[HN Gopher] Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io
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Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io
 
Author : lebaux
Score  : 100 points
Date   : 2021-01-04 15:54 UTC (7 hours ago)
 
web link (tech.davidfield.co.uk)
w3m dump (tech.davidfield.co.uk)
 
| moritonal wrote:
| When talking about an open-source IFTTT please always consider
| Node-Red. I host four instances of it around my life and it's my
| go-to solution for almost everything.
| 
| https://nodered.org/
 
  | spinningarrow wrote:
  | Recently started using Node-RED with Home Assistant and I'm
  | really digging it so far. Modeling flows is super intuitive and
  | quick, and it can do so much (even acting as a web server for a
  | custom dashboard).
 
  | theshrike79 wrote:
  | Four instances?
  | 
  | What kind of tasks are you using them for?
 
    | moritonal wrote:
    | Want a breakdown, ok.
    | 
    | My server, my raspberry pi in my house, my desktop and my
    | phone all run an instance, with my server hosting a Mosca
    | MQTT which they all use to send messages between.
    | 
    | My server runs anything web-facing, so the web-hooks and
    | random API projects. The PI does things like Wake-on-lan the
    | Desktop, working with Alexa
    | (https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-alexa-home)
    | and acting as a pi-hole. The Desktop listens for things like
    | shutdown commands (from Alexa) and other commands to do
    | things.
    | 
    | All together Node-Red just gives me the flexability to do
    | everything at the "right" scope. The project is also cute as
    | hell, just look at knolleary's response here:
    | https://github.com/node-red/node-red/issues/719
 
| janober wrote:
| Thanks a lot for creating this tutorial!
| 
| I am the creator & CEO of n8n. If anybody has any questions
| simply ask. Happy to answer!
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | lukeramsden wrote:
  | I'm currently using Integromat for some personal stuff, but I'd
  | like to self-host so I came across n8n. All I need is a Google
  | Sheets trigger, which I do see is in the works [0], then I'll
  | probably have a go at it.
  | 
  | [0] https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/pull/1154
 
    | janober wrote:
    | Google services are sadly a little bit complicated to create
    | Trigger-Nodes for. Much more than ANY other ones. Some of the
    | fun things are that they require to verify the domain you use
    | as callback URL (which so makes it for example impossible to
    | use our tunnel) or that the webhooks expire?!?! Anyway, I
    | hope we will have it ready soon and you can so start using
    | n8n!
 
      | lukeramsden wrote:
      | I see, yes I was surprised Google didn't have any simple to
      | use triggers for sheets.
 
        | janober wrote:
        | That is actually just the start. Wait till you want to
        | integrate Google Services into your app/service and you
        | require the wrong scopes. Then suddenly it is not just
        | complicated it also gets expensive as they require a
        | security audit which costs between $15k and $75k.
 
  | propter_hoc wrote:
  | Your license, as I can read it, intends to prohibit profiting
  | from your software by either (1) including it in their product,
  | or (2) hosting it and selling its functionality. So for
  | example, if a user wants to have some kind of Spotify import
  | feature built into his online music-management service, he is
  | not permitted by this license to build n8n into his paid
  | service. (Correct me if I am wrong on this interpretation.)
  | 
  | But I think you will get a lot of demand for including this
  | product in various workflows in an integrated way. Are you
  | planning on releasing an API license, or some such?
 
    | janober wrote:
    | Yes, that is correct. If you use n8n as a backend or part of
    | your backend that is totally fine. What is not permitted is
    | to use n8n code to offer some kind of automation service.
 
      | toomuchtodo wrote:
      | Very reasonable and generous to allow someone to generate
      | revenue with your tool as a backend component as long as
      | they're not offering a verbatim automation SaaS service
      | with a clone of your code. Kudos and thank you.
 
        | janober wrote:
        | We actually want that people use n8n as a backend and
        | want to improve that further in the future and write more
        | about it. We do not have to make money with literally
        | everybody that uses our code. But if a good way to
        | describe the service (or module, ...) is "automate X"
        | then a license would be required. That we think is fair
        | and makes sure that n8n is long term sustainable. And
        | after all, is that also in the interest of the
        | people/companies building on top of us.
 
