After years of manually creating monthly playlists to archive my musical discoveries, I finally automated the entire process using a self-hosted n8n instance. This simple workflow has saved me hours of tedious work and ensures I never miss capturing a song I’ve enjoyed.
My Setup
I’m running n8n on my home server, which handles the entire playlist creation process. The workflow I implemented is based on the “Add Liked Songs to a Spotify Monthly Playlist” template (n8n.io/workflows/1074), with a few personal tweaks.
The automation does three key things:
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Creates a new playlist at the beginning of each month
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Captures all songs I “like” throughout the month
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Adds them to the monthly playlist automatically
Why This Works So Well
What I love about this automation is its simplicity. I no longer need to remember to create playlists or manually add songs—I just hit “like” on Spotify, and the rest happens automatically. It’s become my personal musical archive system.
The self-hosted approach means I maintain complete control over my data and the workflow, plus I don’t need to worry about subscription costs or service disruptions.
Getting Started
If you’re interested in setting this up for yourself, you’ll need:
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A server to host n8n (I use a Hetzner instance with Coolify)
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Basic familiarity with n8n’s interface
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A Spotify account with API access
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NocoDB running on a server (I installed it using Coolify)
The template provides a solid starting point, though I found I needed to adjust the authentication refresh handling to keep things running smoothly long-term.
This small automation has genuinely improved my music discovery experience—I can focus on enjoying music rather than managing playlists, while still maintaining my musical timeline for later reflection.