Been running n8n with Ollama for a few months now for work automation. Wanted to share what I’ve learned since it’s not super well-documented.
The setup is just Docker Compose with n8n + Ollama + Postgres. n8n’s HTTP Request node talks directly to Ollama’s REST API — no custom nodes needed.
What I’m running:
- Email digest every morning (IMAP → Ollama → Slack)
- Document summarization (PDF watcher → Ollama → notes)
- Lead scoring from form webhooks
Zero API costs, everything stays on my server. If anyone wants the workflow templates I have a pack: https://workflows.neatbites.com/
Happy to answer questions about the setup.
Happy to answer questions about the setup.
Tell me about the hardware, please and thank you.
Piggybacking too as I am considering the same. Please OP and thank you.
And what model class are you using? Lightweight (2B), reasonable ~10B or above 32B?
Do they load fast?
I had a look at NetworkChucks setup and don’t think I can afford an overpowered rig in this economy. Depending on the rig, may have to wait >20s for a prompt answer.
Thank you again!
I was playing with ministral-3 3b on a 3060. It loads pretty quick, but response generation is a bit slow. It starts responding nearly instantly once the model is loaded (which is also quick), but for long responses (~5 paragraphs) it may take 15-20 seconds for the whole thing.
Cries in 1070
I’d still give it a shot. A quick check of benchmarks suggests it’s not that much slower. I don’t know if that extends to ML computation though.
What model do you mostly use for those tasks
I’ll piggyback onto this question: With the models you use, how do they compare to current models from the big players?
Has anyone tried ActivePieces? How does it compare?
What is n8n?
It is an automation platform with a selfhosted tier.
I really like n8n. It appeals to my visual sense which makes up for a lot of hard programming experience. I don’t run it full with the AI aspect. Not because I have some agenda against AI, but that my equipment is not good enough to run AI efficiently. I use it for a lot of automation around the lab.
