The fastest way to understand n8n is to build something with it. So we will. By the end of this lesson you'll have a working automation that watches a Google Sheet and, whenever a new row appears, writes a clean summary with AI and emails it to you. It's deliberately simple — but it contains every concept you'll use in every workflow you ever build.
The workflow we're building: when a new row is added to a Google Sheet, send a summary email with AI-written content. Think of it as a tiny assistant that turns raw data into a readable note the moment it arrives.
Before You Start
Five minutes of setup now saves frustration later. Make sure you have these three things ready before you open n8n.
Your Checklist
• An n8n account or local install ready (from Lesson 1)
• A Google account for Sheets + Gmail
• An OpenAI or Claude API key (the free tier works fine for this)
Building the Workflow
Follow these eight steps in order. Each one adds a single node or setting — don't skip ahead, and test as you go.
Create a new workflow in n8n
Open n8n and click "New Workflow." Give it a name like "Sheet → AI Summary Email" so future-you knows what it does.
Add a Google Sheets trigger node
Click the "+" to add a node, search "Google Sheets Trigger," and select it. This is the "if this happens" part of the workflow.
Connect your Google account
Click "Create New Credential" and sign in with Google. n8n walks you through the permission screen — approve it once and you're connected.
Set the trigger to "Row Added"
Pick your spreadsheet and sheet, then set the event to trigger on a new row. n8n will now check the sheet on a schedule and fire when it sees a fresh entry.
Add an AI node (OpenAI or Claude)
Add a new node after the trigger and search "OpenAI" or "Anthropic." Connect your API key as a credential, exactly like you did for Google.
Write the prompt
In the AI node's message field, write a prompt that pulls in the row data. n8n uses double-curly-brace syntax to insert values — see the template below.
Add a Gmail node to send the result
Add a Gmail node, connect your account, set the recipient to your own email, and put the AI node's output into the message body.
Test with a real row and verify
Add a row to your sheet, run the workflow manually, and check your inbox. When the summary arrives, switch the workflow to "Active."
Here's the AI prompt to paste into the node in step 6 — the {{ }} placeholders pull live values straight from the new sheet row:
What Just Happened
Trace the data as it moved: the trigger noticed a new row and grabbed its values. Those values flowed into the AI node, which read your prompt, filled in the row data, and wrote a summary. That summary flowed into the Gmail node, which dropped it into an email and sent it. Three nodes, one clean handoff at each step — that's the whole machine.
Test Every Node Individually
n8n lets you run one node at a time and see its exact output. Use this constantly. When something breaks, you'll know precisely which node failed instead of guessing at the whole chain.
What to Build Next
This one pattern stretches a long way. Try these three variations to cement the idea:
- Slack instead of email. Swap the Gmail node for a Slack node and post the summary to a channel — great for team visibility.
- Save and summarise. Add a second Google Sheets node that writes the AI summary back into a new column, building a running log automatically.
- Form to summary. Replace the Sheets trigger with a Typeform or Tally trigger so a form submission produces an instant AI-written brief.
Every automation you will ever build follows this pattern: trigger → process → output. Master this loop and you can automate anything.
Continue Learning
Next in this course: Connecting AI to Your Business Tools — go beyond one workflow and link all your apps together.