the outputs of one node comprise the inputs to the next node.

Execution refers to an instance of running a workflow. Each execution is associated with a trigger. A trigger begins the workflow when it receives a qualifying event or condition. In manual mode, a user must deliberately execute a workflow using a manual trigger. Inactive workflows can only be launched manually. In production mode, an internal or external event or condition can automatically trigger a workflow. For example, a timer can launch a workflow according to a predetermined schedule. n8n contains a core library of built-in triggers.

To implement the sequence of nodes, users can choose from a large n8n library of built-in integrations. An integration is a template for a certain type of task. Users customize each node with application-specific details to integrate it into the workflow.

The integrations library contains a large number of built-in Core Nodes and Actions. Core Nodes implement basic tasks such as shell script execution, conditional logic, and file/database access. This collection also supports popular protocols and standards including FTP, GraphQL, Git, HTML, LDAP, Markdown, SSH, and XML. Nodes designated as Actions can incorporate external applications, services, and tools. The Actions library includes support for a variety of platforms, including Facebook, Eventbrite, GitHub, Jira, Gmail, Shopify, Trello, Twitter, and many more. For example, the Bitly node allows the workflow to automate Bitly tasks, for example, creating, retrieving, or updating Bitly links.

As an additional resource, community nodes and third-party integrations are available. Users can also create their own nodes to incorporate custom functionality or integrate with internal systems. For information on how to create a custom node, see the n8n custom node documentation.

Before You Begin

1. If you have not already done so, create a Linode account and Compute Instance. See our Getting Started with Linode and Creating a Compute Instance guides.

2. Follow our Setting Up and Securing a Compute Instance guide to update your system. You may also wish to set the timezone, configure your hostname, create a limited user account, and harden SSH access.

3. Optional. To access n8n using a domain name, create a DNS A record for the subdomain n8n.example.com, replacing example.com with the actual domain name. Point the record at the IP address of the system hosting n8n.

How to Install, Configure, and Run n8n

n8n typically runs as a Docker container. Docker and Docker Compose must be installed before n8n can be downloaded. To install Docker and download the n8n container, follow the steps explained in the sections below.

How to Install Docker

1. Ensure the system is up to date. Reboot the node if necessary.

   sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

2. Before installing Docker v2, remove any older releases of the application. Add some additional components.

   sudo apt-get remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc
   sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

3. Add the official Docker GPG key to the key storage. The key helps validate the installation.

   sudo mkdir -m 0755 -p /etc/apt/keyrings
   curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

4. Add the Docker repository to apt. Update the package list.

   echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
   $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
   sudo apt-get update

5. Install the latest release of Docker Engine and CLI, along with Docker Compose.

   sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

6. To ensure Docker is operating correctly, run the hello-world container. This should prompt the container to display the message Hello from Docker!.

   sudo docker run hello-world

   Hello from Docker!
   This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

7. (Optional) To avoid potential permissions conflicts with other applications, add the current user to the docker group. This allows the user to run Docker without sudo privileges.

   sudo usermod -aG docker userid

How to Download and Run the n8n Container

Users can activate the n8n Docker container using one of two methods. One alternative is to use the docker run command from the command line, supplying parameters and environmental variables as part of the command. The other approach is to use Docker Compose in conjunction with a docker-compose.yml file and a .env configuration. This guide uses docker run to launch the n8n container.

Unless otherwise specified, n8n uses SQLite as its database. However, it can also use PostgresDB. See the n8n PostgresDB guidelines for more information on this configuration. The PostgreDB container must be pulled beforehand.

1. Use the docker run command to download and launch the n8n container. Supply the following parameters with the command.

   • For the --name parameter, use n8n.
   • The -p option indicates the port number for n8n. Add -p 5678:5678 to run n8n on port 5678.
   • Append -v ~/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n to define the storage volume for the n8n data.
   • Environmental variables begin with the -e flag. All environmental variables in this command are optional. This example uses Europe/London for the GENERIC_TIMEZONE and TZ variables.
   • n8n can run without password credentials, but it is much more secure to append a username and password. Add the lines -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin and N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=password to the command. Replace the password with a more secure password.
   • The final argument specifies the name of the container. For the latest version of n8n, use docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n. It is also possible to pull the container beforehand using the command docker pull docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n.

