Multi-agent = chaos. How do you avoid rogue agents?+
Three disciplines. Explicit orchestration (no opaque AutoGPT-style auto-orchestration): every step declared in n8n, every transition documented, every LLM call traced. Human checkpoints on risky steps: final publish, spend > threshold, source allowlist exit. Source and tool allowlist: an agent can only query sources and call tools explicitly declared in its scope. If you want "an agent that does everything alone", we are not the right partner.
Which LLMs do you use?+
Mixed by step criticality. Claude (Anthropic) for long-form writing, complex reasoning, factual validation (observed superior quality on these tasks in our workflows). OpenAI GPT-4o for multi-modal tasks (image, table structure) and steps where speed matters more than depth. Open-source models via Groq for low-criticality steps (simple classification, field extraction) to optimize costs. The LLM choice per step is explicit and arbitrated at scoping.
How much does an agentic chain cost in inference?+
It varies with volume and complexity. On the think-tank case, monthly inference cost remains below 200 EUR for 5 workflows running daily and producing 143+ long-form articles over the period. Levers: premium vs. low-cost LLM arbitration by criticality, request batching, response caching on stable sources. A FinOps dashboard ships with the chain for monitoring and alerts.
Can you plug the chain into our internal systems (CRM, ERP, DAM)?+
Yes — that is even the most frequent target use case. n8n has native connectors for most CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics), ERPs (SAP, Odoo, Oracle), DAM, ESP, and collaboration tools (Slack, Teams, Notion). For proprietary systems without a native connector, we write a custom connector or expose a thin API layer. Access and secret governance is framed at Intake.
Time to put an agentic chain into production?+
4 to 12 weeks depending on complexity. For a typical editorial chain with 3-5 workflows and standard connectors (CMS, mailing, slides), plan 4 to 6 weeks: 2 weeks of scoping and design, 2-3 weeks of development and tests, 1 week of hyper-care. For complex chains integrating internal systems and multiple HITL, 8 to 12 weeks.