I Built an Auto-Reply Workflow in n8n Without Paying for an AI API

A few days ago, I built my first n8n workflow: a manual trigger that sent an email through Gmail. It worked, but it was very basic.

For Day 6, I wanted to build something that feels closer to a real business use case.

I imagined I'm running an AI solutions consulting business. Whenever someone wants help, the first step is filling out an onboarding form. I didn't want to send a confirmation email manually every single time, so I automated it.

The form is simple, with only three fields:

On Form Submission → OpenAI Chat Model → Wait → Gmail

When I set up the chat model, the API option I tried first required payment. For a practice exercise, I didn't want to spend money.

So I looked for an alternative and found Ollama, a tool that lets you run AI models locally on your own computer. I connected it to n8n using its OpenAI-compatible API by setting the base URL and choosing a compatible model [add the model you used here].

If you're a student practicing AI workflows, Ollama is worth trying. The only catch: your computer needs to be able to run the model you choose.

During testing, the email went out the moment I clicked submit. I wanted a small gap between drafting and sending, so I added a Wait node set to 10 seconds between the chat model and Gmail.

This is a practice workflow, not a production one. It doesn't yet validate the email address, handle errors, or have a human check the AI-drafted email before it's sent. After my Day 3 lessons about AI making unverified claims, that last one is high on my list to fix.

The workflow worked end to end. Submitting the form triggered a personalized email that greeted the person by name, repeated their details for confirmation, and explained the next step.

Tools used: n8n, Ollama, Gmail Experiment: Automated client onboarding confirmation email

If you've built workflows in n8n, or found a free way to practice with AI models, what do you recommend?