6-Part Tutorial Series

n8n Automation Mastery

Replace Zapier and Make subscriptions with a self-hosted n8n instance. From first workflow to production-grade AI-powered automation — all on your VPS.

6 focused guides

~4 hours total

$0/task forever

Start Part 1

Why n8n in 2025

45k → 157k GitHub stars — fastest-growing open-source project of the year
400+ built-in integrations with native AI nodes
Visual workflow builder — no coding required for most automations
Self-hosted = your data never leaves your infrastructure

Replace SaaS Subscriptions

Zapier Pro (750 tasks)$30/mo
Make Pro (10k ops)$16/mo
Zapier AI add-on$20+/mo
Per-task overages$$
n8n on RamNode$5/mo — unlimited

Series Roadmap

Part 1: Installation, SSL & First Workflow

30 min

Deploy n8n on your VPS with Docker, configure SSL with a reverse proxy, and build your first automation workflow from scratch.

Part 2: Core Workflow Patterns

40 min

Master webhooks, scheduled triggers, conditional logic, error handling, and data transformation — the building blocks of every automation.

Part 3: AI Workflows with Ollama

45 min

Connect n8n to your local Ollama instance for AI-powered automation with zero API costs — email triage, content generation, summarization, and more.

Part 4: DevOps Automation

40 min

Build server monitoring alerts, automated deployment triggers, log analysis pipelines, and infrastructure health checks.

Part 5: Multi-Service Integration

45 min

Connect GitHub, Slack, email, databases, and APIs into unified automation pipelines. Build real-world workflows that span your entire toolchain.

Part 6: Production Scaling & High Availability

50 min

Scale with queue workers, configure automated backups, set up high availability, and optimize n8n for production workloads.

What You'll Build

Foundation & Patterns

• Production n8n deployment with SSL
• Webhook-driven and scheduled automations
• Error handling and retry patterns
• AI-powered workflows with local Ollama (zero API costs)

Real-World Automation

• Server monitoring and alerting pipelines
• CI/CD deployment triggers
• GitHub, Slack, email, and database integrations
• Production scaling with queue workers and HA

Prerequisites

• A RamNode VPS — 4GB ($20/mo) recommended for most workloads
• Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04
• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• A domain name (for SSL and webhook endpoints)
• Ollama installed (for Part 3 — covered in our AI Stack series)