Beginner’s Tutorial: Manage Google Cloud Storage Buckets and Objects with n8n

Who’s it for

• Beginners who want to learn how to automate Google Cloud Storage (GCS) operations with n8n.
• Developers who want to combine AI image generation with cloud storage management.
• Anyone looking for a simple introduction to working with Buckets and Objects in GCS.

How it works / What it does

This workflow demonstrates end-to-end usage of Google Cloud Storage with AI integration:

1. Trigger: Start manually by clicking Execute Workflow.
2. Edit Fields: Provide input values (e.g., bucket name or image description).
3. List Buckets: Retrieve all existing buckets in the project (branch: view only).
4. Create Bucket: If needed, create a new bucket to store objects.
5. Prompt Generation Agent: Use an AI model to generate a creative text prompt.
6. Generate Image: Convert the AI-generated prompt into an image.
7. Upload Object: Store the generated image as an object in the selected bucket.
8. Delete Object: Clean up by removing the uploaded object if required.

This shows the full lifecycle: Bucket → Object (Create/Upload/Delete) combined with AI image generation.

How to set up

1. Trigger the workflow: Use the When clicking Execute workflow node to start manually.
2. Provide inputs: In Edit Fields, specify details such as bucket name or description text for the image.
3. List buckets: Use the List Buckets node to see what exists.
4. Create a bucket: Use Create Bucket if you want a new storage bucket.
5. Generate prompt & image:
   • The Prompt Generation Agent uses an OpenAI Chat Model to create an image prompt.
   • The Generate an Image node turns this prompt into an actual image.
6. Upload to bucket: Use Create Object to upload the generated image into your GCS bucket.
7. Delete object (optional): Use Delete Object to remove the file from the bucket as a cleanup step.

Requirements

• An active Google Cloud account with Cloud Storage API enabled.
• A Service Account Key (JSON) credential added in n8n for GCS.
• An OpenAI API Key configured in n8n for the prompt and image generation nodes.
• Basic familiarity with running workflows in n8n.

How to customize the workflow

• Different object types: Instead of images, upload PDFs, logs, or text files.
• Automatic cleanup: Skip the delete step if you want objects to persist.
• Schedule trigger: Replace manual execution with a weekly or daily schedule.
• Dynamic prompts: Accept user input from a form or webhook to generate images.
• Multi-bucket management: Extend the logic to manage multiple buckets across projects.
• Notifications: Add a Slack/Email step after upload to notify your team with the object URL.

✅ By the end of this tutorial, you’ll understand how to:

• Work with Buckets (list, create).
• Work with Objects (upload, delete).
• Integrate AI image generation with Google Cloud Storage.