n8n Workflow: Live Web Research Reports with OpenAI & Gmail

Get live web research delivered to email—automatically

This n8n workflow turns a form-submitted research request into a fully structured report: it performs two live Google searches via the Serper API, analyzes sources with OpenAI, then emails the finished research and logs it to Google Sheets.

What this workflow does

• Collects your research request via an n8n form (topic, target audience, report goal, and optional focus).
• Runs two live Google searches using the Serper API: one broad topic search and one targeted “expert insights/data” search to gather recent sources.
• Merges, deduplicates, and formats results into a numbered source list for downstream analysis and citation.
• Uses OpenAI to extract structured research intelligence, including key findings, data points, expert positions, credibility notes, gaps, contradictions, and a confidence score.
• Uses OpenAI again to write a multi-section, professional research report tailored to the requested audience and goal.
• Sends the report by email through Gmail to your configured recipient.
• Appends a new row to a Google Sheets “Research Log” tab for tracking.

Use cases

• Rapid market research briefs for SaaS operators (features, competitors, pricing/positioning signals).
• Customer-facing content support: generate research-backed articles tailored to a specific audience.
• Automation engineers or analysts using n8n to standardize how research requests are executed and documented.
• Internal decision support—collect sources, surface contradictions/gaps, and email a consistent summary.

Technical details

• Form Trigger to receive the research request.
• HTTP Request to query the Serper API (two search passes).
• Code and set nodes to merge, deduplicate, and format sources.
• OpenAI steps to extract structured intelligence and generate the final report.
• Gmail to email the report.
• Google Sheets OAuth2 to append results to the “Research Log” tab.
• Includes a Sticky Note for workflow clarity.

Setup: Add Serper API key, OpenAI credentials, Gmail sender/recipient details, and Google Sheets OAuth2 with a tab named “Research Log” matching the expected header.