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.
Kit. You pick every part and run it yourself. Any model, any server, any search — and the bill is the sum of the parts.
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 a kind the slot takes, or compare the options side by side; for a plan, a channel or a policy, choose one of the options. Every part you confirm goes onto your stack, and the build is complete when every required part is filled.
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