I handed my busywork to an AI agent. Here's the receipt.

Six free n8n + Claude workflows that research, report, sort comments and draft captions for my YouTube channel. Every cost shown. Nothing posts without me.

CHANNEL AGENT
my channel · Sep 2026
Researchmy Sundays
Weekly reportmy Mondays
Comment sortingmy mornings
Captionsmy evenings
Claude (AI)≈$0.30/mo
n8npaid plan
EVERY COST SHOWN
What's inside

Four jobs. Handed to AI.

The same workflows I run on my own channel. Real n8n screens, not mock-ups.

01 · SUNDAYS 18:00

Idea Scout

Checks the channels you watch, finds videos doing unusually well and asks Claude for 5 ideas. Each idea must link to a real video.

The Idea Scout workflow in n8n
02 · MONDAYS 08:00

Weekly Report

Reads your real channel numbers, compares them with last week and emails you a short report.

The Weekly Report workflow in n8n
03 · DAILY 09:00

Comment Triage

Sorts new comments and drafts replies into a Google Sheet. It emails you only about the urgent ones.

The Comment Triage workflow in n8n
04 · WHEN YOU NEED IT

Reel Captions

A private form. Paste a Short's title and script, and get an Instagram caption back.

The Reel Captions workflow in n8n
+2

Setup and Error Alert. One workflow builds the Google Sheet for you. Another emails you in plain language if anything breaks.

Proof it runs

Not a demo. My real run log.

These are real runs from my own n8n account, including the part that broke: YouTube's shared search quota ran out, so the Idea Scout carried on with channel feeds and said so.

channel-agent · run log
19 Sep idea-scout     43.7s ✓ 5 ideas saved
       ! search quota used → feeds only
19 Sep reel-captions  15.9s ✓ caption saved
19 Sep error-alert          ✓ test alert sent
21 Sep weekly-report  13.8s ✓ report emailed
21 Sep comment-triage  3.8s ✓ 0 new comments
──────────────────────────────────────
posts · replies · deletes    0
What it costs me

Every cost. No hiding.

These figures come from n8n's usage records and price list for September 2026, on a brand-new channel. Yours depend on how many comments and watched channels you have.

Claude usagemy channel, while no comments are coming in≈30¢/mo
One Idea Scout runmine took between 44 seconds and under two minutes3–7¢
Google Sheets and YouTube data$0
n8n itselfa separate paid service after its free trialpaid plan
Setup

Running in about 30 minutes.

The full guide with every click is in the zip (README).

Import the six files into n8n.

Connect YouTube, Google Sheets and Gmail, and choose a password for the caption form.

Run Setup once. It creates your Google Sheet.

Paste your Sheet ID, channel ID and email into each workflow's Config step.

Describe your own channel in the Claude steps, test each workflow, then switch them on.

An n8n account (n8n Cloud is easiest)The Google account that owns your YouTube channelClaude: n8n's built-in AI credits or an Anthropic API key
Op, the No-Code Operator mascot
What it will not do

Honest limits.

  • It will not post, upload, reply or publish.
  • It will not grow a channel by itself.
  • It saves research and admin time. The videos are still yours to make.

Get the free template.

Enter your email and I'll send you the download link: a zip with six n8n workflow files and a setup guide.