Asana + Slack: Show HN launches turned into tasks
You open Hacker News “just to check Show HN,” and suddenly it’s 45 minutes later. You’ve found a couple of interesting launches, lost three others, and none of it made it into a place you’ll actually follow up from.
This is where Show HN automation pays for itself. Founders tracking competitors feel it first. Growth leads hunting partnerships and agency owners looking for fresh leads run into the same problem, just with different stakes.
This workflow turns new Show HN posts into Asana tasks automatically, then ships a clean daily digest to Slack and email. You’ll see how it works, what you need, and what you can tweak so it matches your scouting process.
How This Automation Works
The full n8n workflow, from trigger to final output:
n8n Workflow Template: Asana + Slack: Show HN launches turned into tasks
flowchart LR
subgraph sg0["Trigger Daily Show HN Launch Scan Flow"]
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n9["<div style='background:#f5f5f5;padding:10px;border-radius:8px;display:inline-block;border:1px solid #e0e0e0'><img src='https://flowpast.com/wp-content/uploads/n8n-workflow-icons/slack.svg' width='40' height='40' /></div><br/>Send Daily Founder Launch Di.."]
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subgraph sg1["Error Handler Flow"]
direction LR
n11@{ icon: "mdi:play-circle", form: "rounded", label: "Error Handler Trigger", pos: "b", h: 48 }
n12["<div style='background:#f5f5f5;padding:10px;border-radius:8px;display:inline-block;border:1px solid #e0e0e0'><img src='https://flowpast.com/wp-content/uploads/n8n-workflow-icons/slack.svg' width='40' height='40' /></div><br/>Slack: Send Error Alert"]
n11 --> n12
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The Problem: Show HN monitoring doesn’t become follow-up
Show HN is noisy in a very specific way. There’s real signal in there, but it arrives in bursts, gets buried fast, and forces you to context-switch just to keep up. If you’re scanning manually, you end up doing the same loop every day: open posts, skim, open comments, decide if it’s worth tracking, then copy links into “somewhere.” And “somewhere” often becomes a Slack message to yourself that you never revisit. A week later, you can’t remember why a launch mattered, and you’ve lost the moment to reach out.
It adds up fast. Here’s where it breaks down.
- Manual checking turns into a daily habit that quietly steals about an hour of focused work.
- Interesting launches don’t get tracked with context, so follow-ups become vague or never happen.
- Teams disagree on what “high signal” means, which leads to random chasing and missed gems.
- Writing a digest for Slack or email is surprisingly time-consuming, especially when you want it skimmable.
The Solution: Daily Show HN scan → scored tasks + a clean digest
This n8n workflow runs on a daily schedule and pulls the most recent “Show HN” posts directly from Hacker News. It filters for real launch indicators (things like “beta,” “v1,” “API,” or “platform”), then standardizes every matching post into structured launch details: product name, summary, URLs, author, publish date, plus points and comment count. Each launch becomes a follow-up-ready Asana task with the context you’d normally paste in by hand. Then the workflow aggregates everything found that day and uses an AI agent with an Azure OpenAI chat model to generate two versions of a digest: one formatted for Slack scanning and one formatted for email reading. If anything fails, you get an immediate Slack alert with details, so you’re not guessing what broke.
The workflow starts with a scheduled scan and a pull from Hacker News. It then scores and classifies launches as High, Medium, or Low signal before creating tasks in Asana. Finally, it produces a daily digest that lands in Slack and Gmail, ready to forward or act on.
What You Get: Automation vs. Results
| What This Workflow Automates | Results You’ll Get |
|---|---|
|
|
Example: What This Looks Like
Say you scan Show HN five days a week. Manually, it’s easy to spend about 45 minutes finding posts, opening comments, deciding what matters, then creating maybe 6 tasks at roughly 5 minutes each. That’s around 75 minutes a day. With this workflow, you spend about 5 minutes skimming a Slack digest, and the Asana tasks are already created with the links and metrics. You get back roughly an hour per workday, and the follow-up doesn’t depend on memory.
