Lesson 9easy20 min

Building Your First Automation in n8n

Build an end-to-end workflow from scratch combining a manual trigger, data transformation, and external API call.

Learning Objectives

  • Create a new workflow from an empty canvas
  • Chain a Manual Trigger, Code Node, and HTTP Request Node
  • Execute and inspect the workflow run

Building Your First Automation in n8n

Let us build your first workflow to cement the core concepts: a pipeline that generates a user payload, transforms it with JavaScript, and queries an external API.

Step 1: Add the Manual Trigger

  1. On a blank canvas, click Add first step.
  2. Search for When clicking 'Test workflow' (Manual Trigger).
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Step 2: Add a Code Node

Add a Code node set to Run Once for All Items with the following script:

return [
  {
    json: {
      userId: 42,
      username: "antigravity_dev",
      city: "San Francisco",
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString()
    }
  }
];

Step 3: Add an HTTP Request Node

Connect an HTTP Request node to fetch mock data:

  • Method: GET
  • URL: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1
  • Response Format: JSON

Click Test step. Inspect the output tab to verify that the HTTP response merged cleanly with your workflow data.

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