Introduction
As developers, we constantly consume content—blogs, tutorials, release notes—but rarely have time to consistently produce it. I wanted to solve this problem for myself: automate the entire blogging pipeline from discovery to publishing.
Using and RSS feeds, I built a system that automatically fetches trending developer content, evaluates it, generates a high-quality blog post, and publishes it to my website—without manual intervention.
This article walks through how my workflow works end-to-end and how you can build something similar.
The Problem I Wanted to Solve
Writing blogs manually has a few challenges:
- Finding good topics consistently
- Filtering out low-quality or outdated content
- Spending time writing and formatting
- Publishing regularly without missing schedules
I needed a system that could:
- Discover content automatically
- Pick the best topic intelligently
- Generate a readable blog
- Publish it instantly
Workflow Overview
Here’s what my automation pipeline looks like:
- Fetch blogs from RSS feeds
- Merge and clean titles
- Use AI to pick the best topic
- Avoid duplicate publishing
- Extract full blog details
- Generate a new blog using AI
- Format JSON output properly
- Publish via API
This entire flow is defined inside my n8n workflow :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.
Step 1: Fetching Content from RSS Feeds
I start with two sources:
- SitePoint RSS
- StackOverflow Blog RSS
These feeds provide a steady stream of developer-focused articles.
Using the RSS Read nodes, I pull the latest posts automatically—either manually or via a schedule trigger.
Step 2: Merging and Aggregating Titles
Once both feeds are fetched:
- I merge them into a single stream
- Extract only the titles
- Aggregate them into a list
Then I clean and format them using a Code node:
- Remove duplicates
- Trim whitespace
- Convert into a numbered list
This prepares the data for AI evaluation.
Step 3: AI-Based Title Selection
Instead of randomly picking a topic, I built a scoring system.
The AI evaluates each title based on:
- Freshness
- Trend relevance
- Keyword strength
- Curiosity factor
It calculates a weighted score and selects exactly one title.
This ensures I always generate content on topics that are:
- Current
- Relevant
- Likely to perform well
Step 4: Preventing Duplicate Blogs
Before generating content, I check my database:
- If the title already exists → skip
- If not → proceed
This is handled using a Data Table + IF node logic.
This small step prevents duplicate publishing and keeps content unique.
Step 5: Extracting Full Blog Data
Once a title is selected:
- I match it with the original RSS item
- Extract full details like description, link, and metadata
This becomes the input for the content generation step.
Step 6: AI Blog Generation
This is where things get interesting.
I use an AI agent to:
- Rewrite the blog in my own style
- Expand it to ~700–900 words
- Structure it with headings
- Add developer-focused insights
The AI follows strict rules:
- No copying original content
- Clean Markdown formatting
- Practical explanations
The output is a fully structured blog post.
Step 7: Fixing JSON Output Issues
AI outputs are not always clean JSON.
So I added a custom JavaScript parser that:
- Extracts fields manually
- Decodes escaped characters
- Ensures valid JSON structure
This step is critical—without it, publishing would frequently fail.
Step 8: Publishing via API
Finally, I send the blog to my backend using an HTTP request.
The payload includes:
- Title
- Content (Markdown)
- Tags and keywords
- Social metadata
- Images
- Publish flag
Once the request is sent, the blog goes live automatically.
Scheduling the Automation
I also added a Schedule Trigger with randomness:
- Random hour
- Random minute
This mimics natural publishing behavior and avoids predictable posting patterns.
Key Takeaways
- RSS feeds are a powerful source of fresh content
- AI can be used not just for writing—but decision-making
- Data validation (JSON cleaning) is crucial in automation
- Deduplication logic prevents content repetition
- Full automation = zero manual effort after setup
Conclusion
This system turned blogging from a manual, inconsistent task into a fully automated pipeline.
Now, instead of worrying about what to write next, I focus on improving the system itself—better prompts, better sources, better outputs.
If you’re a developer looking to scale content creation, combining RSS + AI + n8n is one of the most powerful setups you can build.
Source: Workflow JSON (Custom n8n Automation)