If you’ve ever copied the same lead data into three tools and thought “there has to be a better way”, n8n is that better way with a user interface. It’s an automation platform where you drag a few blocks onto a canvas and suddenly your SaaS feels like it hired a 24/7 operations assistant.
Meet n8n: your glue between tools
what is n8n? n8n (pronounced “en-eight-en”) is a visual workflow automation tool that connects your apps, moves data, and runs logic without you building a custom backend. You connect blocks called nodes on a canvas, press “Execute”, and your Franken‑stack of tools starts behaving like a single system.
Because n8n is open‑source and self‑hostable, it’s popular with SaaS teams and agencies that want power and flexibility without paying per‑zap or hitting tiny usage limits every week
Core concept 1: Workflows (your automations on a whiteboard)
Think of a workflow as a flowchart you drew on a whiteboard when you were explaining a process to someone on your team. In n8n, that chart becomes real: each box is a node, the arrows are connections, and the whole thing runs automatically when triggered.
A basic workflow might:
- Catch a new lead from your website.
- Enrich it with a data provider.
- Send a Slack ping to sales.
- Add the lead to your CRM and email list.
Each time it runs, n8n stores an execution so you can replay it, inspect data step‑by‑step, and debug without swearing at invisible APIs
Core concept 2: Nodes (little robots that do one job well)
Nodes are the Lego bricks of n8n: each node does a specific job—send an email, call an API, format a date, or check a condition. You connect them like “if this happens, then do that, then maybe do this other thing if a condition is true”.
Main node types:
- App nodes: talk to tools like Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Google Sheets, Stripe, etc.
- Logic nodes: “IF”, “Switch”, “Merge”, “Split In Batches”; these are your yes/no, loop, and combine steps.
- Utility nodes: set fields, transform JSON, parse text, format dates—basically data spa treatment.
So if workflows are the story, nodes are the verbs: send, check, update, notify.
Core concept 3: Triggers (who wakes the workflow up?)
A trigger is what wakes your workflow up and tells it “go”. Without a trigger, a workflow is just a nice diagram sipping coffee in the corner.
Popular trigger types:
- Schedule trigger: run every X minutes/hours/days—perfect for reports and clean‑ups.
- Webhook trigger: wait for another app to send data (form submits, payments, webhooks from Stripe, Typeform, etc.).
- App triggers: “New row in Google Sheets”, “New contact in HubSpot”, “New card in Trello” and so on.
When designing automations for SaaS or agencies, always ask: “What’s the earliest moment I care that this happened?”—that answer is usually your trigger.
Core concept 4: Credentials (keys that unlock your tools)
Credentials are where you store your API keys, tokens, and logins so n8n can talk to your tools safely. Instead of pasting the same API key into five different nodes, you create one credential, then reuse it everywhere.
Why this matters:
- You can use OAuth or API keys depending on the app and security level.
- Credentials are encrypted and can be shared or limited between users in a team setup.
- If a key rotates or gets revoked, you update it once and save every workflow that uses that connection.
It’s the difference between “oh no, everything broke” and “updated one credential, we’re good”.
How these four ideas work together
When you strip away the UI, n8n boils down to a simple recipe:
- Trigger – When should this run?
- Workflow – What’s the sequence of steps?
- Nodes – Which specific actions does each step perform?
- Credentials – Which tools and accounts does it talk to?
Once you think in that order, complex automations become easier to sketch. You can even plan them on paper before opening n8n—and yes, that still counts as automation work.
Example: tiny but useful SaaS lead workflow
Here’s a quick “minimum viable” automation that many SaaS and agencies can use:
- Trigger: Webhook node waiting for new trial sign‑ups from your landing page.
- Nodes:
- HTTP Request to enrich the lead with firmographic data.
- CRM node to create/update the contact.
- Slack node to notify a channel with key details.
- Email node to send a personalized welcome message.
- Credentials: One each for your form source, enrichment API, CRM, Slack, and email provider—reused across multiple workflows later.
Congratulations, you just removed a chunk of boring manual work and response times got faster without hiring anyone.