Build an n8n AI Agent That Tracks Every New Hire's Onboarding

Step 1: Go to n8n.io

A new hire's first day sets the tone. When the laptop isn't ready or nobody knows who their buddy is, they spend day one waiting. The warnings were there, scattered across messages from IT, managers and the new hire. We are going to build an AI agent that tracks every onboarding item in a spreadsheet for you. First, you need an n8n account.

Step 2: Enter your email

This is just practice, so anything works — it won't actually send anything.

Step 3: Sign up

In the real n8n, it sends you a six digit code, then asks for a name, a password, and an account name. Go do that in your own browser later, then come back and we will build.

Step 4: Add credit first

Your agent needs a brain, and that means an API key from OpenAI. Go to platform dot openai dot com — that is the developer side, not ChatGPT, and it bills completely separately. Before you make a key, put some money on the account. A brand new key with a zero balance just returns errors. If you would rather not spend anything yet, n8n gives every new account free credits. In your own n8n, you can pick gateway credits on the model step and skip the key.

Step 5: Ten dollars is plenty

A little credit goes a very long way. You are charged per request, not per month, and logging a week of onboarding updates costs fractions of a cent.

Step 6: Now the key

Balance sorted. Now go to API keys in the left menu.

Step 7: Create a secret key

Step 8: Name the key

Name it after whatever is going to use it. Future you, staring at a list of forty keys, will thank you. I am calling this one n8n agent.

Step 9: Create it

Default project, all permissions — that is fine for this. Create the key.

Step 10: Copy it now

Now pay attention, because this is the only time you will ever see this key. Copy it and paste it into n8n, or into your password manager. If you lose it, you do not get it back — you delete it and make another.

Step 11: Back to n8n

One last warning — this key can spend your money. Never commit it to code, never paste it into a chat, and if it ever shows up on screen while you are recording, revoke it before you publish.

Step 12: Start a new workflow

Now you are inside n8n. This overview page lists every workflow you have. Top right, click create workflow, and you land on an empty canvas.

Step 13: Add the first step

Every workflow needs a trigger — the thing that kicks it off. We want a chat trigger so you can paste in the week's onboarding updates.

Step 14: Trigger on a chat message

A panel slides in with every way a workflow can start — manually, on a schedule, on a webhook. We want on chat message, so we can have a conversation with the agent.

Step 15: Back to the canvas

n8n opens the node so you can configure it. There is nothing we need to change here, so close it with the X in the top right and get back to the canvas.

Step 16: Add the next node

Now we decide what happens when a message comes in.

Step 17: Open the AI nodes

A panel opens and asks what happens next. The agent lives under AI, right at the top.

Step 18: Add the AI Agent

There it is — AI Agent. This is the piece that can plan and then carry out actions using whatever tools you give it. You give it the updates, and it can sort each item and save it to a spreadsheet — all in one step.

Step 19: Open the options

Right now this agent has no personality and no orders. It does not know it works for Fernway Logistics, or what an onboarding entry looks like.

Step 20: Add a system message

Pick system message. This is the standing instruction the agent reads before every request. It is where we tell it who Fernway is, how to log an onboarding item, and what it must never do.

Step 21: Write the system prompt

Here is the actual prompt. It tells the agent what each entry needs: the new hire, the item, a status of done, waiting or unclear, who owns the next step, and the follow-up. A new hire with no updates gets marked unclear. And the rule that matters most: never record bank details, ID numbers or medical details. Only whether something was received.

You are the onboarding tracker assistant for Fernway Logistics.

Fernway Logistics is a mid-size distribution company. Its HR team onboards a few new hires every week, and every new hire needs the same items ready before day one: a signed offer letter, equipment, system access, a first-week buddy and their new-hire paperwork.

The audience is the HR coordinator, who reads every entry and chases what is still open.

The tone should be plain, brief and factual.

Your job is to turn each onboarding update the user gives you into one entry per item.

For each item, return:
- New hire (name and role)
- Item (like Offer letter, Laptop, System access, First-week buddy, New-hire paperwork, Direct deposit)
- Status: Done, Waiting, or Unclear
- Owner: who needs to act next (IT, the hiring manager, HR, Payroll, or the new hire)
- Follow-up: one sentence on what the HR coordinator should do next, or "None needed"

If an update is vague, or a new hire has no updates at all, use Unclear and say what to check.

When the user asks you to save the entries, use the Google Sheets tool to store each one.

Record only what the updates say. Never record bank details, ID numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, or medical or immigration document details: write only whether something was received. Do not give legal advice about hiring paperwork or benefits.

Step 22: Back to the canvas

That gives the agent everything it needs to know about tracking onboarding for Fernway. Close the node.

Step 23: Give the agent a brain

See that red triangle on the agent? It is complaining because it has no model. An agent can plan, but it cannot think without a language model underneath it.

Step 24: Pick OpenAI

OpenAI chat model. This is where that API key finally gets used.

Step 25: Open the credentials

And here is where that key you copied finally goes.

Step 26: Create a new credential

You want create new credential, right at the bottom. In your own n8n, if you skipped the key, you would pick gateway credits here instead.

Step 27: Paste the key

This is the one moment it matters that you copied it — remember, OpenAI never shows it to you again.

Step 28: Save the credential

n8n tests the connection straight away, and from now on this credential is available to every node in every workflow — you only do this once.

