I recently finished my first project with n8n and now I’m thinking about using it for bigger production work. But first I need to figure out what n8n can and cannot do.
I already made a Telegram bot using regular code. This bot takes AliExpress product URLs, makes discount links from them, watches popular Telegram channels for new links, turns them into affiliate links, and shares them in our channel.
Now I want to try rebuilding this same bot with n8n instead. Here’s what I discovered:
Main Problem: n8n doesn’t have a ready-made AliExpress connector.
How to Fix It: I looked into making custom nodes for n8n. Good news is that n8n lets you build your own nodes. This feature is really important!
Is it worth the effort? Definitely yes! I keep thinking about this. If I create the node one time, I can use it again later or even give it to other n8n users. I think this approach will save me tons of development time and make everything easier to maintain.
My decision? I’m going to rebuild my bot with n8n because:
- It will be fun to learn how to make custom nodes
- My project will be cleaner and easier to understand
Has anyone else tried switching from code to n8n for similar projects? What challenges did you face?
I switched from traditional coding to n8n for a price monitoring system last year and the learning curve was steeper than expected. The biggest challenge wasn’t building custom nodes but rather debugging when things went wrong - n8n’s error messages can be quite cryptic compared to standard programming languages. Your Telegram bot project sounds perfect for n8n though, especially since you’re already comfortable with the platform. One issue I encountered was rate limiting became harder to manage in visual workflows compared to code where I had more granular control. The AliExpress integration will definitely benefit from a custom node approach since you’ll likely need specific authentication handling and response parsing. Just be prepared to spend time documenting your custom node thoroughly because coming back to it months later without proper documentation can be frustrating. The visual aspect is great for quick modifications but complex logic still feels more natural in traditional code to me.
I went through something similar about eight months ago when I migrated a data processing pipeline from Python to n8n. The experience taught me that the decision really depends on your long-term maintenance strategy. What surprised me most was how much faster I could iterate and debug workflows in n8n compared to traditional code, especially when dealing with API integrations and data transformations. However, I did hit some performance bottlenecks when processing large volumes of data that my original Python script handled more efficiently. The visual workflow representation became incredibly valuable when I needed to onboard team members or troubleshoot issues months later. One thing to consider is version control - while n8n has improved in this area, managing workflow versions still feels less mature than traditional git-based code management. Your custom node approach sounds solid, but make sure to plan for updates to the AliExpress API since maintaining custom nodes requires more ongoing attention than standard connectors.
honestly the custom node route might be overkill for your usecase. i built similar telegram bots and found that n8n’s webhook + http request nodes can handle most aliexpress api calls without needing custom development. sure it’s not as pretty but way less maintainence headache down the road.