What is free-vps-n8n-pipeline?

This project is a blueprint and set of scripts for building your own AI automation server at no ongoing cost, using the free tier of Oracle Cloud instead of paid tools like Zapier or Make.com. It sets up a small virtual server running the free tier's 4 CPU cores and 24GB of memory, then installs n8n, a visual workflow automation tool, alongside Docker to run everything in containers and Caddy to automatically handle HTTPS certificates. The centerpiece workflow included is a daily AI briefing. A Python script without external dependencies scrapes sources like HackerNews, Techmeme, and Reddit each morning, sends the collected material to a free large language model through OpenRouter, and turns the result into a structured report. That report gets written into a Notion database you set up in advance, with old entries archived automatically, and a summary is posted to a Slack channel using formatted alert cards. On Sundays the same pipeline also builds a weekly rollup by looking back over the past seven days of entries. The repository is organized so that additional automation workflows can be added later under a consistent folder structure, each with its own category and name, so this daily briefing is meant as the first of potentially many workflows rather than the only one. Before running anything, you need an Oracle Cloud virtual server, or another Ubuntu 24.04 server, with network ports open for SSH and web traffic, a Notion integration token and a parent page to write into, and an OpenRouter API key. Setup involves cloning the repository onto the server, running a setup script that installs the required infrastructure, copying an example environment file and filling in your credentials, then running a Python script that creates the Notion database structure automatically. Detailed written guides cover the full setup, deployment, and common errors, including a guide for having an AI coding assistant configure the server over SSH on your behalf.