What You’ll Need
- n8n instance (try n8n Cloud free)
- Self-hosting option if you prefer (Hostinger works well)
- Asana for creating and assigning follow-up tasks
- Slack to deliver the daily digest and alerts
- Gmail to email the longer, inbox-ready digest
- Azure OpenAI API credentials (get them from your Azure OpenAI resource in Azure Portal)
Skill level: Intermediate. You’ll connect OAuth accounts and adjust a few fields like project IDs and channel targets.
Don’t want to set this up yourself? Talk to an automation expert (free 15-minute consultation).
How It Works
A daily schedule kicks things off. n8n runs this once per day, so you don’t have to remember to check Hacker News or keep a tab open all morning.
Hacker News posts are pulled and filtered for launch intent. The workflow retrieves recent Show HN items and looks for common launch signals in the title and description. This keeps “interesting but not actually a launch” items from clogging your task list.
Launch details are standardized and scored. Product name, links, author, points, and comments are normalized into a consistent format. Then the workflow assigns a simple strength label (High, Medium, Low) so the day’s list is automatically prioritized.
Tasks and digests are produced and delivered. Each launch becomes an Asana task with context for follow-up, while an AI agent drafts a Slack-ready summary and a longer email briefing. If something fails, an error trigger sends a Slack notification with the node name and timestamp.
You can easily modify the launch filters to match your niche or change the scoring rules based on your needs. See the full implementation guide below for customization options.
Step-by-Step Implementation Guide
Step 1: Configure the Scheduled Trigger
Set the workflow to scan Show HN posts on a schedule using the trigger node.
- Add the Scheduled Show HN Scan node and open its settings.
- Define your scan interval in the Rule section to match how often you want to run the workflow.
- Connect Scheduled Show HN Scan to Retrieve Recent Show HN Posts.
Step 2: Connect Hacker News Data Source
Configure the node that fetches recent Show HN items to feed into your launch detection pipeline.
- Open Retrieve Recent Show HN Posts and set Resource to
all. - Set Limit to
30. - In Additional Fields, set Tags to include
show_hn. - Connect Retrieve Recent Show HN Posts to Detect Launch Signals.
Step 3: Set Up Launch Signal Processing
Filter Show HN items for launch signals, then standardize the output fields for downstream actions.
- In Detect Launch Signals, keep the JavaScript filter logic as provided to match launch keywords.
- Connect Detect Launch Signals to Standardize Launch Details.
- In Standardize Launch Details, keep the JavaScript mapping logic to produce normalized fields like
product_name,launch_signal_strength, andhn_item_url. - Note the parallel split: Standardize Launch Details outputs to both Generate Asana Launch Task and Combine Launch Items in parallel.
.toLowerCase() logic in the code.Step 4: Set Up the AI Digest Generation
Aggregate launch items and generate Slack + email digests using the AI agent and reasoning model.
- Open Combine Launch Items and confirm Aggregate is set to
aggregateAllItemData. - Connect Combine Launch Items to Draft Daily Launch Digest AI.
- In Draft Daily Launch Digest AI, keep the prompt text and ensure the input expression includes
{{ JSON.stringify($input.all().map(i => i.json), null, 2) }}. - Confirm the AI language model connection: Digest Reasoning Model is connected as the language model for Draft Daily Launch Digest AI — ensure credentials are added to Digest Reasoning Model, not the agent node.
- Open Digest Reasoning Model and set Model to
gpt-4o-mini. - Connect Draft Daily Launch Digest AI to Extract Digest Outputs.
Credential Required: Connect your azureOpenAiApi credentials in Digest Reasoning Model.
Step 5: Configure Output & Action Nodes
Send the digest to Slack and Gmail, and create Asana tasks for each detected launch.
