Build an AI Research Digest with n8n — No Code, Real Output in 6 Steps

{/* Last updated: 2026-04-11 | Verified on: nerdleveltech.app.n8n.cloud | n8n cloud | gpt-5-mini via n8n free credits */}

Every node in this guide was wired and executed live on n8n cloud. The newsletter digest shown is real AI output — not fabricated. You can reproduce it in under 30 minutes on n8n's free tier.

What You'll Build {#what-you-will-build}

• Fetches the top 10 Hacker News front-page stories every day via the Algolia API
• Uses an AI Summarization Chain to write a one-sentence summary for each story
• Collapses all 10 summaries into a single item with the Aggregate node
• Passes everything to an AI Agent (with memory) to write a polished newsletter digest
• Is ready to connect to Gmail, SendGrid, or any email provider for automatic delivery

The complete workflow looks like this — 6 main nodes plus 3 AI sub-nodes, all wired and executed:

Skip the Manual Build — Import the Workflow

Don't want to wire every node by hand? Download the complete workflow JSON and import it directly into n8n. You'll only need to reconnect your OpenAI credentials on two nodes.

To import: Create a new workflow → click ··· (top right) → Import from file… → select the downloaded JSON. n8n loads all 9 nodes and their connections. Then open the OpenAI Chat Model sub-node under Summarization Chain, and the OpenAI Chat Model1 sub-node under AI Agent, and set your credential on each.

Prerequisites {#prerequisites}

What You Need

What Is n8n?

n8n¹ is an open-source workflow automation platform with 100,000+ GitHub stars as of April 2026. It lets you connect APIs, databases, and AI services with a visual node-based editor — think Zapier but self-hostable, with full JavaScript support and native LangChain-based AI nodes.

n8n's AI node types used in this guide:

Step 1 — Create an n8n Account {#step1-create-account}

Go to n8n.io/cloud and sign up for a free trial. After email confirmation, you land on the n8n home dashboard showing your workflows list.

Click + Create workflow (or the New workflow button). n8n opens a blank canvas with two placeholders — Add first step… and Build with AI. This is your starting point.

Claim your free OpenAI credits: In the left sidebar, look for a banner that says "Claim free AI credits." Click it and accept to receive 100 free OpenAI API credits. These credits work with gpt-5-mini, gpt-4.1-mini, gpt-4.1-nano, gpt-4o-mini, text-embedding-3-small, and other models — enough to run this entire guide for free.

Note: The free trial gives you 14 days and 1,000 workflow executions. The free OpenAI credits are separate and do not expire with the trial.

Step 2 — Add a Schedule Trigger {#step2-schedule-trigger}

A trigger node starts every workflow. For a daily digest, you need a Schedule Trigger that fires once per day.

2a. Add the Trigger

Click the + button on the blank canvas (or click the placeholder node). In the node search panel that slides open, type Schedule and select Schedule Trigger.

2b. Configure Daily Interval

The Schedule Trigger panel opens with a "Trigger Interval" dropdown. Set it to Days and leave the time at its default (or set it to 07:00 for a 7 AM digest). The node immediately shows a preview of its next execution time.

Click the X to close the panel (the node saves automatically). You now have a trigger that will fire every day.

Step 3 — Fetch Hacker News Stories {#step3-http-request}

The Hacker News Algolia API² returns front-page stories as JSON — no authentication required.

3a. Add an HTTP Request Node

Click the + after the Schedule Trigger node. Search for HTTP Request and select it.

In the node panel:

• Method: GET (default)
• URL: paste this exactly:

https://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/search?tags=front_page&hitsPerPage=10

3b. Execute and Verify

Click Execute step. n8n calls the API and returns the JSON response. You should see 1 item in the output — one object containing a hits array with the top 10 stories.

Each hit in the hits array contains fields like title, url, points, objectID, author, and num_comments. In the next step you will extract only the fields you need.

Why Algolia? Hacker News's official API (hacker-news.firebaseio.com) requires one request per story — 10 requests to get 10 stories. The Algolia search API returns all front-page stories in a single call. It is the recommended endpoint for tools building on HN data.²

Step 4 — Extract Story Data with Code {#step4-code-node}

The HTTP Request returns one big JSON object. You need to split it into 10 separate items (one per story) so downstream AI nodes can process them in parallel.

4a. Add a Code Node

Click + after HTTP Request. Search for Code and select Code in JavaScript (or just "Code").

4b. Enter the Extraction Script

The Code node opens with a CodeMirror editor. Clear the default code and paste the following:

const hits = $input.first().json.hits;

return hits.map(hit => ({
  json: {
    title: hit.title,
    url: hit.url,
    points: hit.points,
    objectID: hit.objectID
  }
}));

This iterates over the hits array and returns 10 separate n8n items, each containing the story's title, URL, points score, and unique ID.

4c. Execute and Verify

Click Execute step. The output shows 10 items — one per story — each with the four fields.

n8n expression syntax: In later nodes you will reference these fields using double curly braces: {{ $json.title }} refers to the title field of the current item. $input.first() returns the first upstream item. $now.toFormat('MMMM d, yyyy') formats today's date as "April 11, 2026".

Step 5 — Summarize Each Story with AI {#step5-summarization}

Now that you have 10 separate story items, you can process them all through an AI model in one node.

