Build Your Automated Podcast Pipeline with n8n + ElevenLabs in 20 Minutes
Imagine publishing a new podcast episode every week — without ever touching a microphone. With n8n and elevenlabs, that vision is not just possible, it's surprisingly simple to set up. In this guide, you'll learn exactly how to connect these two powerful tools to create a fully automated podcast production pipeline.
Why Automate Your Podcast?
Podcasting is one of the most powerful content formats available today. But traditional production is time-consuming: scripting, recording, editing, exporting, uploading. For content creators and marketers who already have a lot on their plate, this friction kills consistency.
That's where AI automation changes the game. By combining the workflow automation power of n8n with the hyper-realistic text-to-speech capabilities of elevenlabs, you can go from a written script or RSS feed to a finished audio file — automatically, every single time.
What You'll Need
- n8n — self-hosted or cloud version (a free tier is available)
- elevenlabs account — free tier works for testing, paid plan recommended for production
- A text source: a Google Doc, Notion page, RSS feed, or even a webhook trigger
- Optional: cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox to store the audio files
Step-by-Step: Building the Pipeline
Step 1 — Trigger Your Workflow in n8n
Open your n8n workspace and create a new workflow. Choose your trigger based on your use case:
- Schedule Trigger — runs automatically every week or day
- Webhook Trigger — fires when you publish a new blog post
- RSS Feed Trigger — monitors a feed and triggers on new entries
For most podcasters, the Schedule Trigger combined with a Google Sheets or Notion node works perfectly. The n8n workflow checks for new content, grabs the script text, and passes it to the next step.
Step 2 — Fetch or Generate Your Script
Add an HTTP Request or a native integration node in n8n to pull your script from your source. If you're using Notion, the native Notion node makes this effortless. If you write scripts in Google Docs, use the Google Drive node to fetch the document content as plain text.
You can also use an OpenAI node inside n8n to generate the script automatically based on a topic or RSS headline — making the entire content creation process hands-free.
Step 3 — Send the Text to ElevenLabs
This is where the magic happens. Add an HTTP Request node in n8n and configure it to call the elevenlabs Text-to-Speech API:
- Method: POST
- URL:
https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/text-to-speech/{voice_id} - Headers: Add your elevenlabs API key as
xi-api-key - Body: Pass the script text as JSON with your preferred model and voice settings
The elevenlabs API returns a binary audio file (MP3). The voices available through elevenlabs are remarkably natural — listeners often can't distinguish them from human narrators.
Step 4 — Save and Store the Audio File
Once n8n receives the audio binary from elevenlabs, route it to a storage destination. Common options include:
- Google Drive — simple, free, accessible
- Dropbox — great for team collaboration
- Amazon S3 — ideal for production-scale setups
- FTP/SFTP — if you host your own podcast server
The n8n workflow handles the file naming automatically — you can use dynamic expressions to name files by date, episode number, or topic title.
Step 5 — Notify and Publish
Add a final node in your n8n workflow to send a Slack or email notification once the episode is ready. You can even connect to a podcast hosting platform's API to trigger an upload automatically.
Tips to Get the Most Out of This Pipeline
- Voice Cloning: elevenlabs allows you to clone your own voice — giving your AI-generated episodes a truly personal touch.
- Error Handling: Use n8n's built-in error workflows to get notified if the API call fails, so no episode is ever silently skipped.
- Chunking Long Scripts: The elevenlabs API has character limits per request. Use a n8n Code node to split long scripts into chunks and merge the audio outputs.
- Multilingual Episodes: elevenlabs supports dozens of languages — use a translation step inside n8n to automatically produce episodes in multiple languages.
How Long Does It Actually Take?
Setting up this pipeline for the first time takes about 20 minutes if you follow the steps above. Once it's live, the n8n workflow runs entirely on its own. A 1,000-word script processed by elevenlabs typically generates audio in under 30 seconds.
Final Thoughts
The combination of n8n and elevenlabs is one of the most powerful duos in the AI automation space right now. Whether you're a solo creator, a marketing team, or an agency building content at scale, this pipeline removes the most time-consuming parts of podcast production without sacrificing quality.
Start with a simple weekly trigger, a Google Doc as your script source, and a single elevenlabs voice. Once that's working, you'll find dozens of ways to expand — adding AI script generation, multi-language output, automatic show notes, and more — all within your n8n workspace.
Ready to start? Set up your free n8n account and grab your elevenlabs API key — your first automated episode could be live before lunch.
This post was created with tools we use and recommend: n8n for workflow automation, Turbotic as an AI-native automation alternative, ElevenLabs for AI voiceover, Placid for visual content creation, and Hostinger for reliable VPS hosting. Some links are affiliate links.