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Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

tech.davidfield.co.uk

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Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#21

Post by janober »

propter_hoc wrote: post #20
janober wrote: post #14

Thanks a lot for creating this tutorial! I am the creator & CEO of n8n. If anybody has any questions simply ask. Happy to answer!

Your license, as I can read it, intends to prohibit profiting from your software by either (1) including it in their product, or (2) hosting it and selling its functionality. So for example, if a user wants to have some kind of Spotify import feature built into his online music-management service, he is not permitted by this license to build n8n into his paid service. (Correct me if I am wrong on this interpretation.…

Yes, that is correct. If you use n8n as a backend or part of your backend that is totally fine. What is not permitted is to use n8n code to offer some kind of automation service.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#22

Post by kevindong »

For me personally, the value of IFTTT is not the automation/rules. It's the API integrations. Some of the inputs/outputs have horrifically complex APIs that I do not want to deal with. For that reason alone, I pay IFTTT their minimum $2/month.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#23

Post by janober »

lukeramsden wrote: post #19
janober wrote: post #14

Thanks a lot for creating this tutorial! I am the creator & CEO of n8n. If anybody has any questions simply ask. Happy to answer!

I'm currently using Integromat for some personal stuff, but I'd like to self-host so I came across n8n. All I need is a Google Sheets trigger, which I do see is in the works [0], then I'll probably have a go at it. [0] https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/pull/1154

Google services are sadly a little bit complicated to create Trigger-Nodes for. Much more than ANY other ones. Some of the fun things are that they require to verify the domain you use as callback URL (which so makes it for example impossible to use our tunnel) or that the webhooks expire?!?! Anyway, I hope we will have it ready soon and you can so start using n8n!

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#24

Post by toomuchtodo »

janober wrote: post #21
propter_hoc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your license, as I can read it, intends to prohibit profiting from your software by either (1) including it in their product, or (2) hosting it and selling its functionality. So for example, if a user wants to have some kind of Spotify import feature built into his online music-management service, he is not permitted by this license to build n8n into his paid service. (Correct me if I am wrong on this interpretation.…

Yes, that is correct. If you use n8n as a backend or part of your backend that is totally fine. What is not permitted is to use n8n code to offer some kind of automation service.

Very reasonable and generous to allow someone to generate revenue with your tool as a backend component as long as they’re not offering a verbatim automation SaaS service with a clone of your code. Kudos and thank you.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#25

Post by lukeramsden »

janober wrote: post #23
lukeramsden wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently using Integromat for some personal stuff, but I'd like to self-host so I came across n8n. All I need is a Google Sheets trigger, which I do see is in the works [0], then I'll probably have a go at it. [0] https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/pull/1154

Google services are sadly a little bit complicated to create Trigger-Nodes for. Much more than ANY other ones. Some of the fun things are that they require to verify the domain you use as callback URL (which so makes it for example impossible to use our tunnel) or that the webhooks expire?!?! Anyway, I hope we will have it ready soon and you can so start using n8n!

I see, yes I was surprised Google didn't have any simple to use triggers for sheets.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#26

Post by janober »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #24
janober wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that is correct. If you use n8n as a backend or part of your backend that is totally fine. What is not permitted is to use n8n code to offer some kind of automation service.

Very reasonable and generous to allow someone to generate revenue with your tool as a backend component as long as they’re not offering a verbatim automation SaaS service with a clone of your code. Kudos and thank you.

We actually want that people use n8n as a backend and want to improve that further in the future and write more about it. We do not have to make money with literally everybody that uses our code. But if a good way to describe the service (or module, ...) is "automate X" then a license would be required. That we think is fair and makes sure that n8n is long term sustainable. And after all, is that also in the interest of the people/companies building on top of us.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#27

Post by janober »

lukeramsden wrote: post #25
janober wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google services are sadly a little bit complicated to create Trigger-Nodes for. Much more than ANY other ones. Some of the fun things are that they require to verify the domain you use as callback URL (which so makes it for example impossible to use our tunnel) or that the webhooks expire?!?! Anyway, I hope we will have it ready soon and you can so start using n8n!

I see, yes I was surprised Google didn't have any simple to use triggers for sheets.

That is actually just the start. Wait till you want to integrate Google Services into your app/service and you require the wrong scopes. Then suddenly it is not just complicated it also gets expensive as they require a security audit which costs between $15k and $75k.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#28

Post by napoleond »

n8n and Node-RED are both really neat! Over the break I built a little project that takes a different approach; for me the schleppy part of API integration is not usually the code but it's the infrastructure (where to host for cheap, with a simple deploy pipeline, maybe scheduled execution, etc). https://www.tabbydata.com/glue is a little thing I built so that I don't need to think about those things again.

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#29

Post by keithwhor »

napoleond wrote: post #28

n8n and Node-RED are both really neat! Over the break I built a little project that takes a different approach; for me the schleppy part of API integration is not usually the code but it's the infrastructure (where to host for cheap, with a simple deploy pipeline, maybe scheduled execution, etc). https://www.tabbydata.com/glue is a little thing I built so that I don't need to think about those things again.

Have you tried Autocode [0] for these use cases? I think you'll find it provides exactly what you need and more. Disclaimer: am founder.

[0] https://autocode.com/

Re: Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io

#30

Post by moritonal »

theshrike79 wrote: post #7
moritonal wrote: post #5

When talking about an open-source IFTTT please always consider Node-Red. I host four instances of it around my life and it's my go-to solution for almost everything. https://nodered.org/

Four instances? What kind of tasks are you using them for?

Want a breakdown, ok.

My server, my raspberry pi in my house, my desktop and my phone all run an instance, with my server hosting a Mosca MQTT which they all use to send messages between.

My server runs anything web-facing, so the web-hooks and random API projects. The PI does things like Wake-on-lan the Desktop, working with Alexa (https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-alexa-home) and acting as a pi-hole. The Desktop listens for things like shutdown commands (from Alexa) and other commands to do things.

All together Node-Red just gives me the flexability to do everything at the "right" scope. The project is also cute as hell, just look at knolleary's response here: https://github.com/node-red/node-red/issues/719

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