n8n Labs launches Nod in research preview

What did n8n Labs announce about Nod?

n8n Labs announced Nod on November 10, 2026 as a research preview of a standalone personal agent. The company said Nod is separate from n8n itself and runs on a user’s computer, with its own browser and private virtual machine for working across apps and websites.

n8n described n8n Labs as a new team inside the company that experiments outside the core product. It said Nod is aimed at one person rather than shared team workflows, and that users do not need an n8n account or a preconfigured server setup to start using it.

The launch also put the code on GitHub under an open-source license. n8n said Nod is available for Mac and Windows at announcement, with a user’s own server also supported.

How does Nod work across apps and websites?

Nod is designed to act across connected applications and websites without requiring separate integrations for each target. n8n said it works with Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Slack, and can also operate on websites without integrations.

The company gave examples of tasks including subscription cancellation, price watching, hotel booking, supplier invoice collection and dashboard data extraction. In the repository, n8n also described example jobs such as chasing invoices, preparing calls and canceling trials on real websites.

A separate n8n Community post by Johan from the product team said Nod can build, test and run workflows in a connected n8n instance, while new workflows stay drafts until the user chooses to publish them.

Users can interact with Nod in the app, Telegram or WhatsApp while it runs several jobs in parallel. Repeating jobs can also be scheduled, according to n8n.

How does n8n say Nod handles privacy and approvals?

n8n said Nod runs inside a private virtual machine on the user’s machine, and that data, memory and saved logins stay there while the AI provider receives only what each task needs. The company also said users can see, edit or delete what Nod keeps about them.

Sensitive actions remain gated by the user. n8n said only the user can authorize actions such as sending, paying, posting or deleting, and that a web page or email cannot instruct Nod. The repository describes a trust system that checks each app action and website step that could change something against the user’s request and rules.

Nod also includes a Vault that privately enters passwords, codes and cards on websites. n8n said saved logins and cards are encrypted on the machine and entered through private forms the model cannot read, while provider keys never enter the workspace or browser.

n8n said Nod can learn writing style from Gmail so drafts sound like the user, and that it logs sign-ins, card use, app actions and task costs.

What do users pay for and what comes next?

Nod itself is free and open source, but users bring their own model provider and are billed directly by that provider. n8n said users can connect an AI provider using an API key or ChatGPT plan, and the repository lists support for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex AI, Azure and more than 20 other providers, plus users’ own servers.

To manage costs, n8n said Nod shows per-task cost information, receipts and a monthly limit, and can surface an estimated monthly schedule cost. The company said some early testers found tasks more expensive than expected, and that recent releases reduced costs substantially.

n8n said Nod stops when a laptop sleeps, which is why some testers use an always-on Mac mini or their own server. The company and repository both said a hosted version is planned, along with phone calls and multi-person sharing as next steps.

The repository also says Nod can be installed on a Mac mini or the user’s own server for scheduled operation.