n8n’s WordPress-to-YouTube Shorts Template Automates Daily News Digest Videos
n8n’s Daily News Digest Video Generator provides a reusable workflow for turning a day’s WordPress coverage into a vertical YouTube Shorts video.
n8n has published a reusable workflow template that turns a day's WordPress posts into a vertical news digest video and uploads it to YouTube Shorts. The Daily News Digest Video Generator for YouTube Shorts connects WordPress, Shotstack and YouTube to automate a content-repurposing task that would otherwise require collecting stories, assembling video slides, rendering the file and publishing it manually.
The official n8n workflow page describes a scheduled workflow that runs daily at 19:00, fetches that day's WordPress posts, and creates a 9:16 video at 1080x1920. It is aimed at publishers and content teams that already produce a steady stream of site content and want a repeatable way to distribute a daily summary on YouTube Shorts.
The important distinction is that this is not simply an upload automation. The template is designed to transform multiple posts into a coherent video sequence, with an intro, individual article slides and an outro. It extracts titles, links and media from WordPress, assigns a reading-time window to each item, and adds branding, text overlays and transitions through the Shotstack API.
How the WordPress-to-Shorts workflow works
The template uses a daily schedule as its starting point. It queries the WordPress API for posts published that day, processes their available content, then builds the video structure before asking Shotstack to render it. Once the render is complete, n8n downloads the finished video and uploads it through YouTube OAuth2 authentication.
| Workflow stage | Primary input | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Content collection | Today’s WordPress posts | Article titles, links and media for the digest |
| Video assembly | Processed post content and branding elements | An intro, article slides and an outro with text overlays and transitions |
| Rendering | Assembled slides | A vertical video rendered through the Shotstack API |
| Publishing | Rendered video and YouTube credentials | A YouTube upload with automated title, description, category and tags |
This sequencing matters for editorial teams. A daily digest can be consistent without requiring a video editor to recreate the same basic format for every publication cycle. The workflow also includes a dynamic date stamp, helping the output retain its role as a time-specific news roundup rather than a generic compilation.
The template was created by Alexandru Burca, and its n8n listing shows an update from five months ago. That positioning makes it a practical starting point for teams looking to adapt an existing automation, rather than a conceptual demonstration of what might be possible.
What teams need to consider before using it
The workflow depends on three access layers: WordPress API access to retrieve the day's posts, Shotstack API access to render the video, and YouTube OAuth2 authentication to publish it. Each connection needs to be configured for the specific WordPress site, Shotstack account and YouTube channel that will run the automation.
Teams should also review how their posts translate to short-form video. The workflow can extract titles, links and media, but the quality of the finished digest will still depend on the availability and suitability of those source assets. A publisher with consistent featured images, clear article headlines and recognizable visual branding is better placed to produce a digest that reads cleanly on a vertical mobile screen.
Cost is another operational consideration. Shotstack is a paid API, so rendering activity carries usage costs. The workflow references a Shotstack Stage environment, which makes environment setup part of implementation planning. Organizations should validate the workflow with representative daily post volumes and account for rendering usage before making it a routine publishing process.
For developers, the template illustrates a modular automation pattern: content system as source, video-rendering service as production layer, and social platform as distribution endpoint. That pattern can be adapted without changing the central objective of turning existing editorial output into another format. However, any adaptation should preserve reliable authentication, predictable media handling and metadata appropriate to the destination channel.
Organizations assessing this kind of WordPress and video pipeline can work with Scalevise on workflow automation, API integration and implementation design for their existing publishing systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is n8n’s Daily News Digest Video Generator for YouTube Shorts?
It is an n8n workflow template that fetches a day's WordPress posts, turns them into a vertical news digest video through Shotstack, and uploads the result to YouTube.
What format does the workflow create for YouTube Shorts?
The workflow renders a 9:16 vertical video at 1080x1920, a format intended for social platforms including YouTube Shorts.
What services and credentials are required?
It requires WordPress API access, Shotstack API access for video rendering, and YouTube OAuth2 authentication for uploading.
Does the template automate YouTube metadata?
Yes. The official workflow description states that it automates the upload title, description, category and tags alongside the video upload.
Are there costs beyond running n8n?
The workflow uses the paid Shotstack API for video rendering, so teams need to consider render-related API usage costs.
Conclusion
n8n’s template provides a defined automation path from daily WordPress publishing to a branded YouTube Shorts digest. Its value is in connecting content retrieval, slide-based video production, rendering and publishing into one workflow, while leaving teams responsible for credentials, source-media quality and Shotstack rendering costs.