Create & publish YouTube Shorts on historical what-ifs with GPT-4o & Blotato
Workflow Description: Automated YouTube Short Viral History (Blotato + GPT-4.1)
This workflow is a powerful, self-sustaining end-to-end content automation pipeline designed to feed your YouTube Shorts channel with consistent, high-quality, and highly engaging videos focused on "What if history..." scenarios.
This solution completely eliminates manual intervention across the creative, production, and publishing stages. It expertly links the creative power of a GPT-4o AI Agent with the video rendering capabilities of the Blotato API, all orchestrated by n8n.
How It Works
The automation runs through a five-step, scheduled process:
- Trigger and Idea Generation: The Schedule Trigger starts the workflow (default is 10:00 AM daily). The AI Agent (GPT-4o) acts as a copywriter/researcher, automatically brainstorming a random "What if history..." topic, researching relevant facts, and formulating a viral, hook-driven 60-second video script, along with a title and caption.
- Visual Production Request: The formatted script is sent to the Blotato API via the Create Video node. Blotato begins rendering the text-to-video short based on the pre-set style parameters (cinematic style, specific voice ID, and AI models).
- Status Check and Wait: The Wait node pauses the workflow, and the Get Video node continually checks the Blotato system until the video rendering status is confirmed as
done. - Media Upload: The completed video file is uploaded to the Blotato media library using an HTTP Request node, preparing it for publishing.
- Automated Publishing: The final YT Post node (another HTTP Request to the Blotato API) automatically publishes the video to your linked YouTube channel, using the video URL and the AI-generated title and short caption.
Set Up Steps
To activate and personalize this powerful content pipeline in n8n, follow these steps:
- OpenAI Credential: Ensure your OpenAI API key credential is created and connected to the Brainstorm Idea node (Language Model). The workflow uses GPT-4o by default.
- Blotato API Key: Obtain your Blotato API Key.
- Open the Prepare Video node and manually insert your Blotato API Key into the
blotato_api_keyfield.
- Open the Prepare Video node and manually insert your Blotato API Key into the
- YouTube Account ID: Find the Account ID (or Channel ID) for the YouTube channel you want to post to.
- Open the Prepare for Publish node and manually insert your YouTube Account ID into the
youtube_idfield.
- Open the Prepare for Publish node and manually insert your YouTube Account ID into the
- Customize Video Style (Optional): If desired, adjust the visual aesthetic by modifying parameters in the Prepare Video node, such as:
voiceId: To change the video narrator.style: To change the visual theme (e.g., fromcinematictodocumentary).text_to_image_modelandimage_to_video_model: To change the underlying AI generation models.
- Activate Workflow: Save the workflow and toggle the main switch to Active. The first video will be created and published on the next scheduled run.
n8n Workflow: AI Agent for Content Generation
This n8n workflow demonstrates a foundational setup for using an AI agent to generate structured content, potentially for creative tasks like generating YouTube Shorts ideas. It leverages the LangChain AI Agent and OpenAI's Chat Model to process requests and produce structured output.
What it does
This workflow outlines the following steps:
- Triggers on Schedule: The workflow is set to run on a predefined schedule, acting as a trigger for the content generation process.
- Initial Data Setup: An "Edit Fields (Set)" node allows for defining initial input data or parameters for the AI agent.
- AI Agent Execution: An "AI Agent" node (LangChain Agent) orchestrates the interaction with the language model, potentially using tools (though none are explicitly defined in this JSON, the node supports it) to fulfill a given prompt.
- Language Model Interaction: The "OpenAI Chat Model" node serves as the large language model (LLM) that the AI Agent interacts with to generate responses.
- Structured Output Parsing: A "Structured Output Parser" node (LangChain Output Parser) is used to ensure the AI's output conforms to a predefined structure, making it easier to consume in subsequent steps.
- HTTP Request (Placeholder): An "HTTP Request" node is included, which could be used to send the generated content to an external API, a database, or another service.
- Wait (Placeholder): A "Wait" node is present, suggesting that there might be a need for a delay in the workflow, perhaps for rate limiting or waiting for external processes.
- Sticky Note (Documentation): A "Sticky Note" is used for in-workflow documentation or comments.
Prerequisites/Requirements
To use this workflow, you will need:
- n8n Instance: A running instance of n8n.
- OpenAI API Key: Configured as a credential in n8n for the "OpenAI Chat Model" node.
- LangChain Nodes: Ensure the
@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchainpackage is installed and available in your n8n instance.
Setup/Usage
- Import the Workflow: Import the provided JSON into your n8n instance.
- Configure Credentials:
- Set up your OpenAI API key as a credential within n8n.
- Customize Nodes:
- Schedule Trigger: Adjust the schedule to your desired frequency for content generation.
- Edit Fields (Set): Modify the input data to provide the prompt or context for your AI agent. This is where you would define the "historical what-ifs" or other content generation parameters.
- AI Agent: Configure the agent's prompt and potentially add tools if your use case requires more complex actions (e.g., searching the web, interacting with other APIs).
- Structured Output Parser: Define the desired JSON schema or structure for the AI's output. This is crucial for consistent content generation.
- HTTP Request: Configure this node to send the structured AI output to your desired destination (e.g., a YouTube Shorts publishing API, a database, a content management system).
- Wait: Adjust the delay if necessary.
- Activate the Workflow: Once configured, activate the workflow to start generating content on schedule.
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