Content | Roland Lopez

My content

AI agents (1) AI-WRITING (1) CASE STUDY (1) DATABASES (2) KUBERNETES (1) MCP (2) N8N (26) RAG (1) ROI CALCULATOR (1) UPWORK (3)

2025

N8N

Build Custom n8n Nodes & Deploy with Kamal

Learn how to create your own n8n community nodes from scratch and deploy them to production using Kamal. Includes a random number generator example, TypeScript node structure, Docker development setup, and production deployment.
N8N

n8n Docker Export & Import: Copy Workflows and Credentials Between Containers

5-minute tutorial on exporting and importing n8n workflows and credentials using Docker. Learn docker-compose setup, n8n export/import CLI commands, docker cp, and encryption key handling.
N8N

n8n Chatbot: Build a Customer Support Bot That Actually Works

Build a production-ready n8n chatbot for real support: webhook in, chat memory, RAG answers, confidence-based escalation, and full logging. Fast, reliable n8n chat.
N8N

n8n Environment Variables: Complete Configuration Reference

A practical, production-focused guide to n8n environment variables: what each setting does, defaults, examples, when to change them, plus a copy‑paste .env and fixes.
N8N

n8n AI Agents: Complete Guide to Agentic Workflows

Build reliable n8n AI agents: models, prompts, tools, memory, and a step‑by‑step research agent that writes to Google Docs. Compare single vs multi‑agent and ship to production.
N8N

n8n Browser Automation: Web Scraping Without Getting Blocked

A practical guide to n8n browser automation—when to use HTTP vs HTML Extract vs real browsers, integrate Puppeteer/Playwright, avoid blocks, and stay compliant.
N8N

n8n Human‑in‑the‑Loop: Approval Flows That Work

Build n8n human in the loop approvals with Wait + webhook resume, Slack or email buttons, timeouts, multi‑approvers, and audit logs for reliable AI and compliance.
KUBERNETES

n8n on Kubernetes: Helm Chart Deployment Guide

Deploy a production-ready n8n on Kubernetes with the official Helm chart: secrets, Postgres, Redis queue mode, ingress TLS, PVCs, autoscaling, and fixes.
N8N

10 Production-Ready n8n Workflow Examples + JSON

Build faster with 10 production-ready n8n examples. Each includes the problem, overview, key nodes, hardening tips, and JSON template placeholders for quick import.
N8N

n8n Encryption Key: Complete Guide to N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY, Credential Security & Recovery

A practical guide to n8n credential security. Learn N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY fundamentals, setup for Docker/Kubernetes/systemd, best practices, recovery drills, and a real case study.
N8N

How to Backup and Restore n8n Docker Volumes (With Cron Examples) – Step‑by‑Step Guide

Practical guide to back up and restore n8n Docker volumes (/home/node/.n8n) with copy‑paste scripts and cron jobs. Avoid data loss by saving the encryption key.
N8N

n8n N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY: Setup, Fixes & _FILE Bug

Understand N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY, set it safely in Docker or native installs, fix mismatched-key errors, and work around the N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE bug without risking data loss.
N8N

Webhooks That Don’t Fall Over: 5 n8n Reliability Patterns

Build resilient n8n webhooks with idempotency keys, retries, rate‑limit shielding, queues, and monitoring. Includes n8n examples and workflow patterns.
N8N

Private AI for Healthcare on a Budget

Build a private, offline, HIPAA-aware RAG stack with n8n, Ollama, and Rails MCP. Learn PHI‑safe patterns, latency budgets, and cost‑savvy rollout for clinics and startups.
N8N

Ship and Monetize an n8n Community Node

A step‑by‑step guide for building, hardening, versioning, submitting, and monetizing an n8n community node. Architecture, rate‑limit hygiene, testing, and revenue.
N8N

n8n + Supabase/Postgres: Upserts, Rate Limits, Webhooks

A pragmatic guide to n8n with Supabase/Postgres: bulk upserts with ON CONFLICT, rate‑limit‑safe batching, dedupe keys, ordered ULID/UUID v7 IDs, and webhook streaming.
N8N

RAG That Doesn’t Break: n8n, Webhooks, Sidecar Embeddings

Build a resilient n8n RAG with webhooks and sidecar embeddings for Rails/Python. Patterns for idempotency, queueing, retries, and latency budgets at 1K/10K/100K docs.
N8N

30 Best n8n Community Nodes (2025)

Practical 2025 guide to the 30 best n8n community nodes—by sales, support, devops, and AI—with setup gotchas, rate‑limit tips, and paste‑in workflow ideas.
AI-WRITING

AI vs Human Writing: Role Templates + Automation

Compare AI and human writing with role-based templates for developers, designers, and writers. See practical workflows using n8n/Zapier and human-in-the-loop QA.
UPWORK

