When I first started building n8n workflows, I didn’t realize how many moving pieces there were—and I see a lot of beginners skip the fundamentals and just vibe-code everything into a Code node. That works until it doesn’t, and then your whole workflow becomes brittle. In this 2026 update, I walk through the core n8n workflow concepts you actually need to understand so you can build automations that don’t fall apart later. I start with triggers (manual for testing, schedule for recurring jobs, app events, and webhooks/form submissions when the app doesn’t have the event you need). Then I break down nodes and how data flows through n8n using expressions—literally drag-and-drop from schema/table/JSON views to pass data forward. From there, we get into the stuff that trips people up: items. Nodes run once per input item, so you usually don’t need Loop Over Items. I show one-to-many with Split Out (arrays) and many-to-one with Summarize or Aggregate, plus how Merge actually works (append vs combine by matching fields or by position). We also cover branching with If/Switch, limiting/filtering items for testing, and working toward real “end destinations” like email or files—then I give you a homework assignment to build an employee data pipeline that uses everything.