n8n

Here is a typical use case of using Lago and n8n to build alerting automation.

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Overconsumption alerting example (with n8n)

When one of your customers is overconsuming during a period, you might need to warn them. This might happen for Cloud or API products. Automatic billing does not mean that your customers should have a bad surprise when opening their invoices. Here is a full workflow to create an alerting system based on your customers’ current usage, using n8n, an automation tool for developers. In this example, we are going to build an alert anytime a usage threshold is exceeded. Here is a summary of this workflow:

1. Use a Cron expression to call the Lago API every X minutes/hours/days
2. Call the Current usage endpoint available in Lago to fetch your customers’ current usage;
3. Create a IF statement to condition the trigger (in our case, messages are triggered above a specific overconsumption); and
4. Send a message whenever this threshold is reached. You could use an emailing tool, Slack or a CRM. In our case, we are using Slack.

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1st Node - CRON expression to repeat tasks at a defined interval

The first node is repeatedly and automatically triggering the automation at a defined interval.

1. Add a new Node;
2. Select CRON as a new application node;
3. The Mode is set to Every X; and
4. The Value is defined to 10 and the Units to minutes.

This will trigger the flow automatically every 10 minutes. Change the value and the units to your preferred interval.

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2nd Node - Catch customers’ current usage with an HTTP Request

This node is used to fetch current usage from the Lago API, using an HTTP request.

1. Add a new Node;
2. Select HTTP Request as a new application node;
3. Fetch customers’ current usage from Lago API;
4. Make sure to set the API_KEY and the Content-Type as headers of your request; and
5. Execute the node to fetch the payload from Lago’s API.

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3rd Node - IF conditional statement to trigger messages under conditions

This node is used to trigger the alert only when your customers exceed a usage threshold. Those limits depend on your product and your paying features. In our present use case, we want to trigger an alert when the total consumption of usage-based features goes over $200. You could also use the number of units consumed or another useful value from the payload.

1. Add a new Node;
2. Select IF as a new application node;
3. Create a condition for the TRUE branch (when conditions are met);
4. The Value is the parameter of your condition (in our case the amount_cents of the current usage);
5. The Operation is the comparison you want to apply. amount_cents is expressed in cents, so a $200 threshold means the condition is met when amount_cents is greater than or equal to 20000;

It is important to mention that:

• You can add as many conditions as you need;
• You could add an action when the condition is FALSE.

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4th Node - Send an alert message to Slack

This last node is used to trigger the message. In the example, we use a Slack channel, but you could even decide to send an email directly to your customers when they pass the limits of usage.

1. Add a new Node;
2. Select Slack as a new application node;
3. Select the targeted Slack Account & Slack Channel;
4. Choose the option to POST a Message; and
5. Define a message and use the variables of your payload to give context to your customers about their current usage.