5a. Add a Summarization Chain

Click + after the Code node. Search for Summarization and select Summarization Chain.

The node has two required sub-nodes shown at the bottom: Model (required) and Document (optional). You need to connect a language model.

5b. Add an OpenAI Chat Model Sub-Node

Click the + button on the Model connector at the bottom of the Summarization Chain node. Select OpenAI Chat Model.

In the OpenAI Chat Model panel:

• Credential: select n8n free OpenAI API credits from the dropdown (this was created when you claimed the free credits earlier)
• Model: select gpt-5-mini (or gpt-4o-mini)

5c. Configure the Summarization Prompt

Back in the Summarization Chain panel, set the Individual Summary Template to:

You are a tech news analyst. Here is a Hacker News story:
"{text}"
Write ONE sentence (max 25 words) explaining what this story is about and why it matters. Be direct and informative.
ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY:

Leave Final Combine Document Prompt with the same template (it will only be used if you enable "Map Reduce" chain type — leave it as "Stuff" for this guide).

5d. Execute and Verify

Click Execute step. n8n sends all 10 stories through the LLM simultaneously and returns 10 output items, each with an output field containing the one-sentence summary.

You now have 10 concise summaries, one per story — all generated from a single node execution.

Step 6 — Aggregate & Format the Digest {#step6-ai-agent}

You have 10 items. The AI Agent needs a single item containing all summaries so it can write the complete digest in one pass. The Aggregate node collapses multiple items into one.

6a. Add an Aggregate Node

Click + after Summarization Chain. Search for Aggregate and select it.

In the Aggregate panel:

• Aggregate: set to All Item Data (Into a Single List)
• n8n automatically detects that the upstream items each have an output field and will merge them into a text array on the single output item

Click Execute step. Output shows 1 item with a text array containing all 10 summaries.

6b. Add an AI Agent Node

Click + after Aggregate. Search for AI Agent and select it.

The AI Agent node has three sub-node connectors at the bottom:

• Chat Model (required) — the LLM that powers the agent
• Memory (optional) — conversation history storage
• Tool (optional) — external tools the agent can call

6c. Add OpenAI Chat Model to the Agent

Click + on the Chat Model connector. Select OpenAI Chat Model. Configure the same credential and model (gpt-5-mini) as in Step 5.

6d. Add Simple Memory

Click + on the Memory connector. Select Simple Memory.

In the Simple Memory panel:

• Session ID: change from "Connected Chat Trigger Node" to Define below
• Key: type hn-digest
• Context Window Length: leave at 5

Why a fixed session key? Simple Memory normally expects a session ID from a Chat Trigger. Since this workflow uses a Schedule Trigger (no user session), you must provide a static key. The key hn-digest tells n8n to read/write memory under that name every time the workflow runs.

6e. Configure the Agent Prompt

Back in the AI Agent panel, under Parameters:

• Source for Prompt (User Message): select Define below
• Prompt (User Message): paste this exactly:

You are an AI newsletter editor. Below are one-sentence summaries of today's top 10 Hacker News stories:

{{ $json.text.join('\n\n') }}

Format this as a clean, engaging daily tech digest email. Start with a 2-sentence intro for the date {{ $now.toFormat('MMMM d, yyyy') }}, then list each story as a numbered bullet. End with a friendly sign-off. Keep the tone informative and developer-friendly.

The expression {{ $json.text.join('\n\n') }} injects all 10 summaries separated by blank lines. {{ $now.toFormat('MMMM d, yyyy') }} inserts today's date dynamically.

6f. Execute and See the Digest

Click Execute step. The AI Agent runs — it loads memory (empty on first run), calls the LLM with your 10 summaries, and returns the formatted newsletter digest.

The output is a complete, formatted newsletter digest — ready to be delivered by email. Here is a sample of what the AI Agent produced during the live run for this guide:

April 11, 2026 — Today's roundup covers big moves in spaceflight, supply-chain security, open hardware, and how AI and human behavior shape critical projects. Short reads below with the essentials and why each item matters to developers, sysadmins, and makers.

1. Artemis II astronauts safely splashed down, validating NASA's Orion spacecraft and systems — critical progress toward crewed lunar landings on Artemis III…

6g. The Complete Workflow

Close the AI Agent panel. Click the fit-to-screen button (four-arrows icon, bottom-left of the canvas). You can now see the entire workflow — all 6 nodes with green checkmarks:

What's Next {#whats-next}

You have a working AI digest pipeline. Here are the natural next steps:

Send the Email Automatically

Add a Gmail node (or SendGrid, SMTP, Mailchimp) after the AI Agent. Wire the AI Agent's output text as the email body. Set the recipient and subject, then Activate the workflow. From then on, n8n fires the entire chain daily at your chosen time and delivers the digest automatically — no manual clicks required.

Expand the Data Sources

Replace or augment the Hacker News source:

Tune the AI Prompts

• Make summaries shorter or longer by changing the word limit in the Summarization Chain prompt
• Add a "category" field in the Code node and group stories by topic in the Agent prompt
• Ask the Agent to rate each story's relevance to your team's stack

Self-Host n8n

n8n is fully open-source¹. You can run it on a $5 VPS, a Raspberry Pi, or via Docker:

docker run -it --rm \
  --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v ~/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n \
  n8nio/n8n

Self-hosting removes execution limits and keeps your workflow data on your own infrastructure.