Week 3 (Thursday): Automate the work, and meet the agent
8 lessons · Back to full syllabus
What you keep
How to build an automation that runs without you, the real difference between a workflow and an agent, and what an agent actually is, learned by operating one.
You ship
A multi-step automation on real triggers, and a live agent you operate.
Lessons
Automate with n8n
Trigger, actions, connections, build a real automation wired to your product on the canvas.
Workflow versus agent: the line that matters
Workflows follow your script; agents decide their own steps, use the simplest thing that does the job.
Operate your own agent with Hermes
Configure a persistent agent, connect it to WhatsApp, and watch it decide and act.
A peek under the hood (and where to go deeper)
A model using tools in a loop, and the honest bridge to the Engineering Bootcamp.
n8n automation patterns
Trigger-do-notify, enrich with an LLM, human in the loop, recognise the shape before you build.
Hermes skills authoring for non-coders
A skill is a described ability, write when to use it clearly, then test that it fires when it should.
The agent loop, explained without code
Think, act, observe, repeat, and why early wrong turns compound when an agent misbehaves.
Add an automation or a live agent to your product
Something useful on a real trigger, and you can say in one line whether it is a workflow or an agent.
Lessons in this module