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Research people with Perplexity AI and log results to Google Sheets

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Research people with Perplexity AI and log results to Google Sheets preview
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1. Workflow Overview

What This Workflow Does You have a Google Sheet where you type in a person's name and set their status to Pending. This workflow checks that sheet on a schedule, finds anyone marked Pending, and au...

Best for

  • Market Research automation workflows
  • AI Summarization automation workflows
  • advanced n8n builders looking for reusable templates

Tools used

n8n-nodes-base.googlesheets, n8n-nodes-base.filter, n8n-nodes-base.splitinbatches, n8n-nodes-base.code, n8n-nodes-base.httprequest, n8n-nodes-base.if, n8n-nodes-base.slack, n8n-nodes-base.manualtrigger

Source and attribution

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

Original n8n.io source

1.1 Workflow description

Title
Research people with Perplexity AI and log results to Google Sheets
Workflow name
Research people with Perplexity AI and log results to Google Sheets

What This Workflow Does You have a Google Sheet where you type in a person's name and set their status to Pending. This workflow checks that sheet on a schedule, finds anyone marked Pending, and automatically researches them using the Perplexity AI API. The results get written back to the same row — current company, location, job title, industry, and social media. When done the status flips to Done. If anything goes wrong or a field comes back empty, you get a Slack notification.

Setup Steps

  1. Google Sheet Create a sheet with two tabs. The first tab is your main data sheet with these columns: Name, Status, Current Company, Location, Current Title, Industry, Socials / Others, Error Log. The second tab is called Config and is where you write your research questions using [NAME] as a placeholder for the person's name.
  2. Credentials You need three credentials set up in n8n — Google Sheets OAuth2, a Perplexity API key set up as HTTP Header Auth with the value Bearer YOUR_API_KEY, and a Slack API connection pointed at the channel you want alerts sent to.
  3. Placeholders After importing the JSON, find and replace all placeholders with your real values — your Google Sheet ID, credential IDs, and Slack channel ID.
  4. Run It Type a name in Column A, set Column B to Pending, and execute the workflow. Everything else is automatic it will run every desired time you will I preffer every 15 minutes depending on your usage

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 - Get All Rows

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.5

Block 2 - Filter — Pending Only

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.filter - filter
Config choices
Version 2

Block 3 - Loop Over Rows

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.splitInBatches - splitInBatches
Config choices
Version 3

Block 4 - Set Status — Processing

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.5

Block 5 - Get Config Tab

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.5

Block 6 - Build Dynamic Prompt

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.code - code
Config choices
Version 2

Block 7 - Perplexity — Research Call

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

Block 8 - Parse Perplexity Response

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.code - code
Config choices
Version 2

Block 9 - Map Fields to Sheet Columns

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.code - code
Config choices
Version 2

Block 10 - Write Results to Sheet

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.5

Block 11 - Any Fields Missing?

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.if - if
Config choices
Version 2

Block 12 - Slack — Missing Fields Alert

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.slack - slack
Config choices
Version 2.3

Block 13 - Write Error to Sheet

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.5

Block 14 - Slack — API Error Alert

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.slack - slack
Config choices
Version 2.3

Block 15 - When clicking 'Execute workflow'

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

Block 16 - Sticky Note

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

Block 17 - Sticky Note1

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

Block 18 - Sticky Note2

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

Block 19 - Sticky Note3

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

Block 20 - Sticky Note4

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

Block 21 - Sticky Note5

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

3. Summary Table

Workflow Research people with Perplexity AI and log results to Google Sheets
Complexity advanced
Nodes 21
Categories Market Research, AI Summarization
Author Jason Stelo
Published 07 Mar 2026

4. Reproducing the Workflow from Scratch

  1. 1. Download the workflow JSON

    Use the JSON export at /data/workflows/13937/13937.json as the source template for this automation.

  2. 2. Import the template into n8n

    Open n8n, import the downloaded JSON, and review each node before activating the workflow.

  3. 3. Configure credentials and variables

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

  4. 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. 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.

Frequently asked questions

What does Research people with Perplexity AI and log results to Google Sheets do?

What This Workflow Does You have a Google Sheet where you type in a person's name and set their status to Pending. This workflow checks that sheet on a schedule, finds anyone marked Pending, and au...

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 Market Research, AI Summarization use case.