Why you should start using n8n today (Free, Local, Private)

This course takes you from zero to a fully functional automation system, emphasizing privacy and minimal cost. You’ll learn to install n8n locally or on a VPS, secure credentials, and set up HTTPS or ngrok. Then, you’ll build essential workflows: aggregating content via RSS, summarizing with AI, sending reports to Discord or email, cleaning and normalizing data into Sheets or Docs, and receiving webhooks from forms to check conditions and trigger notifications. The AI section teaches how to enforce structured outputs (JSON or tables) so results flow seamlessly into subsequent steps and reduce errors. Finally, the course covers operations best practices: scheduling, retries, logging and alerts, and tracking time/cost for optimization. You’ll also get a concise SOP to replicate workflows across campaigns or teams while keeping data secure.