n8n Community Nodes: URL Shortener, Click Tracking + AI Agent Tool (Linkly)

Transcript

The full spoken transcript, split by chapter.

0:00What the Linkly node does

Short links created from inside n8n. A trigger that fires the moment someone clicks one. And an AI agent that makes short links on request. That's the Linkly node for n8n, and here's the whole setup, start to finish. Linkly is a URL shortener with click tracking, and its n8n node is free and open source. I'll install it, connect it, run every operation, wire up the click trigger, and then hand the same node to an AI agent. It takes about three minutes.

0:31Install the community node

First, the install. Under Settings, open Community nodes and click Install. Paste the package name, it's in the guide below this video, tick the box, and install. A few seconds later n8n confirms the package is in. No build step, no restart.

0:48Connect with OAuth2 or an API key

Now a new workflow. Add a step, search for Linkly, and pick the Linkly Link Shortener. It needs a credential, so create one. There are two ways in. An API key from your Linkly settings, or OAuth2, which is what I'll use. Enter the client ID and secret, click Connect, and Linkly asks you to authorise n8n for the workspace. One click, and the node's signed in.

1:10Create a short link (custom domain, slug, UTM)

Operation, Create. Paste the destination, that's the page you want to share. Then Add Field. Set the custom domain, add a custom slug, so the link reads demo.linkly.so/n8n-demo instead of random letters, and a UTM source, so the click shows up in analytics. Execute step, and the output is the new link: its ID, the full short URL, and every setting Linkly stored.

1:38Get Many and Update

Get Many lists every link in the workspace, all of them or up to a limit, so a workflow can loop over them or look one up. Update changes a link that already exists. Pick it from the list, no IDs to copy. Then add the field you want to change, here it's the nickname. Execute, and it's updated in Linkly. Destination, slug, UTMs, pixels, expiry, anything on the link can be changed this way.

2:03The click trigger (n8n webhook trigger for link clicks)

Now the trigger. Add the Linkly Trigger. The event is Any Link Clicked, or you can watch one specific link. Listen for a test event, and open the short link in another tab. There it is. Country, platform, browser, referrer, the destination and the link ID, all in one item. From here you can ping Slack, write a row to Sheets, or update your CRM.

2:27Where it fits: a lead-tracking workflow

So where does this fit? Say a lead fills in a form. n8n creates a tracked short link just for them, and drops it into the welcome email. The moment they click, the trigger fires. Slack gets a ping, the CRM row flips to engaged, and the follow-up goes out. One workflow, and every link in it is measured.

2:46Use Linkly as an AI agent tool

And the part people ask about most. Add an AI Agent and give it a chat model, any provider works. Then under Tools, pick Linkly. The node exposes its Create operation as a tool. Set the fields it should use, here the pricing page and the slug /ai-demo. Now the agent gets a plain English message: create the pricing page short link and reply with the URL. It calls Linkly, and hands back the finished short link.

3:12Delete and wrap-up

Delete rounds it off. Pick the link, execute, and it's gone from Linkly, so a workflow can tidy up after itself. That's the full node: Create, Get, Get Many, Update, Delete, plus the trigger. The node's open source, and you can start on Linkly completely free, so try the whole thing today. Search for Linkly under Community nodes in n8n, and the guide has the package name and the credential steps. Everything you need is just below this video.

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