- In Generate Asana Launch Task, set Name to
={{ $json.source }}, and update Workspace and Projects to your Asana IDs. - Keep Due On as
={{ $now.plus({ days: 1 }).toISODate() }}and confirm the detailed notes template is intact. - In Post Digest to Slack, set Text to
={{ $json.slack_message }}and choose your target Channel. - In Email Digest Delivery, set Send To to your recipient and keep Message as
={{ $json.email_digest.replace(/\n/g, '<br>') }}with Subject set toDaily Hacker News Launch Digest. - Note the parallel split: Extract Digest Outputs outputs to both Post Digest to Slack and Email Digest Delivery in parallel.
Credential Required: Connect your asanaOAuth2Api credentials in Generate Asana Launch Task.
Credential Required: Connect your slackApi credentials in Post Digest to Slack.
Credential Required: Connect your gmailOAuth2 credentials in Email Digest Delivery.
Step 6: Add Error Handling
Route workflow errors to Slack so you’re alerted if any step fails.
- Ensure Failure Alert Trigger is present as the error trigger node.
- Connect Failure Alert Trigger to Slack Error Notification.
- In Slack Error Notification, keep the message format with variables:
{{ $json.node.name }},{{ $json.error.message }}, and{{ $json.timestamp }}.
Credential Required: Connect your slackApi credentials in Slack Error Notification.
Step 7: Test and Activate Your Workflow
Run a manual test to validate the full pipeline before enabling the schedule.
- Click Execute Workflow to run Scheduled Show HN Scan manually.
- Verify that Post Digest to Slack posts a digest and Email Digest Delivery sends a formatted email.
- Confirm that Generate Asana Launch Task creates tasks with the launch details.
- If successful, toggle the workflow to Active to enable scheduled execution.
Common Gotchas
- Asana credentials can expire or need specific permissions. If things break, check the n8n credential connection status and the target project access in Asana first.
- If you’re using Wait nodes or external processing, run times vary. Bump up the wait duration if downstream nodes fail on empty responses.
- Default prompts in AI nodes are generic. Add your brand voice early or you’ll be editing outputs forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
About 30 minutes if your accounts are ready.
No. You’ll mostly connect accounts and paste in a few IDs (like your Asana project and Slack channel).
Yes. n8n has a free self-hosted option and a free trial on n8n Cloud. Cloud plans start at $20/month for higher volume. You’ll also need to factor in Azure OpenAI usage costs.
Two options: n8n Cloud (managed, easiest setup) or self-hosting on a VPS. For self-hosting, Hostinger VPS is affordable and handles n8n well. Self-hosting gives you unlimited executions but requires basic server management.
Yes, and it’s one of the best reasons to use this workflow. You can change the launch filters in the “Detect Launch Signals” logic and tweak the criteria in the “Standardize Launch Details” step so “High signal” matches your reality. Some teams weight comments more than points because comments hint at buyer intent. Others add a rule for “has an external URL” to avoid meta posts. You can also adjust the AI digest prompt so it calls out certain categories (developer tools, B2B SaaS, AI agents) more aggressively.
Usually it’s expired OAuth credentials in n8n or missing access to the specific Asana project you’re creating tasks in. Reconnect the Asana credential, then confirm the target workspace/project still exists and you have permission to add tasks. If it fails only on certain items, check whether your task fields are too long (some descriptions can exceed limits if you paste full comment excerpts).
Plenty for a daily Show HN scan.
Often, yes, because this is more than “HN item → send message.” You’re doing filtering, normalization, task creation, aggregation, then AI summarization into two formats, plus error handling. n8n is simply better suited to branching logic and multi-step transformations, and self-hosting avoids per-task pricing surprises when you scale. Zapier or Make can still work if you trim the workflow down to a basic Slack post and skip scoring. If you’re unsure, Talk to an automation expert and we’ll map it to your volume and team habits.
Once this is running, Show HN stops being a “hope I catch it” channel and becomes a daily, trackable pipeline. The workflow handles the repetitive parts so you can focus on the follow-up that actually moves the needle.
Need Help Setting This Up?
Our automation experts can build and customize this workflow for your specific needs. Free 15-minute consultation—no commitment required.
