Daily Tech & Cyber Security Brief with RSS, OpenAI GPT-4o, and Gmail

What this workflow does

  • Pulls free security/tech headlines from multiple RSS feeds (e.g., CISA, BleepingComputer, Krebs, SecurityWeek, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Hacker News).

  • De-duplicates stories, keeps only the last 24 hours, and limits to a manageable number.

  • Uses OpenAI to write a concise brief with sections and "Why it matters."

  • Sends a clean HTML email via Gmail.

Category: Security / News
Time to set up: ~10--15 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner--Intermediate
Cost: Mostly free (OpenAI tokens + Gmail)


What you'll need

  • n8n (recent version)
  • OpenAI credentials
  • Gmail (or SMTP) credentials
  • A few free RSS feed URLs (swap in/out as you like)

Set up steps

  • Trigger -- Add a Cron to run daily (pick your time and timezone).
  • Fetch -- Add one RSS Read node per source and connect all to a Merge (append).
  • De-duplicate (this run) -- Add Remove Duplicates and compare on a stable key (prefer the article URL).
  • Freshness -- Add an IF to pass only items published in the last 24 hours.
  • Limit -- Add Limit to cap the total items (e.g., 25).
  • Summarize -- Add OpenAI → Message a model to produce a JSON brief with subject + HTML body.
  • Email -- Add Gmail → Send to deliver the brief to your inbox.

Tips & troubleshooting

  • If everything gets discarded at de-dup e while testing, switch to "within current input" or reset the node's stored values.
  • If no items pass the IF, widen the date window temporarily (some feeds publish late).
  • If the email arrives blank, ensure Gmail email type is set to HTML and the subject/body fields map to the model's output.

Sources you can start with (swap freely)

CISA, BleepingComputer, KrebsOnSecurity, SecurityWeek, Ars Technica (Security), TechCrunch (Security), Hacker News (front page).