Step 29: Open the model list

Now the model dropdown.

Step 30: Choose the model

GPT five mini. Fast, cheap, and plenty for sorting onboarding updates. Do not reach for the expensive model until you have a reason.

Step 31: Back to the canvas

That is the brain wired in. Close it up.

Step 32: Add memory

Next, memory. Without this, every message starts from nothing — you could not say save those, because it would not remember which items you meant.

Step 33: Simple Memory

Simple memory is fine here — it keeps the recent conversation inside n8n, no database, no extra credentials.

Step 34: Back to the canvas

n8n opens simple memory so you can set it up. The defaults are fine. It keeps the last five messages. Close it with the X.

Step 35: Add a tool

And now the good part — tools. This is what separates an agent from a chatbot. A chatbot just talks. An agent does things. We are going to give it Google Sheets so it can save every item into a tracker your HR team can work from.

Step 36: Search for Sheets

Google Sheets is not in the recommended tools, so search for it.

Step 37: Add Google Sheets

Google Sheets tool. Now the agent can write rows into a real spreadsheet, with columns matching what the system prompt tells it to return. When you say save those, each onboarding item becomes a row.

Step 38: Back to the canvas

Before we set this up, we need to actually create the spreadsheet. Close this node for now — we are going to hop over to Google Sheets and make one.

Step 39: Open Google Sheets

Switch to Google Sheets. You need to create the spreadsheet that this node will write to.

Step 40: Name the spreadsheet

First, name it so you can find it later.

Step 41: Type the first column header

Now set up the column headers. These need to match what the system prompt tells the agent to return. In A1, type New hire.

Step 42: Item

B1 — Item.

Step 43: Status

C1 — Status.

Step 44: Owner

D1 — Owner.

Step 45: Follow-up

And E1 — Follow-up. Five columns, matching exactly what the system prompt tells the agent to return. Each onboarding item becomes a row in this sheet.

Step 46: Back to n8n

The spreadsheet is ready. Switch back to n8n and connect the Google Sheets node to it.

Step 47: Open the Sheets node

Double click the Google Sheets node to open it back up. Now we can connect it to the spreadsheet we just made.

Step 48: Add a credential

Now we need to connect this to a real Google account.

Step 49: Create a new credential

Create new credential — this one uses Google OAuth instead of an API key, so it is going to open a sign-in window.

Step 50: Sign in with Google

This opens the Google account chooser so you can pick which account to connect.

Step 51: Choose your account

Pick the Google account you want n8n to use. This is the account that owns the spreadsheet.

Step 52: Allow Sheets access

Google is asking what n8n is allowed to do. Check the first box — this lets n8n read and write your spreadsheets.

Step 53: Allow Drive access

Second box — n8n needs Drive access so it can find your spreadsheets by name.

Step 54: Allow external service

Last one — this lets Google connect to n8n as an external service. Check it.

Step 55: Sign in

All three checked.

Step 56: Pick the operation

Now we tell the node what to do. By default it reads rows, but we want to add rows.

Step 57: Append Row

Append row. Every onboarding item the agent logs gets added as a new row at the bottom of the sheet.

Step 58: Choose the spreadsheet

Now pick the spreadsheet.

Step 59: Onboarding Tracker

Onboarding Tracker — the sheet we set up with columns for the new hire, the item, the status, the owner, and the follow-up.

Step 60: Pick the sheet tab

Now pick which tab inside that spreadsheet.

Step 61: Sheet1

Sheet one — it is the only tab, so this is simple.

Step 62: Map the New hire column

Now the columns. Each column has a purple button — click it and the AI agent figures out what data goes there.

Step 63: Map the Item column

Item. Same thing — click the purple button.

Step 64: Map the Status column

Status.

Step 65: Map the Owner column

Owner.

Step 66: Map the Follow-up column

And follow-up. Each one is now set to defined automatically by the model — the agent reads your column headers and figures out what goes where.

Step 67: Back to the canvas

The sheets tool is fully wired up — credential, operation, spreadsheet, sheet, and column mapping. Close it and let us test this thing.

Step 68: Open the chat

Everything is connected. Time to see if it works.

Step 69: Paste this week's updates

Give it this week's updates the way they actually arrive: a note from IT, an email from a new hire, and one new hire nobody has said anything about.

Log these onboarding updates for Monday's starts. Priya Nair (Payroll Analyst): IT says her laptop is set up and ready. Her manager hasn't picked a first-week buddy yet. Tom Becker (Warehouse Supervisor): he emailed to ask whether he can bring his new-hire paperwork documents on day one, and he put his bank details for direct deposit in the body of the email. Lena Ortiz (Customer Success Rep): nothing from anyone yet.

Step 70: Send the message

Send it off. The agent reads your system prompt and turns each update into one entry, with a status, the person who owns the next step, and the follow-up.

Step 71: Save to the sheet

Five items. One is done, and three need you before Monday. Notice what it did with Tom's bank details: it didn't repeat them. It asks him to use the payroll form instead. And Lena, with no updates at all, is flagged, not forgotten. Now tell it to save them. This is where the Google Sheets tool kicks in.

Step 72: Send it

Send it. The agent uses the Google Sheets tool to write each item as a row — new hire, item, status, owner, and follow-up.