1. Opening Problem Statement
Meet Jamie, a content creator struggling daily to stand out on TikTok and other social platforms. Jamie spends hours brainstorming video ideas, creating visuals, editing clips, and adding engaging voiceovers to keep their audience hooked. The manual process is exhausting, error-prone, and costly, with tight deadlines often resulting in rushed, low-quality content that fails to engage viewers effectively.
Jamie’s specific pain is the slow, fragmented workflow: juggling different tools for AI image generation, video creation, voice synthesis, and then manually uploading videos to multiple platforms. This leads to wasted hours, inconsistent posts, and lost growth opportunities. Jamie needs an automated, end-to-end system that converts simple video ideas into professional short videos ready for mass social media sharing.
2. What This Automation Does
This powerful automation transforms text-based video concepts into fully produced short-form videos distributed across multiple social networks automatically. Here’s what happens when the workflow runs:
- Generates unhinged, first-person POV video captions based on job hunting or resume-building themes using OpenAI GPT-4 Mini.
- Creates dynamic, hyper-realistic images using Flux AI based on detailed prompts refined by OpenAI, mimicking TikTok influencer aesthetics with realistic GoPro style shots.
- Converts those images into 5-second AI-generated videos using Kling AI’s video generation models with quality control and retry mechanisms.
- Produces witty, edgy voiceovers from scripts created by OpenAI and synthesized via Eleven Labs text-to-speech API.
- Compiles individual video clips, captions, and voiceovers into a final polished video with Creatomate video rendering API.
- Uploads the final video to Google Drive with public sharing enabled for easy access.
- Automatically generates engaging social media video descriptions from the video’s audio and posts the content with descriptions to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn using the upload-post.com API.
This results in a fully automated, AI-powered video production pipeline that can save creators like Jamie upwards of 10+ hours per video cycle and eliminate manual errors across multiple tools.
3. Prerequisites ⚙️
- n8n automation platform account (cloud or self-hosted)
- OpenAI API key (for ChatGPT GPT-4o-mini and GPT-4o models)
- PiAPI account with API key (provides Flux and Kling AI models for image and video generation)
- Eleven Labs API key (for text-to-speech voice synthesis)
- Creatomate API key and template ID (for final video rendering)
- Google Sheets with the initial video ideas
- Google Drive with API enabled and OAuth 2.0 credentials
- upload-post.com account and API token (to automate posting on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Optional: Discord webhook for notifications
4. Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Schedule and Load Video Ideas From Google Sheets
Navigate in n8n to Schedule Trigger node named Once Per Day. Set the trigger time to whenever you want the daily video cycle to start, e.g., 7 AM. This triggers the workflow daily.
Next, find the Google Sheets node named Load Google Sheet. Connect it to the trigger and configure it with your Google Sheets document ID and sheet name containing your video ideas filtered for production readiness.
After running, you should see raw video ideas loaded from your sheet, ready for further processing.
Common Mistake: Not enabling Google Sheets API or OAuth credentials correctly will cause authentication errors.
Step 2: Generate Unhinged Video Captions with OpenAI GPT-4o-mini
Locate the OpenAI node named Generate Video Captions. It uses the text from your Google Sheet to prompt OpenAI to create five short, edgy TikTok captions in a first-person “day in the life” storytelling style, specifically about job hunting and resumes.
These captions are crucial as they drive the narrative for the video. Review the prompt in the node to customize the tone or adjust the domain if needed.
Outcome: You’ll get a list of 5 action-driven captions ready to be turned into visual scenes.
Step 3: Convert the Caption Text into a List for Processing
Use the Code node Create List to split the text response from OpenAI into separate items for further processing. This transforms one text block into 5 individual caption items.
Ensure the output list length is validated with If node Validate list formatting to avoid proceeding on incomplete output.
Step 4: Generate Detailed Image Prompts via OpenAI (Langchain)
The OpenAI node Generate Image Prompts takes each caption and expands it into a hyper-realistic, first-person POV prompt for Flux AI to create images. This includes detailed descriptions such as environment, sensory details, and camera style to mimic a TikTok influencer shot.
Tip: The node uses a prompt emphasizing no quotation marks or emojis to suit the Flux API input.
Step 5: Calculate Total Token Usage for Cost Tracking
Before sending prompts to Flux, the Code node Calculate Token Usage sums the tokens used by OpenAI requests for captions and image prompts. This helps estimate your API usage and budget accordingly.
Step 6: Generate Images with Flux AI via PiAPI HTTP Request
The HTTP Request node Generate Image calls the PiAPI endpoint for Flux with the detailed image prompts, generating images with specified dimensions (540×960) and TikTok influencer aesthetics.
After the request, Wait nodes pause the workflow for 3-5 minutes to allow for generation completion before polling the API with Get image node.
Fail checks and retry waits ensure stable processing if generation fails.
Step 7: Convert Images into Short 5-Second Videos via Kling AI
The HTTP Request node Image-to-Video uses Kling’s video generation model to animate each image into a small video clip with camera controls like zoom for dynamic effect.
Similarly, wait nodes and fail checks monitor task progress and trigger retries if failures occur.
