Every FeedForce Automation Node, Explained

FeedForce's automation canvas is a node graph: right-click to drop a node, drag to reposition it, connect typed ports, click a node to configure it in the side panel. If you've used n8n or Make, the shape is familiar — the mental model is the same one we cover in our node-automation primer. What's different is which nodes exist. Here's every one, what it actually does, and where it fits in a real workflow.

Trigger — when the workflow runs

Every workflow starts with exactly one Trigger node: either manual (you press Run) or timer (hourly, daily, weekly, or a custom schedule). There's no dedicated "watch this webhook" or "watch this RSS feed" trigger type — for event-driven signals, pair a timer with an HTTP Request node that polls the source on each tick.

HTTP Request — talk to anything

A general-purpose API caller: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, with an optional stored API-key credential (encrypted server-side, picked from a credential dropdown rather than pasted in plaintext each time). This is the node that makes the canvas open-ended — poll a news API, hit a stock-price endpoint, call a platform you're not natively connected to. It's the same tool n8n workflows lean on for everything; here it sits next to the design and publishing nodes instead of standing alone.

Custom Agent — the AI research/drafting step

An AI node (Gemini 2.5 Flash or Pro) that takes a prompt plus a JSON schema you define, and returns structured data matching that schema — a headline, a summary, a stat, a sentiment score, whatever the next node needs. Deliberately, it does not write finished slide copy: the design decision of what goes where lives in your template, not in the AI's output. Optional web-search grounding lets it pull in current information rather than relying on the model's training data alone — relevant for anything time-sensitive, like a news-to-post pipeline.

Code — custom logic

A JavaScript step: it receives ctx.input and ctx.config, and returns an object for the next node. Use it for anything the other nodes don't cover directly — reshaping a payload, computing a derived value, filtering an array by a rule too specific for the If node. FeedForce's own docs note the code editor is a plain textarea today (a full Monaco-style editor is planned) and that unsandboxed script execution is a known constraint worth being deliberate about — write or review the code yourself rather than pasting in scripts from an untrusted source.

If — branching logic

Conditional routing on an expression like {{ $json.value > 0 }}. Use it to gate a workflow on relevance ("only continue if this story mentions my industry") or to split a path ("if engagement is above X, do this; otherwise, do that").

Apply Template — where data becomes a designed post

Takes the structured data flowing in and binds it into a saved FeedForce template's identifiers — the same templates you build by hand in the carousel or reel editor. This is the node that turns "a JSON object with a headline and a stat" into an actual branded slide, with your brand kit's fonts, colors, and logo already applied because they're baked into the template, not re-specified per run.

Element — dynamic charts and data views

Similar idea, scoped to a single AI Element (a chart, table, or candlestick view) rather than a whole template. Ports are generated automatically from that element's own input schema, so wiring data into a live chart is as direct as wiring it into a template.

Post — publish to Instagram

Takes the slides an Apply Template node produced and publishes them to your connected Instagram account — feed, reels, or story. This is the one node in the canvas that's platform-native; anything beyond Instagram routes back through the HTTP Request node with your own developer credentials, the same pattern you'd use in a general-purpose tool.

A minimal real workflow

Putting the pieces together — the actual node chain for a simple automated news post:

Six nodes, each doing one job, visible end to end on one canvas — no external design API, no separately-maintained posting script. There's no dedicated approval-gate node here, so before wiring the Trigger to a timer, run it manually once and check what the Apply Template step produced. For the broader pattern this fits into, see how to create content automations; for how it stacks up against building the same thing in n8n, see our n8n comparison.