Generate YouTube shorts from prompts with OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Pexels

Workflow preview

100%

Open on n8n.io

$20/month : Unlimited workflows

2500 executions/month

Try free

THE #1 IN WEB SCRAPING

Scrape any website without limits

Try free

HOSTINGER

Early Deal
DISCOUNT 20%

Self-hosted n8n

Unlimited workflows - from $4.99/mo

Try free

#1 hub for scraping, AI & automation

6000+ actors - $5 credits/mo

Try free

1. Workflow Overview

Quick overview This workflow takes a prompt from an n8n form, uses OpenAI to generate a YouTube Shorts script, then creates an ElevenLabs voiceover, pulls matching portrait stock video from Pexels,...

Best for

Content Creation automation workflows
Multimodal AI automation workflows
advanced n8n builders looking for reusable templates

Tools used

n8n-nodes-base.httprequest, n8n-nodes-base.merge, n8n-nodes-base.if, n8n-nodes-base.wait, n8n-nodes-base.set, n8n-nodes-base.youtube, @n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.lmchatopenai, n8n-nodes-base.formtrigger

Source and attribution

This workflow is cataloged by N8N Workflows and links back to its original n8n.io source page by Davide Boizza.

Original n8n.io source

1.1 Workflow description

Title: Generate YouTube shorts from prompts with OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Pexels
Workflow name: Generate YouTube shorts from prompts with OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Pexels

Quick overview

This workflow takes a prompt from an n8n form, uses OpenAI to generate a YouTube Shorts script, then creates an ElevenLabs voiceover, pulls matching portrait stock video from Pexels, merges audio and video via fal.run’s FFmpeg API, and uploads the finished short to YouTube.

How it works

Receives a prompt submission from an n8n form.
Uses OpenAI to generate a short title, a 60-second voiceover script, and an English stock-footage keyword.
Sends the script to ElevenLabs Text-to-Speech, then uploads the resulting audio file to an FTP server.
Searches Pexels for a portrait stock video clip matching the generated keyword.
Submits the Pexels video URL and hosted audio URL to fal.run’s FFmpeg API to merge them, then polls the request status until it completes.
Downloads the merged video file and uploads it to YouTube with the generated title and the original prompt as the description.

Setup

Configure the form trigger and copy its public URL if you want to embed or share the form.
Add credentials for OpenAI, ElevenLabs (HTTP Header Auth), Pexels (HTTP Header Auth), fal.run (HTTP Header Auth), and YouTube OAuth2.
Set up an FTP destination (for example, BunnyCDN Storage) and update the upload path and the public base URL used to construct the audio_url.
Verify the YouTube upload settings (category, region, and description text) and replace the placeholder channel name used in the script prompt.

Additional info

MY NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL

👉 Subscribe to my new YouTube channel. Here I'll share videos and Shorts with practical tutorials and FREE templates for n8n.

Need help customizing?

Contact me for consulting and support or add me on Linkedin

1.2 Logical Blocks

This catalog entry is organized from the workflow JSON. The node-level section below shows the executable blocks available for review before importing the template.

2. Block-by-Block Analysis

Block 1 - Pexels

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest - httpRequest
Config choices: Version 4

Block 2 - Merge

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.merge - merge
Config choices: Version 3.2

Block 3 - Check Merge Status

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.if - if
Config choices: Version 2.2

Block 4 - Wait 30 Seconds for Merge

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.wait - wait
Config choices: Version 1.1

Block 5 - Merge Audio with Video

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest - httpRequest
Config choices: Version 4.3

Block 6 - Check Video Merge Status

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest - httpRequest
Config choices: Version 4.2

Block 7 - Fetch Final Video

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest - httpRequest
Config choices: Version 4.2

Block 8 - Fetch Video File from URL

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest - httpRequest
Config choices: Version 4.4

Block 9 - Set Audio Url

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.set - set
Config choices: Version 3.4

Block 10 - Upload a video

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.youTube - youTube
Config choices: Version 1

Block 11 - OpenAI Chat Model

Type / Role: @n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.lmChatOpenAi - lmChatOpenAi
Config choices: Version 1.3

Block 12 - On form submission

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.formTrigger - formTrigger
Config choices: Version 2.6

Block 13 - Set vars

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.set - set
Config choices: Version 1

Block 14 - Structured Output Parser

Type / Role: @n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.outputParserStructured - outputParserStructured
Config choices: Version 1.3

Block 15 - Generate voiceover

Type / Role: @n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.agent - agent
Config choices: Version 3.1

