Nextcloud User Onboarding Workflow with Gmail Approvals

Automatically onboard users to Nextcloud—using Gmail admin approvals

This n8n workflow captures new Nextcloud account requests, checks PostgreSQL for duplicates, routes new users to Gmail-based admin approvals, and—once approved—provisions the account in Nextcloud while syncing status to Google Sheets and storing records in PostgreSQL.

What this workflow does

• Collects requests via an n8n form with the user’s full name and email address.
• Logs “Pending Approval” in Google Sheets and checks the email against the PostgreSQL database.
• If the email already exists, emails the requester an “account already exists” notification via Gmail.
• If the user is new, sends an approval email to an admin using Gmail (send-and-wait), then branches based on the admin’s decision.
• If rejected: writes the rejection to the PostgreSQL users_rejected table and emails the requester a rejection notice via Gmail.
• If approved: creates a storage directory via SSH, generates a temporary password, saves the approved user to PostgreSQL, and updates the user’s status in Google Sheets.
• Provisions Nextcloud via the Nextcloud OCS API, generates a QR code for the Nextcloud mobile login deep link, and emails credentials with the QR image attached via Gmail.

Use cases

• Automating internal onboarding for SaaS operators who manage user access to Nextcloud.
• Handling account requests with an auditable “Pending Approval” trail in Google Sheets.
• Reducing manual admin work by using Gmail approval/rejection decisions to control Nextcloud provisioning.

Technical details

• Integrations/Nodes: if, ssh, code, gmail, postgres, sticky note.
• Data sync: Google Sheets for request/status logging; PostgreSQL for approved/rejected user records.
• Provisioning: Nextcloud via OCS API.
• Notifications: Gmail OAuth2 with send-and-wait approval flow and credential delivery (QR attachment).

Setup: Configure PostgreSQL, Google Sheets OAuth2, Gmail OAuth2, Nextcloud API, and password-based SSH, then provide your spreadsheet ID.