AI-Powered Content Automation with n8n: A Step-by-Step Guide

Automate content creation, translation, and publishing with n8n, Firecrawl, OpenAI, and Ghost CMS. This tutorial will guide you through every step

System Architecture

• Firecrawl: Crawls and extracts content from source blogs

• OpenAI API: Translates the extracted content

• Ghost CMS: Destination for translated content

• n8n: Orchestrates the entire workflow

Prerequisites

• n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)

• OpenAI API key

• Ghost CMS admin access

• Firecrawl API key

Setting Up Firecrawl

First, install and configure Firecrawl:

from firecrawl import FirecrawlApp

app = FirecrawlApp(api_key="YOUR_FIRECRAWL_API_KEY")

# Configure crawling parameters
crawl_params = {
    'limit': 300,
    'scrapeOptions': {'formats': ['markdown']}
}

n8n Workflow Setup

1. Create a New Workflow in n8n

   • Open your n8n instance

   • Click "Create New Workflow"

   • Name it "Blog Translation Automation"

2. Add Webhook Trigger Node

   • Add a webhook node as the trigger

   • Configure it to accept POST requests

   • Copy the webhook URL for later use

3. Add Firecrawl Node

   • Use HTTP Request node to call Firecrawl API

   • Configure the crawling parameters

4. Add OpenAI Translation Node

   • Configure OpenAI node with your API key

   • Set up translation parameters:

{
    "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo",
    "messages": [
        {
            "role": "system",
            "content": "Translate the following content to [target language]"
        },
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "{{$node['Firecrawl'].json.markdown}}"
        }
    ]
}

5. Add Ghost CMS Node

   • Configure Ghost credentials

   • Set up post creation parameters

Workflow Configuration

Create the following node sequence:

1. Webhook → Triggers the workflow

2. Firecrawl HTTP Request → Crawls the source blog

3. Function → Processes crawled content

4. OpenAI → Translates content

5. Ghost → Creates new post

Ghost CMS Integration

Configure the Ghost node with these settings:

{
    "operation": "create",
    "title": "{{$node['OpenAI'].json.title}}",
    "content": "{{$node['OpenAI'].json.translated_content}}",
    "status": "draft",
    "tags": ["translated", "automated"]
}

Automation Schedule

1. Set Up Timing

   • Add Schedule node to trigger workflow automatically

   • Configure desired frequency (e.g., daily, weekly)

2. Error Handling

   • Add Error Trigger nodes

   • Configure notification settings for failed executions

Testing and Deployment

1. Test the Workflow

   • Use test data to verify each node

   • Check translation quality

   • Verify Ghost post creation

2. Monitor Performance

   • Set up workflow analytics

   • Track successful executions

   • Monitor error rates

Security Considerations

• Store API keys securely in n8n credentials

• Use environment variables for sensitive data

• Implement rate limiting for API calls

Best Practices

1. Content Processing

   • Clean HTML before translation

   • Preserve formatting

   • Maintain metadata

2. Translation Quality

   • Review translated content periodically

   • Adjust OpenAI prompts as needed

   • Keep track of common translation issues

3. Resource Management

   • Implement caching for crawled content

   • Set up proper error handling

   • Monitor API usage limits

This automation will continuously crawl your specified blog, translate new content, and publish it to your Ghost CMS instance. Remember to regularly monitor the workflow and adjust parameters as needed for optimal performance.