Introduction: What Is This Project?
Narrativva N8N Automations is a collection of open-source workflow automations built with n8n, designed to streamline internal operations at Narrativva and Narrativva Labs. It runs on our own VPS (Hetzner), and helps us with everyday things like notifications, status updates, and basic data sync with no extra overhead, no SaaS lock-in.
The motivation: build something simple and robust for our own team. We wanted fast alerts about updates, posts, or issues in our tools, and we didn’t want to pay for yet another expensive service just to get a notification when someone forgets to post an IG story.
The Idea: How Did It Start?
The project was born out of necessity. We needed:
- Instant alerts for GitHub activities (new projects, commits, PRs).
- Automated notifications for Instagram stories—so we never skip a day.
- Workflow between WordPress and our internal database (Supabase).
- Notion task reminders, so nothing slips through the cracks.
- A system that’s easy to extend and fully in our hands.
At the start, neither of us had experience with n8n. We just wanted simple automations for daily routines. That’s it.
How It Works
Here’s the current workflow lineup:
1. WordPress → Supabase Sync
Whenever a page or post is updated or created in WordPress, a webhook fires to n8n, which saves the URL and update timestamp into Supabase (our internal database).
Why? So we always have a record of all website updates and can process them further (like indexing).
2. Supabase → Search Engine Indexing
Every day, a scheduled job checks Supabase for updated URLs. It pushes them to both the Google Indexing API and Bing Indexing API, queues them, and marks the operation as done in Supabase.
Why? To automate SEO indexing of our latest content—zero manual work.
3. Notion Task Completion → Discord Alert
If a Notion task is marked as completed, n8n automatically sends a notification to Discord, tagging the person responsible.
Why? So we both instantly see when something is finished, and nobody misses an update.
4. GitHub → Discord Notifications
Whenever someone creates a new project or commits code in our GitHub, n8n sends a Discord notification to the appropriate channel.
Why? To keep the team in the loop about codebase activity with no need to watch email or browser tabs all day.
5. Instagram Stories Monitoring
This workflow checks daily if the responsible person posted an Instagram story. If not, n8n notifies them directly on Discord. If the story still isn’t posted within 12 hours, it escalates the alert to everyone in the channel.
Why? Because we want at least one IG story live every day, and this way nobody can “forget” their turn.
The assignments (who is responsible on which day) are tracked in Supabase.
Cost, Setup & Privacy
- Runs on our own Hetzner VPS (~150 Kč/month)
- All data stays with us: nothing is sent to third parties except for necessary APIs (Google/Bing/Discord)
- No tracking, no analytics, no cookies
UX / UI
- No UI for most automations (n8n flows run headless), except Discord notifications
- Assignment tables (for IG stories etc.) are managed in Supabase and Notion
- All notifications are routed through Discord for maximal visibility and minimum friction
- All workflows are easy to extend or modify without coding (n8n’s visual editor)
Technical Details & Stack
- Automation: n8n (self-hosted)
- Database: Supabase (Postgres)
- Notifications: Discord (webhook integration)
- Project/Task Management: Notion (API integration)
- Web hosting: Hetzner VPS
Estimated monthly cost:
~6 USD (VPS only, n8n and Supabase free tiers)
Target group:
Anyone who wants powerful workflow automation for their own team, but doesn’t want to pay for SaaS or be tied to one platform.
Experimental Parameters & Development Notes
- Most automations are “set-and-forget”—run in the background, minimal maintenance
- The first time we used n8n, some learning curve, but quick wins
- IG story monitoring required some escalation logic and Discord role management
- WordPress + Supabase + Google/Bing indexing is fully automated, zero manual steps
- Notion → Discord is simple but saves a lot of messaging overhead
The Result: How Does It Work in Practice?
- Add new automations as needed; modifying flows is easy
- Team members get real-time alerts on Discord for all key events
- Website indexing happens daily, reliably, without intervention
- Responsibility for IG stories is crystal clear, no more blaming or guessing
- The whole system is rock solid, and running costs are negligible
What We Learned & What’s Next?
Findings:
- n8n is ideal for custom workflows, fast to set up, no vendor lock-in, we will be definitely adding some other in the future
- Discord is the most efficient notification channel for our needs
Possible Improvements:
- Add analytics (e.g. daily/weekly summary of completed tasks, posts, or missed deadlines)
- Build a web dashboard for visualizing automation status and history
- Extend Notion integration (auto-assign tasks, more detailed tracking)
- Experiment with advanced error handling and retry logic
Links & Resources
- We are not publishing this online in this case, but if you want it, email us at info@narrativva.com
Summary
Narrativva N8N Automatizations is a practical, open-source toolkit for automating the boring stuff in small teams and indie projects. You get fast notifications, full privacy, and zero SaaS dependencies.
If you want to build your own workflows, start with n8n—you’ll be surprised how much you can do in a single afternoon.
