Lesson 3 of 6
Nodes & workflows
6 min read
n8n doesn't hide the machine. Your automation is a diagram — boxes wired together. Wire it, press play, and watch your data flow through.
Boxes, wired together
In n8n you build a [workflow](glossary://workflow) by placing [nodes](glossary://node) on a canvas and wiring them together. Each node is one step: it takes data in, does one thing, and passes it on. A trigger node starts the run; the nodes after it transform or send the data. The wires show exactly where everything goes — no hidden magic.
A workflow is just nodes on wires: a trigger to start it, steps in the middle, an output at the end. You can see the whole path.
The trigger starts it
Every workflow begins with a trigger — the thing that says 'go'. It might be a schedule ('every morning at 9'), a new email, a form submission, or a signal from another app. Once the trigger fires, the data flows down the wires through each node in turn, one step at a time.
The trigger decides when your workflow runs; the nodes after it decide what it does.
Nodes pass data, not just a signal. Each item flows through as a little packet of fields — one node adds a field, the next reshapes it — so by the end it's been built up step by step.
The shape of it
- —A workflow is nodes wired together on a canvas — you can see every step.
- —A trigger node starts the run; later nodes transform and send the data.
- —Data flows down the wires, one item at a time, shaped step by step.
You want a workflow to run every morning on its own and email you a summary. Which node makes it *start*?
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