Build your first workflow

In this quick start, you’ll build a workflow that fetches the weather for Berlin every morning and turns it into a short report anyone can read at a glance. The workflow saves each report to a data table, so you build up a weather log over time.

When it runs, your workflow produces a report like this:

The temperature in berlin is 7.4°C. It's currently overcast.

The build takes about 15 minutes. Apart from n8n, you don’t need any accounts, API keys, or coding experience. The weather data comes from Mockingbird, a sample-data service n8n provides for tutorials, so you’ll get similar results to this guide.

Before you start

You need an n8n instance. Either:

n8n Cloud: sign up for a free trial, or
Self-hosted: follow the host n8n guide

1. Create the workflow

Select Personal in the left menu. This is where your workflows live.
Personal in the left menu
Select Create workflow at the top right. This opens the canvas, where you’ll build your workflow and spend most of this tutorial.
Create workflow button
Select the workflow’s name and change it to Weather Log. Select anywhere on the canvas to save the name.

2. Run it at 8 AM every day

You’ll use: Schedule Trigger

When building a workflow, the first question to answer is: “How should this workflow start?” On a schedule, for example 8 AM every day? When a user submits a form? When an application like Telegram sends a message?

For this first build, you’ll set it to run at 8 AM every day. While you build, you’ll run the workflow yourself to test it. Once you publish it at the end, the schedule runs it for you:

Select Add first step, then select On a schedule.
On a schedule option
In the Node details view, select 8am from the Trigger at Hour field.
Trigger at Hour set to 8 AM
Select Schedule Trigger at the top left and rename it to Every day at 8am.
Renamed Schedule Trigger
Select the x at the top right to close the Node details view and return to the canvas.

3. Get the weather for Berlin

You’ll use: HTTP Request

You’ve got your trigger, so it’s time to fetch the weather. The HTTP Request node sends a request to a web address, called an endpoint, and returns the data that address provides. Services that share data this way are APIs.

Select + after the trigger, type http in the Search nodes box, and select HTTP Request.
HTTP Request in the search results
In the Node details view, paste https://mockingbird.n8n.io/v1/weather/berlin into the URL field.
Mockingbird URL in the URL field
Mockingbird is a sample API with weather for about 40 European cities. Other cities return an error.
Select the node’s name at the top left and rename it to Get Berlin Weather, then select Execute step. You should see the weather for Berlin in the output, including the city, temp_c, and condition fields you’ll use in the next step.
Berlin weather output

4. Turn the weather into a report

You’ll use: Edit Fields (Set)

Next, you’ll turn the weather data into a short report that anyone can read at a glance.

Select + after Get Berlin Weather, select Data transformation, then select Edit Fields (Set).
Edit Fields (Set) under Data transformation
Select Add Field in the middle of the Node details view. For Name, enter report.
Add Field button
Field named report
For Value, enter The temperature in, then drag city from the input panel on the left. When you drop a field in, n8n switches Value to Expression mode, and you see:
```
The temperature in {{ $json.city }}
```
city dragged into the Value field
What's an expression?
{{ $json.city }} is a placeholder, called an expression. When the workflow runs, n8n swaps it for the real value. The input panel shows the output from Get Berlin Weather, which becomes the input to this node. You drag fields in rather than typing them, and the preview under the field shows you the finished sentence. To learn more, see Expressions.
Drag temp_c in and update the wording to:
```
The temperature in {{ $json.city }} is {{ $json.temp_c }}°C.
```
Value with city and temperature
Add It's currently to the end, then drag condition in:
```
The temperature in {{ $json.city }} is {{ $json.temp_c }}°C. It's currently {{ $json.condition }}.
```
Value with city, temperature, and condition
Rename the node to Format Weather Message and select Execute step. You should see output like:
```
The temperature in berlin is 7.4°C. It's currently overcast.
```
Finished weather report output

5. Save the data

You’ll use: Data table

You’ve fetched the data and formatted it, so now it’s time to store it. For this, you’ll use n8n’s data tables.

Select Personal in the left menu, then select Data tables.
Data tables tab
Select Create data table, name it weather_data, and select Create.
New, empty data table
Select Add Column, enter report for Name, then select Add Column again. This gives you a column to store the weather report in.
report column in the new data table
Open your Weather Log workflow (Personal > Weather Log). Add a Data table node after Format Weather Message and select Insert row as the action.
Insert row action
Rename the node to Save Weather Report.
Select weather_data from the Data table list and change Mapping Column Mode to Map Automatically. The report field from Format Weather Message has the same name as the column in the data table, so n8n maps them for you.
Save Weather Report node with the data table selected and Map Automatically set

6. Test and publish the workflow

Your workflow is complete. Test it, then publish it so it runs every day at 8 AM.

Select Execute workflow to test it, then open the weather_data table to check that n8n inserted a row.
Successful workflow run
New row in the data table
Select Publish in the Canvas header and follow the prompts to publish the workflow.
Publish button

What you learned

Congratulations, your workflow now runs at 8 AM every day. Along the way, you’ve learned how to:

Start a workflow with a trigger. Yours runs on a schedule. Schedule Trigger
Add and connect nodes. Each node does one job and passes its result to the next. Work with nodes
Fetch data from an API. You used the HTTP Request node to get weather data from a web address. HTTP Request
Work with data between nodes. The output of one node becomes the input of the next. Understand n8n's data structure
Use expressions. Dragging fields in builds an expression for you, so you can use live data without writing code. Expressions for data transformation
Store data. Each run saves a new row to your data table, so you keep every report after the workflow finishes. Data tables

Optional: Build with n8n Assistant

Preview status

n8n Assistant is in Preview and may change in future releases. See Use the n8n Assistant page for availability.

n8n Assistant is another way to build workflows, using prompts. Now that you’ve built Weather Log yourself, you’ll understand what n8n Assistant creates.

Open your Weather Log workflow, select Published at the top right, and select Unpublish. Otherwise your workflow and the one n8n Assistant creates both run at 8 AM.
Unpublish option
Select n8n Assistant in the left menu.
n8n Assistant in the left menu

Enter this prompt:

Every day at 8am:
- Get the weather for Berlin from https://mockingbird.n8n.io/v1/weather/berlin
- Add a report field that contains the city, temperature, and conditions
- Save the report to a data table called weather_data

n8n Assistant may detect your existing Weather Log workflow. Ask it to “build a fresh, separate copy”.

Approve each step when n8n Assistant asks. When it finishes, you should see a workflow like this:
Workflow built by n8n Assistant
Select Execute workflow, then check the data table for a new row:
Successful run of the copied workflow
Second row in the data table