## Overview
Save yourself time and effort (and from the temptation of time wasting browsing) by getting mentions of your interests, brands or products directly to Slack every morning.

[Automate your Google Alerts to Slack every morning - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0R2NenmSq0)

## Google Alert to Slack morning update using n8n automation flow diagram
![Google Alert to Slack morning update using n8n automation flow diagram](https://mermaid.ink/svg/pako:eNpVkE1rwzAMhv-K0QikkB52aslhUJpm92XsMHxREzU19UewnUMJ-e-Ts7ZbMbZfSc9rI03Quo6ghCyblFWxnCTEMxmSUEo4YmBRiFvuC73Co6bARcHg4JVBf9077fzCv2xe67o-_FoCtc52z_V6t91XGwnzPGeZtGn1Hoez-KyStlub815x1rleE2ryMX9ftNilQHw0DZeDxvaSN-lc3YxivRatd-l-E__sT28lyIcgTkRdWEh2PuyGQsCelvzyAxRgyBtUHU9oklaIv-mw5OYuEqSdmRuHDiMdOhWdh_KEOlABOEbXXG0LZfQj3aFKITdtHtSA9tu5ezz_ABtzh8A)
```mermaidignore
graph TD

n8n(n8n)
googlealert(Google Alert RSS)
slack(Slack)

n8n -- cron --> googlealert
googlealert -- rss feeds --> n8n
n8n -- message --> slack
```

## How to recreate this automation
### Resources
* [Github repo](https://github.com/rymawby/tiny-automations-source/blob/main/google-alerts-to-slack)
* [n8n workflow](https://github.com/rymawby/tiny-automations-source/blob/main/google-alerts-to-slack/Google_Alerts_to_Slack.json)
* [Slack - n8n Documentation](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/nodes/n8n-nodes-base.slack/)
### Step 1: Setup your Google Alerts as RSS feeds
Go to `https://www.google.com/alerts`. Create alerts of subjects etc that are of interest to you. Once you have done that click the edit button:
![Edit google alert](https://ry.d.pr/NqAzey.png).

Change the `Deliver to` section to `RSS feed`.
![Deliver to as RSS feed](https://ry.d.pr/ipCJPS.png)

Now click on the `RSS feed` icon and grab the URL from the browser (you'll use this later in n8n - it'll look something like `https://www.google.com.au/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/1234574375811598703`)
![RSS feed icon](https://ry.d.pr/UFLMDn.png)

Repeat this process for all the subjects/keywords that interest you. Remember to save all your feed URLs as you'll need them in n8n.

### Step 2: Setup your n8n workflow
Your n8n workflow should look like something like this: 
![n8n workflow](https://ry.d.pr/lgsT6C.png)

The `Cron` node runs this workflow every morning at 7am. (A [cron job](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron) is a way of running tasks at certain times repeatedly).


In the `List feeds` function node create an array of Google Alert RSS urls from `Step 1` - something like the below (`items[0].json` follows the format for passing data in n8n).
```javascript
items[0].json.feeds = [

	"https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/1234525054193310532",
	"https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/1234535688892159086",
	"https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/12345125633164967",
	"https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/1234537100179579905",
	"https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/1234540289464225414",
	"https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/12345581409404114402/1234577577438323748"]

return items;
```

In the `Cycle through feeds` function node we `pop` a value from the array and pass it on.
```javascript
items[0].json.feed = "";

if(items[0].json.feeds.length > 0){
	items[0].json.feed = items[0].json.feeds.pop();
}

return items;
```

If there are still feeds in the `feeds` array we loop back around to the `Cycle through feeds` function using the `IF` node (each time this is run it decreases the length of the `feeds` array by `1`). 

We also pass valid `feed` values through to the `RSS Feed Read` node. This node just takes in the value passed to it from the `IF` node (a Google Alerts RSS URL) and loads it.

The Slack node then sends this data to Slack.

## Future enhancements
- add more sources - not just Google Alerts for the ultimate morning update.
- combine Google Alert RSS feeds into a single RSS feed.




Keep up-to-date with morning updates using Google Alerts

Learn how to automate with googlealert