Block 16 - Voiceover vars

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.set - set
Config choices: Version 1

Block 17 - Text-to-Speech

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest - httpRequest
Config choices: Version 4.4

Block 18 - Upload audio

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.ftp - ftp
Config choices: Version 1

Block 19 - Sticky Note

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices: Version 1

Block 20 - Sticky Note1

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices: Version 1

Block 21 - Sticky Note2

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices: Version 1

Block 22 - Sticky Note3

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices: Version 1

Block 23 - Sticky Note4

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices: Version 1

Block 24 - Sticky Note5

Type / Role: n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices: Version 1

Showing the first 24 of 25 workflow blocks. Download the JSON for the full node graph.

3. Summary Table

Workflow	Generate YouTube shorts from prompts with OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Pexels
Complexity	advanced
Nodes	25
Categories	Content Creation, Multimodal AI
Author	Davide Boizza
Published	16 Jun 2026

4. Reproducing the Workflow from Scratch

1. Download the workflow JSON

Use the JSON export at /data/workflows/16419/16419.json as the source template for this automation.
2. Import the template into n8n

Open n8n, import the downloaded JSON, and review each node before activating the workflow.
3. Configure credentials and variables

Replace placeholder credentials, API keys, webhook URLs, account IDs, and environment-specific values with your own settings.
4. Test with sample data

Run the workflow manually or in a staging workspace, inspect node output, and confirm downstream systems receive the expected data.
5. Activate and monitor

Enable the workflow only after testing, then monitor executions, errors, and rate limits during the first production runs.

5. General Notes & Resources

Review imported nodes carefully before activation. This catalog entry is intended to help you inspect the workflow structure, understand required services, and find related templates faster.

Node names, credentials, schedules, webhook paths, and external service limits may need adjustment for your workspace.

Download workflow JSON Original n8n.io source Content Creation workflows Multimodal AI workflows

Frequently asked questions

What does Generate YouTube shorts from prompts with OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Pexels do?

What do I need before importing this workflow?

Review the workflow JSON, configure any required credentials in n8n, and test the automation in a safe workspace before using it in production.

Can I customize this workflow?

Yes. Use the block-by-block analysis and the downloadable JSON to inspect each node, then adjust credentials, prompts, schedules, filters, or destinations for your Content Creation, Multimodal AI use case.

Davide Boizza

151 workflows

Nodes

n8n-nodes-base.httprequest n8n-nodes-base.merge n8n-nodes-base.if n8n-nodes-base.wait n8n-nodes-base.set n8n-nodes-base.youtube @n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.lmchatopenai n8n-nodes-base.formtrigger

Complexity

advanced

Published 16 Jun 2026

Likes 0

View on n8n.io Download Workflow

Install path: /data/workflows/16419/16419.json

Share Your Workflow

Have a useful automation to share? Publish it and help the community.

Submit Your Template How to Submit

Related Workflows

Send daily LinkedIn post drafts with Tavily, Groq Llama 3.3 and Gmail

## Quick overview This workflow runs daily at 8 AM to rotate through a topic list, research it with Tavily web search, generate a LinkedIn post and image prompt with Groq (Llama 3.3 70B), create a Pollinations.ai image URL, and email you the post with the image attached via Gmail. ## How it works 1. Runs every day at 8:00 AM on a schedule. 2. Selects today’s topic from a rotating list based on the day of the year. 3. Searches the web with Tavily to fetch up-to-date results for the selected topic. 4. Uses a Groq-hosted Llama model to write a LinkedIn post and a matching image prompt grounded in the Tavily results. 5. Builds a Pollinations.ai image generation URL from the image prompt and downloads the generated image file. 6. Emails the post text with the image attached via Gmail, and sends a text-only fallback email if image generation or download fails. ## Setup 1. Add a Groq API credential to the Groq Chat Model node. 2. Create a Tavily API key and configure HTTP Header Auth with `Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TAVILY_KEY>` for the Tavily Search request. 3. Connect a Gmail OAuth2 credential and update the recipient email address in both Gmail send steps. 4. Edit the topic list in the topic-selection code step if you want different rotating themes. ## Requirements - Groq API key (free tier available) - Tavily API key (free tier — 1,000 searches/month) - Gmail account (OAuth2) ## Customization - Edit the topic list inside the "Pick Today's Topic" code node to change what subjects the post rotates through. - Change the Groq model in the "Groq Chat Model" node if you want a different LLM (e.g. a smaller/faster or larger Groq model). - Adjust the schedule trigger if you want a different posting time, or swap the Gmail "send to" address to deliver the draft to someone else for review. ## Additional info This workflow emails you a draft for manual review before posting — it does not post to LinkedIn automatically. If image generation fails, a text-only fallback email is sent instead so you never miss the post text.

