n8n-First Principle
A design philosophy: every repeatable task is a workflow, not an AI call. AI is the last resort.
AI is powerful but expensive. Most tasks don't need intelligence. n8n-first means 80%+ runs for free, with AI reserved for reasoning.
Our architecture: User action then n8n webhook (free) then n8n processes (free) then needs reasoning? No: done. Yes: Ollama (nearly free) then Claude API (paid). This achieves 93%+ margins.
Related terms
n8n
An open-source workflow automation platform. Build visual automations without coding.
Ollama
A tool for running AI models locally. Free, private, fast.
Fallback
An alternative approach when the primary method fails (e.g., Ollama fails, Claude API takes over).
Cost Tracking
Monitoring every AI call: model used, tokens in/out, cost, cache status. Essential for profitable operations.