Manual vs Automated Upwork Bidding: Hybrid Wins

Compare manual and automated Upwork bidding. See pros, cons, a hybrid workflow, and tool picks (n8n, Make, Zapier) to boost win rate without breaking rules.
UPWORK

Upwork Lead‑to‑Deal System: Alerts to Close

Build an Upwork lead generation and closer system that moves from real-time job alerts to AI proposals, scoring, and repeatable closing workflows to win high-ticket deals.
ROI CALCULATOR

Time-Saved vs Tool-Cost ROI Calculator Template

Build a reusable ROI calculator that compares time saved to tool cost. Get a spreadsheet layout, formulas, and steps to turn it into an interactive widget.
N8N

Build an Upwork Lead Machine with n8n (Step‑by‑Step)

Build an Upwork lead machine with n8n: pull job alerts from Gmail, parse them into a database, and let a VA from your organization bid on your behalf.
N8N

5 Building Blocks: Private AI with n8n, Ollama, MCP

Build self-hosted n8n Ollama MCP agents on a single VPS. Webhook-first, RAG, vision, latency benchmarks, and clear code vs no-code boundaries.
N8N

The Agent Sidecar Pattern for n8n MCP: A Deep-Dive Definition

Define the Agent Sidecar Pattern for n8n MCP: n8n MCP server orchestrates Rails/Flask sidecars with string/URL contracts, webhook-first I/O, tracing, and latency budgets.
CASE STUDY

How Shopify Cut a Near $1M BigQuery Bill to ~$1.4K

Shopify avoided a near $1M/month BigQuery bill by redesigning tables with clustering. This case study shows the root cause, the fix, and steps you can reuse.
N8N

n8n Web Scraping + Webhooks Starter Kit: 10 Building Blocks

Build a compliant, resilient n8n scraper starter kit: webhook triggers, proxy rotation, headless browsing, dedupe, and Supabase/Postgres storage with ready workflow patterns.
DATABASES

UUIDs as Primary Keys in MySQL: A Practical Guide

When to use UUIDs as MySQL primary keys, how B+ trees react, why CHAR(36) hurts, and better options like BINARY(16), UUIDv7, ULIDs, and Snowflake IDs.
DATABASES

What Is Multitenancy? Rails Examples for SaaS

Clear definition of multitenancy vs user management, two patterns (row-level vs database-per-tenant), plus Rails examples using a School→Course→Lesson ERD and copy‑paste client answers.
UPWORK

How I’d Make It on Upwork: My 90‑Day Playbook

Broke even after 2 months on Upwork? Good. Here’s a 90‑day playbook to turn 1:1 LTV into real traction with profile, proposals, pricing, and automation.
N8N

Is n8n an AI ETL? The Real Role Explained

Define n8n and “AI ETL,” show overlaps and hard limits (scale, schema, tenancy), where n8n shines for AI orchestration, and when to pick dedicated ETL tools.
MCP

MCP Servers: What It Is and 5 Costly Don’ts

Learn what the Model Context Protocol (MCP) is, how it connects agents to tools, and the five costly don’ts: no file blobs, no naive polling, use UUIDs, avoid kitchen-sink servers, and ship with security.
N8N

7 n8n Automations for Upwork Freelancers

7 n8n automations for Upwork freelancers: capture jobs, AI bids, calendar auto‑replies, LinkedIn and SEO systems, reminders, lead alerts, and fast ROI tests.
N8N

GitOps Backups for n8n: 30‑Minute Schedule + One‑Click Restore

Set up two n8n flows: a Git backup every 30 minutes and a manual restore. Copy‑paste CLI, node configs, and security best practices for safe rollbacks.
MCP

What Is the Real Value of MCP (Model Context Protocol) in Agent Architectures?

Understand MCP’s real value—server-owned tools and single-credential access—and how it pairs with n8n. See protocol limits, performance trade‑offs, and when to choose custom code.
AI agents

What You Can Really Do With AI Agents When You Embed Your Own Offline Knowledge

AI agents aren’t just web-browsing bots. Embed your offline, domain knowledge with embeddings, vector databases, and RAG to power private research and expert assistants.
RAG

n8n vs Ruby/Rails for RAG: Scale Beyond 5,000 Docs

Compare n8n and Ruby/Rails with RubyLLM for building RAG pipelines. See why embedding 5,000+ docs, retries, and monitoring push you from no‑code to code. Includes code and tables.
N8N

n8n Docker Setup: Encryption Key, Volumes & Backup Guide

Complete guide to setting up N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY in Docker, troubleshooting the _FILE variant issue, configuring persistent volumes, and backing up workflows and credentials safely.
N8N

Zapier vs Make vs n8n: The Credentials War Explained

Learn how Zapier, Make, and n8n differ on credentials, hosting, API limits, debugging, and ownership so you can choose control vs convenience with confidence.