Rapid Product Development with n8n: Practical guide to creating digital products on the web using workflow automation and n8n

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Foreword
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Section 1 – An Introduction to Your Toolkit
Chapter 1: Introduction to No Code, n8n, and Bubble
	Technical requirements
	What is no code?
	Why does no code matter?
	An introduction to n8n
		Installing n8n
	How do people use n8n to solve problems?
		CRM call recording access
		Goomer pivots during COVID-19
		n8n sails the seven seas
	An introduction to Bubble
	Summary
Chapter 2: Using the Editor UI to Create Workflows
	Technical requirements
	Introduction to the Editor UI
	Exploring the regular and trigger nodes
	Expressions – using dynamic data
	Workflows – putting it all together
	Creating your first workflow – Hello World
	Summary
Chapter 3: Diving into Core Nodes and Data in n8n
	Technical requirements
	Introduction to the data structure in n8n
		JSON syntax
		n8n JSON structure
	Function node – Custom JavaScript in workflows
	The items array
		Dot notation
		Outputting data
		Data from other nodes (the $items method)
		Manipulating data
	HTTP Request node – Talk to any API
		Web API 101
		Anatomy of an API URL
		Other parameters
		HTTP methods
		Response codes
		Basic API call
		Using basic authentication
	Webhook node – Handling real-time events
		Creating a basic test Webhook
		Sending information to n8n
		Responding to the client
	Working with arrays and JSON objects
		Separating the cats from the dogs
		Combining two arrays
		Adding the same value to all JSON objects
	Summary
Chapter 4: Learn by Doing: Building Two n8n Apps
	Technical requirements
	Building products with n8n
	Building a Telegram bot
	Building a metrics dashboard
	Sharing and discovering workflows
	Summary
Section 2 – Building an API to Power Your Application
Chapter 5: Building Your First API Endpoints
	Technical requirements
	Planning your project's API
		Easy to understand
		Output data in JSON
		Using the GET, HEAD, and POST HTTP methods
		Knowing what your API will do
		Having meaningful and consistent response codes
		Consistent noun/verb design
		Submitting data
		Versioning your API
		Documenting your API
	Configuring the Webhook node to handle requests
		Parameters
		Response Code
		Response Mode
	Building the API in n8n
		API project specifications
		Creating credentials
		Creating Webhooks
		The rest of the workflow
	Securing your API endpoints
		Using SSL/TLS security
		Limiting where users come from
		Proxying your API
		Rotating security tokens
		Tracking and limiting the number of requests
		Providing metadata in your API responses
	Testing your API
		Use a testing platform
		Follow the documentation
		Try to break it
		Confirm the data
		Ongoing testing
	Summary
Chapter 6: Powering Your API with a No Code Database
	Technical requirements
	Learning about no code databases
	Selecting a database for your project
	Using Airtable for reading and writing data
	Best practices for working with databases
		Minimizing bandwidth
		Compressing data
		Minimizing API calls
		Minimizing database queries
		Minimizing database writes
		Enabling data caching
		Backing up the database
		Recording transactions
		Using record references and table views
		Securing your database
		Performing calculations on the database
		Load testing the database
	Optimizing your API for production
		Reducing database calls
		Caching data before the API
		Minimizing API calls
		Requiring authentication
		Encrypting API data on the wire
		Tracking API requests
		Tying API users to IP addresses
		Limiting the number of API calls per user per second
		Properly documenting the API
	Summary
Chapter 7: Transforming Your Data inside a Workflow
	Technical requirements
	Sharing data between workflows
	Merging datasets
	Performing calculations and analytics
	Summary
Chapter 8: Utilizing the Bubble API in n8n
	Technical requirements
	Introducing the Bubble API
		Bubble API endpoints
		Bubble API settings
	Understanding Bubble's data structure
		Data types
		Data security (privacy)
	Understanding Bubble's workflow engine
	Using Bubble's Data API
		Authentication
		Data manipulation
		Searching for data
	Using Bubble's Workflow API
		Activating a workflow
		Sending data to a workflow
	Receiving events and data from Bubble
		Configuring n8n
		Configuring Bubble
	Summary
Section 3 – Building the User Interface and Connecting the API
Chapter 9: Building the User Interface of the Application
	Implementing responsive design for your web app
		Responsive design factors
		Using the Responsive Viewer
		Learning more
	Working with events in Bubble
		Event types
		Setting up events
		Going deeper
	Validating data in Bubble
		Field types
		Custom data types
		Using the fields
		More data validation
	Designing the application structure
		Reviewing the design
	Dealing with errors in Bubble
		Planning for user error
		Locking down the application
		Detailed logging
		Debugging tools
	Summary
Chapter 10: We’ve Only Just Begun
	We’ve come a long way
		Introducing no-code tools
		APIs and data
		Building the user interface
	Where to next?
		Look for a problem to solve
		Dream big and start small
		Start an automation journal
		Get ideas from others
	Starting your next project
		Break it down
		Write it down
		Review n8n nodes
		Steal others’ code
	Conclusion
Index