Daily News Digest & Weekly Trends with AI Filtering (Slack & Google Sheets)

This n8n workflow automates the process of fetching daily news, filtering it using an AI agent, translating relevant articles, and then publishing the curated digest to Slack and storing it in Google Sheets for weekly trend analysis.

It simplifies staying informed by automatically sifting through news, identifying key articles, and presenting them in an actionable format, while also building a historical record for trend identification.

What it does

1. Schedules Execution: The workflow is triggered on a recurring schedule (e.g., daily).
2. Fetches News: It makes an HTTP request to a news API (or similar source) to retrieve the latest articles.
3. Filters with AI Agent: An AI Agent (using a LangChain Chat Model) processes the fetched news, identifying and extracting articles based on predefined criteria or relevance.
4. Parses AI Output: A Structured Output Parser extracts specific data points (e.g., title, summary, URL) from the AI agent's response.
5. Translates Relevant Articles: If configured, the workflow translates the extracted article details into a target language using DeepL.
6. Formats Data: It transforms and sets the extracted and translated data into a structured format suitable for output.
7. Posts to Slack: The curated news digest is posted as a message to a specified Slack channel.
8. Stores in Google Sheets: The news digest is also appended as a new row in a Google Sheet, creating a historical log for trend analysis.
9. Webhook for Manual Trigger (Optional): Provides an alternative way to manually trigger the workflow if needed, bypassing the cron schedule.

Prerequisites/Requirements

• n8n Instance: A running n8n instance.
• News API Key: An API key for a news service (e.g., NewsAPI, GNews, etc.) to fetch articles.
• OpenRouter Account / API Key: For the AI Agent to function, you'll need access to an LLM via OpenRouter.
• DeepL API Key (Optional): If translation is desired, a DeepL API key is required.
• Slack Account & Bot Token: To post messages to a Slack channel.
• Google Account: With access to Google Sheets for storing the news data. You'll need to set up Google Sheets credentials in n8n.

Setup/Usage

1. Import the Workflow: Import the provided JSON into your n8n instance.
2. Configure Credentials:
   • Google Sheets: Set up your Google Sheets OAuth2 or API Key credentials.
   • OpenRouter Chat Model: Configure your OpenRouter API credentials.
   • DeepL: Set up your DeepL API credentials if using translation.
   • Slack: Set up your Slack API credentials (usually a Bot User OAuth Token).
3. Customize Nodes:
   • Cron (Node 7): Adjust the schedule to your desired frequency (e.g., daily at a specific time).
   • HTTP Request (Node 19):
     • Update the URL to your preferred news API endpoint.
     • Add any necessary Headers or Query Parameters for your API key and search queries.
     • Modify the Method and Body if your news API requires different configurations.
   • AI Agent (Node 1119):
     • Language Model: Ensure the OpenRouter Chat Model (Node 1281) is correctly configured.
     • Prompt: Customize the prompt to guide the AI agent on how to filter and summarize the news. Be specific about what kind of articles you're looking for (e.g., "Summarize top 5 articles about AI trends in tech industry").
     • Tools: If the AI agent needs to interact with other systems, configure appropriate tools.
   • Structured Output Parser (Node 1179): Adjust the schema to match the expected JSON output format from your AI Agent. This is crucial for correctly extracting data like title, summary, url, etc.
   • DeepL (Node 470):
     • Set the Source Language and Target Language.
     • Specify which fields from the previous node should be translated.
   • Edit Fields (Set) (Node 38): Map the data from previous nodes to the desired output fields for Slack and Google Sheets.
   • Slack (Node 40):
     • Select your Slack credential.
     • Specify the Channel where the digest should be posted.
     • Customize the Text of the message using expressions to include the extracted article details.
   • Google Sheets (Node 18):
     • Select your Google Sheets credential.
     • Specify the Spreadsheet ID and Sheet Name.
     • Ensure the Operation is set to "Append Row" and map the data fields to the correct columns in your sheet.
   • Webhook (Node 47): Note down the webhook URL if you wish to trigger the workflow manually for testing or on-demand execution.
4. Activate the Workflow: Once configured, activate the workflow to start receiving your automated news digests.