01
Backend Operations
The automation layer handles plant data, images, gardens, quiz questions, CloudKit pagination, moderation, Discord workflows, and operational backups.
Personal automation2026 - Present
BotanicBase n8n Automation Suite
A 42-workflow n8n suite powering the backend operations of BotanicBase, including AI content generation, CloudKit sync, moderation, backups, and DevOps automation.
42
n8n workflows
14
admin workflows
8
reusable subflows
200+
dev hours saved yearly
02
AI Workflows
Claude-powered flows generate plant recommendations and care tips while keeping the iOS app backend lightweight and maintainable.
03
Reliability
Weekly backups, health checks, and recovery workflows make the app backend largely zero-touch.
Technologies
What powered it.
n8nClaudeCloudKitDiscord APISwiftiOS
Featured workflow visualizer
Three automations that show the whole backend story.
Public-safe diagrams distilled from the n8n exports, with credentials, keys, channel IDs, and raw request bodies removed.
Daily AI content workflow
Autonomous AI Plant Curator
Audits the plant catalog, identifies underrepresented plant types, asks AI for a complete schema-safe plant record, validates the result, and publishes only when it clears the duplicate gate.
17
workflow nodes
2
AI models wired
45m
saved per publish
58%
Selected node
Daily Schedule Trigger
Runs the catalog expansion job each morning.
Run profile
- Trigger
- Daily schedule at 7:00 AM
- Saved
- 45 minutes on a clean publish, 5 minutes on duplicate detection
Systems touched
n8nCloudKitClaudeGemini fallbackDiscordChangelog subflow
12 public-safe nodes shown. Sensitive parameters stay out of the page.
Workflow Library
42 workflows. One backend.
Every workflow powering BotanicBase — from AI content generation to CloudKit sync, moderation, and DevOps automation.
AI Care Tip Generator
AIGenerates personalized plant care tips using Claude AI based on species and environmental conditions.
AI Plant Recommender
AIRecommends plants to users based on their preferences, environment, and care capacity.
AI Plant Recommender [Manual]
AIManual-trigger version of the plant recommender for on-demand AI recommendations.
Admin Rewrite Care Guide
AIUses AI to rewrite and improve plant care guide content for clarity and accuracy.
Admin Auth
AdminHandles authentication and authorization for incoming admin panel API requests.
Admin Verify
AdminVerifies admin credentials and issues session tokens for secure panel access.
Admin Incomplete Plants
AdminIdentifies and surfaces plant entries that are missing required data or images.
Admin Upload Plant Images
AdminProcesses and uploads plant images to CloudKit from the admin panel.
Admin Upload Garden Images
AdminHandles bulk upload of garden images to CloudKit storage.
Admin Upload CareTip Image
AdminUploads and associates images with care tip records in CloudKit.
Admin Upload Quiz Question Image
AdminStores and links images to quiz question entries in the database.
Admin Get CareTips
AdminFetches all care tip records for display and management in the admin panel.
Admin Get Gardens
AdminRetrieves all garden records for admin review and editing.
Admin Get Quiz Questions
AdminFetches quiz question data for admin management and content review.
Admin Get Health Logs
AdminRetrieves plant health log entries for monitoring and admin reporting.
Admin Approve Plant Suggestion
AdminProcesses user-submitted plant suggestions and publishes approved entries to the app.
Admin Get Plant Suggestions
AdminFetches pending plant suggestions submitted by app users for review.
Admin Update Bug
AdminUpdates bug report status and resolution details from the admin panel.
Fetch All Plants
SubflowPaginates through and returns the complete set of plant records from CloudKit.
Fetch All Gallery Images
SubflowRetrieves all gallery image records across paginated CloudKit requests.
Fetch All Gardens
SubflowFetches the full list of garden records for use in parent workflows.
Fetch All Garden Gallery Images
SubflowPaginates through garden gallery images and returns the complete set.
Fetch All Care Tips
SubflowReturns all care tip records, handling CloudKit pagination internally.
Fetch All Quiz Questions
SubflowFetches every quiz question record for use in quiz-related parent workflows.
Fetch All Quiz Question Images
SubflowRetrieves all images associated with quiz questions from CloudKit.
Add Changelog Entry
SubflowAppends a new entry to the app changelog record in CloudKit.
Get Quiz Questions
App-FacingServes quiz question data to the iOS app on demand through a public endpoint.
Plant Suggestion Sent
App-FacingReceives and stores plant suggestions submitted directly from the iOS app.
Community Post Moderation
App-FacingScreens community posts for content policy compliance before publishing.
Bug Report
App-FacingReceives and stores bug reports submitted from within the app.
Public Bug Reports
App-FacingExposes a public endpoint for viewing open and resolved bug reports.
Public Changelog
App-FacingServes the app changelog to users through a public-facing endpoint.
Contact Form
App-FacingReceives and routes contact form submissions from the app or website.
Weekly CloudKit Backup
DevOpsRuns a weekly scheduled export of all CloudKit data to a secure archive.
n8n Workflow Backup
DevOpsExports and stores all n8n workflow definitions on a recurring schedule.
Get Server Status
DevOpsChecks and returns the current health status of the n8n server.
GET CloudKit Health Status
DevOpsPings CloudKit and verifies the API connection is healthy and reachable.
Find Duplicate Plants
DevOpsScans the plant database for duplicate entries and flags them for review.
Fix Care Tip Tags
DevOpsAudits and corrects tag associations on care tip records.
Set No Hero Plants to Draft
DevOpsAutomatically sets plants without a hero image to draft status.
Discord Interaction Handler
DiscordProcesses incoming Discord slash command interactions and routes responses.
BotanicBase MCP
DiscordExposes BotanicBase data and actions to Claude via a Model Context Protocol server.