n8n

“When a GitHub issue opens, post to Slack and add a row in Notion” — n8n builds that kind of glue without code. It resembles Zapier and Make, with the difference that you can host it yourself so the data never leaves.

Run it with Docker link

  docker run -d --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  -e GENERIC_TIMEZONE="Asia/Seoul" \
  -e TZ="Asia/Seoul" \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
  

Create an account at http://localhost:5678 and start building.

Managed with Compose:

  services:
  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Seoul
      - N8N_HOST=n8n.example.com
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  

Concepts link

Workflows worth building link

1. Tidying error alerts: receive errors on a webhook → de-duplicate → route to Slack channels by severity
2. Daily report: 9 a.m. trigger → query the database → format a table → send an email
3. Issue triage: GitHub issue created → classify the body with an LLM node → apply labels
4. Backup verification: list an S3 bucket → alert if yesterday’s file is missing

Where code comes in link

A Code node lets you shape data with JavaScript.

  // tidy up the incoming items
return items.map(item => ({
  json: {
    title: item.json.title.trim(),
    url: item.json.html_url,
    createdAt: new Date(item.json.created_at).toISOString(),
  }
}));
  

Self-hosting checklist link

• HTTPS: receiving webhooks needs a public address. Put it behind a reverse proxy (Caddy, Nginx) or a Cloudflare Tunnel.
• Authentication: always enable basic auth or SSO. Workflows hold a lot of API keys.
• Backups: workflows and credentials live in the n8n_data volume. Back it up.
• Upgrades: node behaviour can change, so run your important workflows once after updating.

When to use it, when to write code link

Next link

To write down what you automated → Docs & Notes