SAP

How an n8n workflow classifies tickets with a local language model: structured output, two backends without a cloud key, deterministic language detection, and a benchmark that exposes its own weakness.

How an n8n workflow gets an authenticated webhook endpoint, how credentials are stored securely, and how classifier logic is extracted into a sub-workflow.

Building a rule-based ticket classifier in n8n: the item model in practice, writing expressions correctly, choosing between Set and Code nodes — and where the classifier predictably fails.

Why a real ticket dataset has no place in a public repo, and how a hybrid generator using local models and Claude produces realistic test data with a reproducible distribution.

Self-hosting n8n in a production-grade setup: Docker Compose, Postgres instead of SQLite, Caddy with auto-HTTPS, persistent volumes, and the environment variables that actually matter.

What n8n actually is under the hood: editor, execution engine, task runners, workflows as JSON. Plus the item array as the central data model and where n8n fits in the integration landscape.

SAP has taken a strategic stake in n8n and embedded it in Joule Studio. Mercedes-Benz is rolling out the platform globally. A prologue to the n8n getting-started series.