Builds / Automation Backbone
Automation Backbone
The plumbing layer every serious agent stack sits on.
Intermediate build · Automation & data · 5 parts · Running cost: Free tiers
Before agents can manage real work they need rails: triggers, queues, retries, and connections into the apps a business actually runs on. This is that layer.
What drives the cost: Low — self-hosting keeps it cheap
Recommended after Meeting Ops.
The parts
Workflow hub
n8n — Tool. Self-hostable, code-friendly automation — agents call it like an API.
App connector (optional)
Make — Tool. Visual scenarios for the integrations n8n shouldn't own.
Alternatives: Zapier
Quick glue (optional)
Zapier — Tool. Fastest path for the simple one-trigger automations.
Alternatives: IFTTT
Durable jobs (optional)
Temporal — Tool. Workflows that survive crashes — for the automations that must not fail.
Alternatives: Inngest, Trigger.dev
Data sink (optional)
Google Sheets — Skill. The universal interchange format for ops teams.
Run this build
Start the build and it becomes a checklist: for each part, mark the one you already have, pick an alternative of the same kind, or compare the options side by side. Every part you confirm goes onto your stack, and the build is complete when every required part is filled.
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