Jan Oberhauser
Founder, n8n
German engineer, formerly in visual effects pipelines, who created n8n, a source-available workflow automation tool used to wire AI models into everyday tasks.
Key arguments & positions
- Argues automation tools should be self-hostable, so your workflows and data stay on hardware you control.
- Uses a "fair-code" source-available license instead of closed source, arguing users should be able to read and run the code.
- Says most useful AI work is plumbing — connecting a model to the systems you already use.
Accomplishments
- Created n8n in 2019 after years building visual-effects pipelines.
- n8n is one of the most widely self-hosted workflow automation tools, with hundreds of integrations and AI agent nodes.
- Grew n8n from a solo project into a company with a large open community.
Papers & key writings
Documents design decisions in n8n's blog and docs; no academic publications.
Links
In the library
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