   docker run -it --rm \
    --name n8n \
    -p 5678:5678 \
    -v ~/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n \
    -e GENERIC_TIMEZONE="Europe/London" \
    -e TZ="Europe/London" \
    -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin \
    -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=password \
    docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

   latest: Pulling from n8nio/n8n
   ...
   Status: Downloaded newer image for docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n:latest
   License manager not initialized
   UserSettings were generated and saved to: /home/node/.n8n/config
   n8n ready on 0.0.0.0, port 5678
   Migrations in progress, please do NOT stop the process.
   Initializing n8n process
   Migrations finished.
   Version: 0.231.3
   
   Editor is now accessible via:
   http://localhost:5678/

2. After Docker downloads and activates all containers, the application is made available on port 5678. To access the n8n web interface, visit http://ip_address:5678/setup, substituting the actual IP address of the system in place of ip_address. Register an account using a valid email address, or skip the registration process using the Skip setup for now button. Click Next to continue.

   

3. After registration, Docker displays the default workflow page.

   

How to Create an n8n Workflow

The n8n interface can be somewhat overwhelming at first glance, so n8n provides a quick-start application to help users get started. The accompanying tutorial allows users to modify and execute a workflow using a pre-populated data set. This guide uses the sample workflow to demonstrate how to use n8n. To build the demo application, follow these steps.

1. From the default page, select the Templates icon from the row of icons on the left-hand side.

   

2. In the search bar near the top of the page, enter the text very quick to locate the Very quick quickstart workflow. Click on the template to continue.

   

3. A preview of the workflow appears in the canvas. Click the Use this workflow button to proceed.

   

4. The very quick quickstart workflow now appears in the editor canvas. The editor indicates the various nodes within the workflow. In this example, the Execute button triggers the workflow. The first node reads the sample data from the Customer Datastore and passes the data to the second “Set node” for further processing.

   

5. The Set node extracts the customer name, ID, and description from the records, and assigns these values to local variables. Double-click a node to see more details. For example, the id field in the JSON file is assigned to the customer_ID variable. To return to the main workflow, click Back to Canvas in the upper-left-hand corner.

   

6. To see what the workflow does in its current state, select the Execute Workflow button at the bottom of the editor. The editor illustrates the nodes that are traversed and the number of entries produced.

   

7. Currently, nothing happens with the database information after it is extracted. To complete the workflow, add a new node. Click the + button at the right-hand side of the last node to add a new node and connect it to the Set node.

   

8. After clicking the + button, a search panel appears on the right-hand side of the screen. Enter Customer messenger to search for the Customer messenger (n8n training) node. Select this entry to add the node to the workflow.

   

9. n8n automatically displays the node editor window. On the left, it displays the possible inputs to the message. These inputs are the same as the outputs of the Set node. It also includes the UI for the “Customer Messenger” node in the center of the page. The interface currently displays fields for the Customer ID and Message.

   

10. Define the contents of each field. Drag the customer_ID variable on the left side of the screen into the Customer ID box in the “Customer Messenger” node. n8n expands the variable to the formula fx {{ $json.customer_ID }}.

    

11. Hover over the Message text box and select the Expression tab to add an expression.

    

12. Inside the Message text box, add the expression Hi {{$json.customer_name}}, Your description is {{$json.customer_description}}. If necessary, expand the Message text box using the “expand” widget on the lower right of the text box. In the Result for Item 1 display, n8n indicates the output that would result from the first input.

    

13. Click outside the Message text box to close the expression editor. Then select Back to Canvas to return to the main editor. The main workflow editor canvas now includes the new node within the workflow.

    

14. Launch the revised workflow using the Execute Workflow button. The editor canvas displays the results of the operation. The “Customer Messenger” node generates five statements as output.

    

15. To review the workflow output, click on the “Customer Messenger” node in the editor canvas. The Output panel on the right side of the screen displays the list of messages from the node.

At this point, try adding more nodes to the workflow or create an entirely new workflow and a new set of nodes. For more information, see the n8n documentation.

Conclusion

n8n is an application for automating detailed workflows. It includes libraries that allow users to build and link workflow nodes using an intuitive GUI canvas. n8n provides templates for many common tasks and includes bindings for common web applications and services. It can be installed using npm or run as a Docker container. For more information on n8n, see the user documentation.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• n8n website
• n8n documentation
• n8n core nodes library
• n8n actions library
• List of built-in n8n triggers
• Instructions for Custom node creation
• n8n integrations
• n8n npm installation guide
• n8n Docker Compose guidelines
• n8n with PostgresDB instructions
• List of Generic Timezones