n8n Labs, a team inside n8n that tests ideas outside the main product, has released Nod as a research preview, according to the n8n blog. Nod is a standalone app that installs on a Mac or Windows computer. It does not need an n8n account, and there is no server or cloud service to set up first.
What it does
Nod is a personal agent with its own sandboxed computer and browser, both running locally. You describe a job and it works until the job is done, rather than returning a to-do list. It can use connected apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Slack, and it can operate websites that have no integration. The examples n8n gives include cancelling a subscription and refusing retention offers, signing in to supplier portals monthly to download and file invoices, and copying figures from a dashboard that cannot export data into a weekly report.
You talk to it in one conversation, in the app, on Telegram or on WhatsApp, while several jobs run in parallel in the background. Scheduled tasks, for example a morning digest or a pricing review, may be set to execute automatically at fixed times. Nod also reads connected apps and suggests jobs it could take over.
Memory and controls
Nod keeps memory across months of conversation. n8n reports a 93.2% score on LongMemEval, a public long-term memory benchmark. Users can see, edit or delete what it stores. It also records how it completed a task and reuses those notes later.
On safety, the source describes several design choices:
- Saved logins and cards are encrypted locally and entered through forms the model cannot read.
- A separate check confirms the user asked for any send, payment, post or deletion before it happens.
- Every sign-in, card use and app action is logged, along with task cost.
n8n points out that the permission check is a model too, so it can err; that's the reason Nod requests confirmation when your instructions don't plainly address an action.
Cost and limits
The app is free under Apache 2.0. Users pay their model provider, or can connect an open-source model on their own machine. Early testers found costs higher than expected, and n8n says its latest release reduced them substantially. Guardrails include a receipt for each finished task, a configurable monthly spending limit, a check-in once a task passes $5, and an estimated monthly cost on each schedule.
Known gaps: Nod stops when a laptop sleeps, so some testers run it on an always-on Mac mini or their own server. A hosted version is on the roadmap but not released. Each installation has one owner, and Nod cannot make phone calls. n8n says the project does not change the direction of n8n itself.