Research web topics and email a Claude report via Gmail using SerpApi, Jina.ai and Firecrawl

Description

Submit a research topic through a form and receive a professionally styled executive report in your inbox — fully automated, with built-in scraping resilience.

The workflow searches Google via SerpApi, scrapes each result with Jina.ai (free, no key needed), and uses Claude to extract key findings. If a page is blocked by a CAPTCHA or login wall, it automatically retries with Firecrawl. Blocked sources are gracefully skipped after two attempts. Once all sources are processed, Claude synthesises a structured executive report and delivers it as a styled HTML email via Gmail.

How it works

A web form collects the research topic, number of sources (5–7), and recipient email
SerpApi searches Google and returns a buffer of results (2× requested + 3 to survive domain filtering)
Junk domains are filtered out automatically (Reddit, YouTube, Twitter, PDFs, etc.)
Each URL is processed one at a time in a serial loop:
Round 1 — Jina.ai: free Markdown scraper, no API key required
Claude checks the content — if it's a CAPTCHA or wall, it returns RETRY_NEEDED
Round 2 — Firecrawl: paid fallback scraper retries the blocked URL
If still blocked, the source is marked as unavailable and the loop continues
All extracted findings are aggregated and Claude writes a structured executive report (Executive Summary, Key Findings, Detailed Analysis, Data & Evidence, Conclusions, Sources)
The report is converted to styled HTML (with tables, headings, and lists) and emailed to the recipient

Setup steps

Required credentials

| Service | Where to get it | Where to paste it |
|---|---|---|
| SerpApi | serpapi.com — free tier: 100 searches/month | SerpApi Search node → query param api_key |
| Firecrawl | firecrawl.dev — free tier: 500 pages/month | Firecrawl (Fallback) node → Authorization header |
| Anthropic | n8n credentials → Anthropic API | Connect to: Claude Extractor, Claude Re-Analyzer, Claude Synthesizer |
| Gmail | n8n credentials → Gmail OAuth2 | Connect to: Send Gmail |

Error handler (optional)

The workflow includes a built-in error handler that captures the failed node name, error message, and execution URL. To activate it: Workflow Settings → Error Workflow → select this workflow. Add a Slack or Gmail node after Format Error to receive failure alerts.

Nodes used

n8n Form Trigger** — collects topic, source count, and recipient email
HTTP Request** × 3 — SerpApi (Google Search), Jina.ai (primary scraper), Firecrawl (fallback scraper)
Code** × 6 — URL filtering, response normalisation, prompt assembly, HTML rendering
Split In Batches** — serial loop (one URL at a time, prevents rate limit collisions)
IF** × 2 — CAPTCHA/block detection after each scrape attempt
Wait** — 3-second pause before Firecrawl retry
Basic LLM Chain** × 3 — page analysis (×2) and report synthesis (×1), all powered by Claude
Aggregate** — collects all per-URL findings before synthesis
Gmail** — sends the final HTML report
Error Trigger + Set** — error handler sub-flow

Notes

Jina.ai is free and works without an API key for most public pages
Firecrawl is only called when Jina is blocked — most runs won't consume Firecrawl credits
SerpApi fetches numSources × 2 + 3 results to ensure enough survive domain filtering
Claude model is set to claude-sonnet-4-5 — swap to any Anthropic model in the three Claude nodes
The HTML email renders markdown tables, headings, lists, and bold correctly in Gmail