# 11 Build Your First AI Automation

This beginner-friendly template shows you how to extract content from any source (YouTube, TikTok, articles, PDFs) and publish it to social media.

## What You'll Learn

* How to use the Create Source node to extract content
* How to use the Get Source node to retrieve extracted content
* How to transform content with custom instructions
* How to create visuals and publish to multiple platforms

## Video Tutorial

{% embed url="<https://youtu.be/YOUR_VIDEO_ID>" %}

## Prerequisites

1. Blotato API key ([get one here](https://my.blotato.com/settings))
2. n8n or Make.com account
3. Social accounts connected in Blotato

## Workflow Overview

This automation:

1. Takes a YouTube URL as input
2. Extracts the transcript using Create Source
3. Waits for processing
4. Retrieves the content using Get Source
5. Creates visuals (videos, carousels) with Blotato
6. Publishes to your connected platforms

## Step-by-Step Setup

### Step 1: Add Create Source Node

1. Add a Blotato node to your workflow
2. Select "Source" > "Create"
3. Set Source Type to "URL"
4. Enter your YouTube URL

### Step 2: Add Wait Node

1. Add a Wait node after Create Source
2. Set wait time to 10 seconds (adjust for longer videos)

### Step 3: Add Get Source Node

1. Add another Blotato node
2. Select "Source" > "Get"
3. Pass the source ID from Step 1
4. Enable "Clean Transcript" to remove timestamps

### Step 4: Add Create Visual Node

1. Add a Blotato node
2. Select "Visual" > "Create"
3. Choose a template (carousel, slideshow, or video)
4. Pass the extracted content as the script or text input

### Step 5: Add Publish Node

1. Add a Blotato node
2. Select "Post" > "Publish"
3. Select your target platform
4. Pass the visual URL from Step 4

## Tips

* Start with short YouTube videos (under 5 minutes) for faster testing
* Use custom instructions in Create Source to pre-process content
* Increase wait time for longer videos or PDFs
* Check your [API Dashboard](https://my.blotato.com/api-dashboard) if extraction fails

## Source Types You Can Use

| Source Type | Examples                      |
| ----------- | ----------------------------- |
| YouTube     | Video transcripts             |
| TikTok      | Video transcripts             |
| Articles    | Blog posts, news articles     |
| PDFs        | Ebooks, research papers       |
| Audio       | Podcasts, meeting recordings  |
| Text        | Raw text you paste in         |
| AI Research | Perplexity-powered web search |

## Next Steps

Once you're comfortable with this basic flow:

* Explore the [1 Post Everywhere](/api/templates/1-post-everywhere.md) template for multi-platform posting
* Try [AI Clone Videos](/api/templates/3-hackernews-to-ai-clone-videos.md) for automated avatar videos
* Check [Faceless Videos](/api/n8n/n8n-faceless-videos.md) for AI-generated video content


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.blotato.com/api/templates/11-build-your-first-ai-automation.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.