Build an Automated RSS News Monitor with n8n

Here's the modern dilemma: staying informed is crucial, but information overload is real. You've got dozens of RSS feeds, news sites, and industry blogs to monitor. Reading everything would take hours you don't have. Skipping them means missing the insights that could change your business or spark your next big idea.

What if you could have a smart assistant that reads everything for you, pulls out the key points, and delivers bite-sized summaries? That's exactly what this n8n workflow does. It automatically monitors your RSS feeds, grabs new articles, and uses AI to create structured summaries that you can scan in seconds.

Prerequisites: What You'll Need to Get Started

Before diving into the workflow magic, make sure you have these essential tools ready:

• n8n instance (cloud or self-hosted)
• Google Sheets API access with OAuth2 authentication
• Google Gemini API key for AI-powered summaries
• Google Spreadsheet with two sheets: one for RSS feed URLs and another for storing articles

The beauty of this setup is that once configured, everything runs hands-free. Your AI assistant works around the clock while you focus on what matters most.

Key Components: The Workflow Building Blocks

This workflow uses these essential n8n nodes to create your automated news monitoring system:

• Schedule Trigger: Runs your workflow automatically every hour
• Google Sheets nodes: Manage your RSS feeds and store summaries
• RSS Feed Read: Pulls fresh content from your feeds
• HTTP Request: Fetches full article content from web pages
• HTML and Markdown nodes: Clean and format content for AI processing
• Google Gemini Chat Model: The AI brain that creates intelligent summaries
• Split in Batches: Processes multiple feeds and articles efficiently

Step 1: Set Up Your Content Sources and Storage

Start by creating your Google Sheets foundation. The Settings node acts as your workflow's control center, defining where your RSS feeds live and where summaries get stored. Set your time filter to capture articles from the last 31 days (or adjust based on your reading habits).

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RSS feeds sheet should contain columns for feed URLs and source names. This makes it easy to add new sources without touching the workflow code. Think of it as your curated news directory that grows with your interests.

Step 2: Automate RSS Feed Processing

The workflow reads your RSS feed list and processes each one systematically. The Loop Over Items node ensures no feed gets forgotten, while the date filter keeps you focused on recent content. This smart filtering prevents your system from re-processing old articles you've already seen.

The RSS Feed Read node does the heavy lifting, extracting article metadata like titles, publication dates, categories, and links. It's like having a research assistant that never sleeps, constantly checking your favorite sources for updates.

Step 3: Extract and Prepare Content for AI Analysis

Here's where the workflow gets clever. Instead of relying on basic RSS descriptions (which are often incomplete), it fetches the full article content from each webpage. The HTTP Request node grabs the complete HTML, while the extraction nodes strip away ads, images, and navigation elements.

The HTML to Markdown conversion is crucial because AI models work better with clean, structured text. Think of this step as preparing a perfectly formatted document for your AI assistant to read and analyze.

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Step 4: Generate Intelligent AI Summaries

This is where the magic happens. The workflow uses a sophisticated prompt system with Google Gemini, creating a virtual assistant named "Gemma" who specializes in article summarization. The prompt is carefully crafted to produce consistent, valuable summaries with these sections:

• Quick Takeaways: The most important conclusions in bullet format
• Key Points: Core information distilled into digestible chunks
• Practical Insights: Actionable recommendations and specific data
• Practical Application: How to use this information in real scenarios

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The AI maintains objectivity while extracting practical value, giving you summaries that actually help you make decisions rather than just rehashing content.

Step 5: Store and Organize Your Knowledge Base

The final step saves everything to your Google Sheets knowledge base. Each entry includes the original article link, title, source, publication date, AI summary, and categories. This creates a searchable archive of insights you can reference anytime.

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The workflow includes duplicate checking to avoid processing the same article twice, keeping your database clean and your API usage efficient. It's like having a librarian who never files the same book twice.

Benefits: Transform Your Information Consumption

This workflow solves several real business problems. Instead of spending hours scrolling through articles, you get structured summaries that help you identify what's worth reading in full. The consistent format makes it easy to spot trends and patterns across different sources.

For content creators, this becomes a research goldmine. For business leaders, it's competitive intelligence. For anyone trying to stay informed, it's a time-saving superpower that turns information overload into organized insights.

The searchable Google Sheets format means you can quickly find that article you remember from last month or filter by specific topics and sources. Your knowledge base grows smarter over time, creating a personalized intelligence system that works exactly how you think.

Real-World Use Cases

Marketing teams use this to monitor industry trends and competitor announcements. Researchers track academic publications and emerging technologies. Investors follow market news and company updates. The applications are endless because information consumption is universal.

The structured summary format makes it perfect for team sharing. Instead of forwarding long articles, you can share concise summaries that highlight the key points your colleagues actually need to know.

Ready to build your own AI-powered news monitoring system? This n8n workflow template gives you everything needed to stop drowning in information and start swimming in insights. Your future self will thank you for the time saved and opportunities discovered.