Direct N8N to Azure Deployment - Quick Reference

System Architecture

N8N → Build → Azure (No GitHub!)

Required Tokens

Azure Deployment Token
- Azure Portal → Static Web App → Manage deployment token
- Use: Direct deployment to Azure
AI API Key
- OpenAI: sk-... OR
- Google Gemini: AIza...
- Use: Content generation

N8N Environment Variables

AZURE_DEPLOYMENT_TOKEN=xxxxxxxxx
AZURE_APP_NAME=kb-tech-news
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxxxx  # or GOOGLE_API_KEY

N8N Workflow Import

Download: .github/n8n-workflow-direct-azure.json
N8N → Import from File
Set credentials (OpenAI/Gemini)
Set environment variables
Activate workflow

System Requirements (Self-Hosted N8N)

# Install Ruby + Jekyll
sudo apt-get install -y ruby-full build-essential
sudo gem install jekyll bundler

# Install Azure CLI
npm install -g @azure/static-web-apps-cli

# Verify
ruby --version   # 3.0+
jekyll --version # 4.3+
swa --version    # Latest

Testing Commands

# Test Jekyll build
cd /tmp/blog-site
bundle install
bundle exec jekyll build
ls -la _site/

# Test Azure deployment
swa deploy _site \
  --deployment-token YOUR_TOKEN \
  --env production

Workflow Execution Flow

Schedule (Every 4h) 
  → AI (30-60s)
  → Build File (5s)
  → Save File (5s)
  → Jekyll Build (30-60s)
  → Azure Deploy (30-60s)
  → ✅ Live (Total: 2-3 min)

Monitoring

N8N:

Executions tab → View history
Check each node’s output
Green = success, Red = failure

File System:

ls -lt /tmp/blog-site/_posts/ | head  # Recent posts

Azure:

Portal → Static Web App → Overview
Check deployment history
Visit: https://kbhaskar.tech

Sitemaps:

https://kbhaskar.tech/sitemap.xml
https://kbhaskar.tech/news-sitemap.xml

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
Jekyll build failed	Run `bundle install` in /tmp/blog-site
Azure deploy failed	Verify AZURE_DEPLOYMENT_TOKEN
AI response invalid	Check API key, verify prompt
File not saved	Check /tmp/blog-site mount

Daily Checklist

N8N workflow running (6 executions expected)
6 new posts in _posts/
Site updated: https://kbhaskar.tech
News sitemap updated (48h window)
No errors in N8N executions

Cost (Minimal Setup)

VPS: $5-10/month (self-hosted N8N)
AI: $0 (Gemini free tier)
GitHub: $0
Azure: $0
Total: $5-10/month

Documentation

Quick Setup: SETUP-GUIDE.md
Complete Setup: README-AUTONOMOUS-SETUP.md
N8N Details: .github/N8N-INTEGRATION.md

Quick Deploy

# 1. Prepare Jekyll site
cp -r /path/to/bhaskar-daily-ai-news /tmp/blog-site
cd /tmp/blog-site
bundle install

# 2. Set up N8N (Docker)
docker run -d --name n8n -p 5678:5678 \
  -v ~/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n \
  -v /tmp/blog-site:/tmp/blog-site \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

# 3. Install deps in N8N container
docker exec -it n8n sh -c "apk add ruby ruby-dev build-base && gem install jekyll bundler && npm install -g @azure/static-web-apps-cli"

# 4. Import workflow
# N8N UI → Import → n8n-workflow-direct-azure.json

# 5. Configure env vars & activate
# Done! 🚀

Support

N8N Docs: https://docs.n8n.io
Azure Docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/static-web-apps