| napoleond wrote:
| n8n and Node-RED are both really neat! Over the break I built a
| little project that takes a different approach; for me the
| schleppy part of API integration is not usually the code but it's
| the infrastructure (where to host for cheap, with a simple deploy
| pipeline, maybe scheduled execution, etc).
| https://www.tabbydata.com/glue is a little thing I built so that
| I don't need to think about those things again.
 
  | keithwhor wrote:
  | Have you tried Autocode [0] for these use cases? I think you'll
  | find it provides exactly what you need and more. Disclaimer: am
  | founder.
  | 
  | [0] https://autocode.com/
 
| h4waii wrote:
| Huginn [0] is also very powerful, free, and open source. You can
| run it locally, in a VPS, or on Heroku for free.
| 
| I pay for IFTTT Pro, but I still use Huginn for things that IFTTT
| can't do, and I highly recommend it.
| 
| I've tried Node-Red and while it can definitely do the job, I
| couldn't get along with it.
| 
| 0. https://github.com/huginn/huginn
 
| matthewfelgate wrote:
| Is this like Node-Red?
 
| robjan wrote:
| N8n.io is not open source. It even says so on the landing page.
| 
| Edit: the article has since been updated
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | berkay wrote:
  | "Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause"
  | 
  | They are free to choose whatever license works for them but
  | this reference to Apache 2.0 is problematic.
 
    | [deleted]
 
  | janober wrote:
  | Yes that is correct. It is not "OSI approved open-source" it is
  | rather https://faircode.io/ licensed instead which is similar
  | but not the same.
 
  | OJFord wrote:
  | The article doesn't claim it is, submission has just changed
  | the title from:
  | 
  | > Fair-Code Automation with n8n.io
 
  | dang wrote:
  | We've updated the title above to match.
 
| kevindong wrote:
| For me personally, the value of IFTTT is not the
| automation/rules. It's the API integrations. Some of the
| inputs/outputs have horrifically complex APIs that I do not want
| to deal with. For that reason alone, I pay IFTTT their minimum
| $2/month.
 
| JadoJodo wrote:
| What does everyone use IFTTT-style services for? Up until about a
| month ago I had had an account since the beta, but never really
| found a use for it beyond something like:
| 
| "Hey, Honey! Watch the lights change when it rains!"
| -\\_([?][?])_/-
 
  | danpalmer wrote:
  | Personally, the only IFTTT I have is the Django releases RSS
  | feed tied into my personal todo list.
  | 
  | However professionally, things like Zapier are very popular.
  | Our marketing and operations teams love them because they can
  | build semi automated processes without time from engineers.
  | Often it's connecting spreadsheets, ticketing systems, customer
  | support systems, etc.
  | 
  | It feels nice to have these things under the control of
  | engineering teams, but really it's unlikely they'll add value,
  | and I think these services are pretty handy in so many cases.
 
| ben509 wrote:
| The Fair Code site doesn't really explain how it works, but the
| Commons Clause site[1] has an FAQ.
| 
| I agree about the problem: it's hard to run a business supporting
| a project if a competitor can come along and resell their code
| without any compensation.
| 
| The commons clause says a company can't sell "a product or
| service whose value derives, entirely or substantially, from the
| functionality of the Software."
| 
| I like the idea that a company could create a plugin that works
| with existing open source software and then sell that. I like the
| idea of creating a framework that lots of people can add plugins
| for, because I could make my living offering a few handy plugins
| for it and I don't have a problem if others are also making a
| living selling their own plugins. In principle, it makes a lot of
| sense.
| 
| I'm not clear if it's kosher for me to write product X that's
| using a lot of Apache licensed software, but to which I've added
| the Commons Clause.
| 
| And it generally seems problematic... Suppose a company sinks a
| decent amount of effort into some widgets they add to a commons
| clause licensed software, but only 10% of customers really use
| the widgets. Are they in violation of the license?
| 
| [1]: https://commonsclause.com/
| 
| [2]: https://fosspost.org/fair-code-open-source/
 
| jlelse wrote:
| This project looks nice! Instantly shared it on my blog:
| https://jlelse.blog/links/2021/01/n8n. Thanks for this tutorial!
 
| todsacerdoti wrote:
| I hadn't heard of rocket.chat before but it looks very cool. I
| integrated it into Pipedream.com based on your post as it sounds
| like there are many compelling integration use cases.
| 
| Example - https://pipedream.com/@/p_G6C6akB/
 
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(page generated 2021-01-04 23:00 UTC)