View

Generate VEO3 videos from form ideas with ChatGPT, fal.ai, Drive and Gmail

## Quick overview This workflow collects a video idea via an n8n Form, uses OpenAI to turn it into an optimized prompt, generates an 8-second VEO3 video with native audio via fal.ai, saves the MP4 to Google Drive, and emails the Drive link via Gmail. ## How it works 1. Receives a submission from an n8n Form with the requester’s email, a plain-English video idea, and a selected style. 2. Uses OpenAI (via an AI Agent) to convert the idea and style into a structured VEO3 title and detailed prompt returned as JSON. 3. Cleans and parses the AI JSON, creates a filename-safe title, and sets the generation parameters to 16:9 and 8 seconds. 4. Submits the prompt to fal.ai’s queue endpoint for the fal-ai/veo3 model and gets a request ID. 5. Polls fal.ai every 30 seconds until the job status returns COMPLETED. 6. Retrieves the final MP4 URL from fal.ai, downloads the video, uploads it to Google Drive, and emails the Google Drive web link to the requester via Gmail. ## Setup 1. Create a fal.ai account, generate an API key, and replace `YOUR_FAL_AI_API_KEY` in the fal.ai HTTP request headers. 2. Add an OpenAI API credential in the OpenAI Chat Model node and select the model you want to use. 3. Connect Google Drive OAuth2 and replace `YOUR_GDRIVE_FOLDER_ID` with the target folder ID where videos should be saved. 4. Connect Gmail OAuth2 for sending emails, then activate the workflow and use the Form URL (path `veo3-video-generator`) to submit requests.

View

Generate presentation decks from prompts with Encelade

## Quick overview This workflow starts a presentation generation job in Encelade from a prompt and outline hints, polls Encelade for completion, and outputs the finished deck link (or stops with an error if generation fails). ## How it works 1. Starts when you manually execute the workflow in n8n. 2. Sends the topic, slide count, audience, tone, theme settings, and outline hints to Encelade to generate a 6-slide presentation. 3. Waits 20 seconds and then checks the Encelade session status using the returned session ID. 4. If the session phase is not finished, it keeps waiting and rechecking until the phase changes. 5. When the phase is "done", it returns the generated deck link and project PID. 6. When the phase is "failed", it stops the workflow and raises an error with the failure details. ## Setup 1. Install and configure Encelade credentials in n8n for the Encelade node. 2. Update the generation inputs (topic, page count, outline hints, audience/tone, theme mode, and media provider) to match the deck you want to create. 3. Ensure the workflow has enough time to complete by adjusting the 20-second wait interval if your Encelade generations typically take longer.

View

Need Custom Automation?

Get help designing a custom n8n workflow that connects your stack and fits your process.

Generate YouTube shorts from prompts with OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Pexels

Workflow preview

1. Workflow Overview

Best for

Tools used

Source and attribution

1.1 Workflow description

Quick overview

How it works

Setup

Additional info

MY NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Need help customizing?

1.2 Logical Blocks

2. Block-by-Block Analysis

Block 1 - Pexels

Block 2 - Merge

Block 3 - Check Merge Status

Block 4 - Wait 30 Seconds for Merge

Block 5 - Merge Audio with Video

Block 6 - Check Video Merge Status

Block 7 - Fetch Final Video

Block 8 - Fetch Video File from URL

Block 9 - Set Audio Url

Block 10 - Upload a video

Block 11 - OpenAI Chat Model

Block 12 - On form submission

Block 13 - Set vars

Block 14 - Structured Output Parser

Block 15 - Generate voiceover

Block 16 - Voiceover vars

Block 17 - Text-to-Speech

Block 18 - Upload audio

Block 19 - Sticky Note

Block 20 - Sticky Note1

Block 21 - Sticky Note2

Block 22 - Sticky Note3

Block 23 - Sticky Note4

Block 24 - Sticky Note5

3. Summary Table

4. Reproducing the Workflow from Scratch

1. Download the workflow JSON

2. Import the template into n8n

3. Configure credentials and variables

4. Test with sample data

5. Activate and monitor

5. General Notes & Resources

Frequently asked questions