Phase 2: First Workflow Ever¶

Goal¶

This Phase is all about getting familiar with the n8n user interface and creating your first workflow. To get started, we will do a very simple workfloat that has a manual trigger and a single node that returns the current date and time. This is a common "Hello World" type of workflow for n8n beginners. Nothing is AI yet: this is a deterministic workflow. The next Phase will be about creating your first AI Agent, but before that, let's get comfortable with the n8n UI and workflow creation process.

Step 1: Create the workflow¶

The newly created workflow is empty, and thus, the UI is guiding you to add the first trigger node. Click the guide text, Add first step..., or + icon to add a trigger node.

Step 2: Add a manual trigger¶

Step 3: Add a function node¶

To get the time of the day, we can use a simple JavaScript function. Add a new node and select Code from the list of nodes.

Then, choose Code in Javascript. The image running n8n does not have Python, so sadly, you cannot use Python code here. Write the following code into the node:

return [
  {
    json: {
      current_time: new Date().toISOString()
    }
  }
]

Note that the output contains 1 item with a key current_time and the value is the current time in ISO format. If there is no output, press the Execute Step button. This output can then be used in another node. Let's test that.

Step 3: Accessing JSON output¶

Note that the outputted data was in the format of:

[
  {
    "json": {
      "current_time": "2026-01-01T12:00:00.000Z"
    }
  }
]

In n8n, the data is always in this format of an array of items, where each item has a json key. This allows for multiple items to be processed in a workflow. We can access this data in the concurrent nodes by using n8n expressions. Writing expresions takes some practice. You can find the documentation for the syntax at Expression Reference.

{{ DateTime.fromISO('2026-12-24T00:00:00').diff(DateTime.fromISO($json.current_time), 'days').days }}

Let's compute the difference to a hard-coded Christmas 2026.

The Edit Fields (Set) node allows you to set new fields based on the input data. It is a very common node for data transformation. You can, for example, set a new field days_to_christmas_26 with the value of the expression we just wrote. Let's do that.

Before proceeding to the next step, you might want to press the tiny button on the right side of the expression field to open a larger expression editor. This is usually more comfortable for writing complex expressions. Now, you can simply paste the JavaScript expression we got from GPT-5.3 Quick Response:

Step 4: Name the Workflow¶

You can rename the Workflow in the top-left corner by clicking the default title. I've named in to First Workflow Ever, but you can be more creative if you like.

Step 5: Download the workflow JSON¶

It is good to know that you can Download (Export) and Import workflows as JSON files. This is useful for sharing workflows, creating backups, or moving workflows between different n8n instances.

You can also find thousands of workflow examples in the n8n: Workflows page. These are shared using the exact same method: someone has exported the workflow as a JSON file and shared it on the community page. We will use this feature in the following Phase.

{
    "name": "First Workfow Ever",
    "nodes": [
        {
        "parameters": {},
        "type": "n8n-nodes-base.manualTrigger",
        "typeVersion": 1,
        "position": [
            0,
            0
        ],
        "id": "1c9e5c65-8d25-4ccb-9047-b7d4e18c64d7",
        "name": "When clicking ‘Execute workflow’"
        },
        {
        "parameters": {
            "jsCode": "return [\n  {\n    json: {\n      current_time: new Date().toISOString()\n    }\n  }\n]"
        },
        "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
        "typeVersion": 2,
        "position": [
            208,
            0
        ],
        "id": "279339b0-b7ae-419f-9cb8-b11d89ddb211",
        "name": "Code in JavaScript"
        },
        {
        "parameters": {
            "assignments": {
            "assignments": [
                {
                "id": "8fdecf8a-f361-4b38-b5ca-727567615629",
                "name": "days_to_christmas_26",
                "value": "={{ \n  DateTime.fromISO(\n    '2026-12-24'\n  ).diff(\n    DateTime.fromISO(\n      $json.current_time), \n      'days'\n  ).days\n}}",
                "type": "string"
                }
            ]
            },
            "options": {}
        },
        "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set",
        "typeVersion": 3.4,
        "position": [
            416,
            0
        ],
        "id": "6605510b-e9c2-4a41-b32c-bce8694f5f43",
        "name": "Edit Fields"
        }
    ],
    "pinData": {},
    "connections": {
        "When clicking ‘Execute workflow’": {
        "main": [
            [
            {
                "node": "Code in JavaScript",
                "type": "main",
                "index": 0
            }
            ]
        ]
        },
        "Code in JavaScript": {
        "main": [
            [
            {
                "node": "Edit Fields",
                "type": "main",
                "index": 0
            }
            ]
        ]
        }
    },
    "active": false,
    "settings": {
        "executionOrder": "v1",
        "binaryMode": "separate"
    },
    "versionId": "a551205a-3bc3-4557-a138-47f08c6d9452",
    "meta": {
        "instanceId": "dcbba504dba568007da71e4c9564627df588cf182ff3d477119f46c3bbfbac8e"
    },
    "id": "PiI7zadhtzLaxvbv",
    "tags": []
}

Success check¶

If you can run the workflow and the last Node shows the days until Christmas Eve 2026, you have successfully completed this Phase! Congratulations on creating or importing your first n8n workflow!

If you are stuck¶

If you cannot replicate the steps above, you can download the workflow JSON file and import it into your n8n personal space. The url to the file is gh:sourander/agentic-workshop-2026/workflow-examples/02-first-workflow-ever.json.

1. Download the file from GitHub (Download raw file button)
2. In n8n, click the ... menu in the top-right corner of the workflow editor and select Import from File.
3. Select the downloaded JSON file and import it.
4. Execute the workflow and check the output.