Step 8: Generate Edgy TikTok-Style Script Narration
Using another OpenAI node Generate Script, the five captions are narratively combined into a short, witty voice script in an edgy influencer tone mixing humor and shock value inspired by Andrew Tate and Charlie Sheen.
Step 9: Convert Script into Voiceover with Eleven Labs Text-to-Speech
The HTTP Request node Generate voice sends the script text to Eleven Labs API, synthesizing it into an MP3 audio clip.
Then the Google Drive node Upload Voice Audio uploads the voiceover file, and Set Access Permissions shares it publicly.
Step 10: Combine Video Clips, Voiceover, and Captions for Final Rendering
Two Code nodes List Elements and List Elements1 combine the video URLs, captions, and audio URLs into a single data structure.
This data is sent to Creatomate HTTP Request node Render Final Video that stitches all assets into a polished short video via a predefined template.
Step 11: Get and Upload the Rendered Video to Google Drive
After rendering, a HTTP Request node polls Creatomate for final video download URL, then the HTTP Request and Write Binary File nodes handle downloading and storing locally if needed.
The final video file is uploaded to Google Drive via Upload Final Video node with public sharing set by Set Permissions.
Step 12: Update Google Sheet with Production Data
The Google Sheets node Update Google Sheet adds production metadata including token usage, video URL, durations, and marks the item production as “done” for tracking.
Step 13: Notify On Discord When Video is Ready
The Discord node Notify me on Discord sends a webhook message with the final video link, alerting the team or creator that the content is ready to publish.
Step 14: Generate Video Descriptions from Audio and Upload to Social Platforms
Extract video audio transcription using an OpenAI node, then create social media descriptions tailored for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Finally, HTTP Request nodes connect with upload-post.com to auto upload video and descriptions to each social network simultaneously.
5. Customizations ✏️
- Change the Flux Image Model: In the Generate Image HTTP Request node, modify the “model” field (currently “Qubico/flux1-dev”) to Flux’s other available models for style or cost optimization.
- Switch Kling Video Generation Mode: Adjust the “mode” parameter in Image-to-Video node from “pro” to “std” to change video quality and price per clip.
- Customize TikTok Captions Prompt: Edit the Generate Video Captions OpenAI prompt to reflect different themes or languages specific to your niche.
- Modify Voiceover Voice: Change the Eleven Labs API URL in Generate voice node to use another voice by replacing the voice ID.
- Add Additional Social Networks: Extend the upload steps at the end by adding more HTTP Requests targeting other platforms supported by upload-post.com.
6. Troubleshooting 🔧
Problem: “HTTP 401 Unauthorized” from API call nodes (PiAPI or Creatomate)
Cause: Incorrect or expired API keys.
Solution: Re-check credentials in the Set API Keys node. Generate new API keys from provider dashboards and update.
Problem: OpenAI nodes producing incomplete or no captions
Cause: Improper prompt formatting or exceeded quota.
Solution: Verify prompt correctness in Generate Video Captions node. Check OpenAI usage limits. Run test calls with smaller inputs.
Problem: Videos stuck in generation or fail checks
Cause: API downtime or request rate limits exceeded.
Solution: Wait and retry after delays built into Wait nodes. Monitor API status pages.
7. Pre-Production Checklist ✅
- Verify all API keys are input in the Set API Keys node.
- Ensure Google Sheets and Drive APIs are enabled and OAuth credentials valid.
- Test each OpenAI prompt node separately to confirm valid output.
- Run a dry cycle with debug active to confirm images and videos generate properly.
- Check Creatomate template ID and JSON is correctly set for video renders.
- Confirm upload-post.com API tokens are correctly set and test upload nodes with sample videos.
- Check Discord webhook URL if notifications are desired.
8. Deployment Guide
Activate the workflow by enabling it in n8n. Monitor the scheduled trigger to ensure it runs daily as configured.
Use the Execution List in n8n to track the workflow runs and review any failures.
You may want to integrate error alerting with Telegram or Discord to stay updated on any issues.
For scaling, increase the number of schedules or parallel executions based on content volume needs.
9. FAQs
- Can I replace Flux with another image-generation service? You can switch to any API that accepts text-to-image prompts but will need to adjust the requests accordingly.
- Do these APIs consume many tokens or credits? The workflow tracks OpenAI token usage, but image and video APIs typically charge per generation – review pricing carefully.
- Is my data safe? Yes, all APIs use secure HTTPS requests and OAuth 2.0 for Google services.
- Can this workflow handle large video production volume? Yes, but you may need API rate-limit management and potentially paid tier adjustments.
10. Conclusion
By following this guide, you’ve built a truly comprehensive AI-driven content pipeline that converts simple video ideas into polished, branded short-form videos uploaded automatically to all your social channels.
This automation can save content creators over 10 hours of tedious work per video creation cycle while ensuring high-quality, edgy, and engaging videos that capture attention and drive growth.
Next, consider expanding this workflow with more voiceover languages, multi-lingual caption generation, or supporting live streaming content automatically.
Keep exploring n8n and creative AI APIs — your next viral video is just an automation away!