Hackathon Participant Badge Generator with QR Code, PDF & Email Delivery

This n8n workflow automates the process of generating personalized hackathon participant badges with QR codes, creating them as PDFs, and delivering them via email. It's designed to streamline event registration and participant management by automating the creation and distribution of essential event credentials.

What it does

This workflow simplifies the badge generation and delivery process through the following steps:

1. Receives Participant Data: It starts by listening for incoming participant data via a webhook. This data is expected to contain details such as the participant's name, email, and potentially other information required for the badge.
2. Processes Data for Badge Generation: A Function node is used to process the incoming data. This likely involves formatting the data, generating a unique QR code URL (or data), and preparing it for the badge creation service.
3. Generates Badges (External Service): An HTTP Request node sends the processed participant data to an external service (e.g., a badge generation API like Bannerbear, PDFMonkey, or a custom service). This service is responsible for creating the actual PDF badge, embedding the QR code, and laying out the participant's information.
4. Retrieves Badge PDF: The HTTP Request node then receives the generated badge, likely as a PDF file or a URL to the PDF.
5. Checks for Badge Generation Success: An If node evaluates the response from the badge generation service to determine if the badge was successfully created.
6. Sends Email with Badge:
   • On Success: If the badge generation was successful, a Gmail node sends an email to the participant. This email includes the generated PDF badge as an attachment.
   • On Failure: If the badge generation failed, the workflow might send an internal notification (not explicitly shown in the JSON but a common practice) or respond to the webhook with an error.
7. Responds to Webhook: Finally, a Respond to Webhook node sends a response back to the system that triggered the workflow, indicating the success or failure of the badge generation and delivery process.

Prerequisites/Requirements

To use this workflow, you will need:

• n8n Instance: A running n8n instance.
• Webhook Trigger: An external system or application configured to send participant data to the n8n webhook URL.
• Google Sheets (Optional): While not directly connected in the provided JSON, the presence of the Google Sheets node suggests it might be used for inputting participant data or logging results in a more complete workflow.
• External Badge Generation Service: An API endpoint for a service capable of generating PDF documents with dynamic data and QR codes (e.g., Bannerbear, PDFMonkey, DocRaptor, or a custom API). You will need an API key or authentication details for this service.
• Gmail Account: A configured Gmail credential in n8n to send emails.
• Basic JavaScript Knowledge: For customizing the Function node to fit your specific data processing and QR code generation logic.

Setup/Usage

1. Import the Workflow: Import the provided JSON into your n8n instance.
2. Configure Webhook:
   • Activate the Webhook node and copy its test or production URL.
   • Configure your external system to send participant data (e.g., name, email, uniqueId) to this URL. The data should be in a JSON format that the Function node can process.
3. Configure Function Node:
   • Edit the Function node (ID 14) to transform the incoming webhook data into the format expected by your badge generation service. This is also where you would typically generate the QR code data (e.g., a URL pointing to participant details).
4. Configure HTTP Request Node:
   • Update the HTTP Request node (ID 19) with the URL of your badge generation API.
   • Configure the HTTP method (e.g., POST) and the request body to send the data prepared by the Function node.
   • Add any necessary authentication headers (e.g., API Key).
   • Ensure it's configured to expect a PDF file or a URL to a PDF in response.
5. Configure If Node:
   • Review the If node (ID 20) conditions to accurately check for the success of the badge generation API call. This might involve checking HTTP status codes or specific fields in the API response.
6. Configure Gmail Node:
   • Select your Gmail credential.
   • Set the recipient email address using an expression like ={{$json.email}} to dynamically send to the participant.
   • Compose the email subject and body.
   • Attach the generated PDF badge. You'll need to reference the output of the HTTP Request node that contains the PDF data or URL.
7. Activate Workflow: Once all nodes are configured, activate the workflow.

This workflow provides a robust foundation for automating hackathon badge generation and delivery, ensuring participants receive their credentials efficiently.