---
project: email-obsidian-git-pipeline
type: session-notes
status: active
tags:
  - pbs
  - n8n
  - automation
  - gitea
  - obsidian
  - gmail
  - gdrive
created: 2026-03-24
updated: 2026-03-24
path: PBS/Tech/Sessions/
---

# Email to Obsidian Git Pipeline — Session Complete

## 🎉 What We Built

A fully automated document pipeline that takes Claude-drafted project emails and files them into Gitea (Obsidian vault) and Google Drive simultaneously.

```
Gmail → n8n → Parse Email → Extract Frontmatter
                           ↓
                    Gitea (vault) ✅
                           ↓
                    GDrive (Jenny) ✅
                           ↓
                    Google Chat notification ✅
```

---

## ✅ Completed This Session

### Gmail OAuth & Trigger
- Created new OAuth 2.0 client in Google Console for n8n (separate from mail client OAuth)
- Enabled Gmail API and Google Drive API
- Gmail trigger polls every hour for unread emails matching subject filter
- Processed emails get labeled `n8n/processed` and removed from INBOX

### Email Parsing
- HTML body extraction using `` tag to protect markdown formatting
- HTML entity cleaning and sanitization
- YAML frontmatter validation (checks for `---` prefix)

### Frontmatter Extraction
- Custom `parseYamlValue()` function handles quoted and unquoted values
- Defensive defaults for missing fields:
  - `project` defaults to slugified email subject (strips `[flags]`)
  - `path` defaults to `PBS/Inbox` for malformed emails
- Subject flag extraction: `[flag1]` = trigger, `[flag2]` = routing category

### Email Subject Convention
```
[n8n] PBS Project - project name
[n8n] PBS Content - content idea
[n8n] Thought - quick capture
```
- Gmail trigger filter: `subject:[n8n] -label:n8n/processed`
- Switch node routes based on `flag2` downstream

### Gitea File Creation
- Gitea deployed on staging with SQLite (lightweight, no extra MySQL container)
- Healthcheck temporarily removed to allow initial setup via GUI
- Files written via Gitea REST API using HTTP Request node
- Auth: Header Auth with `token YOUR_TOKEN` format (not Bearer!)
- Internal Docker hostname: `http://gitea:3000/api/v1/`

### Google Drive Upload
- Google Drive API enabled in Google Console
- Markdown converted to binary using Convert to File node (Move Base64 String to File operation)
- Files uploaded to `pbs-planning` folder
- Same markdown content used (raw text, not base64 like Gitea)

### Google Chat Notifications
- Centralized notification sub-workflow with space selector
- Payload: `{ title, message, status, space, timestamp }`
- Message format: `🌻 PBS Message: *title*\nmessage\n\n_timestamp_`
- Error Trigger node catches failures, routes to same notification sub-workflow
- Spaces: `webadmin`, `insta`, `automation`

---

## 🔑 Key Learnings

- **Gitea auth** uses `token YOUR_TOKEN` not `Bearer` in Authorization header
- **GDrive Upload** requires binary data — use Convert to File node before GDrive node
- **Convert to File** operation must be `Move Base64 String to File` not `toText`
- **Google APIs** must be explicitly enabled per project even with OAuth credentials set up
- **n8n Error Trigger** only fires on production executions, not manual test runs
- **Gmail labels** are the underlying mechanism for folders — remove `INBOX` label to move emails
- **Gitea healthcheck** uses API endpoint that only responds after initial setup wizard completes — chicken and egg problem with Traefik!
- **Pinned data** in n8n doesn't always flow correctly through newly added nodes

---

## 🔧 Gitea Setup Notes

- Running on staging with SQLite database
- Admin user created via CLI: `docker exec -it -u git gitea gitea admin user create`
- Must use `-u git` flag or Gitea complains about running as root
- Initial healthcheck pointed to `/api/v1/version` which 404s before setup — temporarily removed to allow Traefik routing
- After setup complete, healthcheck can be restored

---

## 📋 Next Steps

- [ ] Restore Gitea healthcheck now that setup is complete
- [ ] Connect Obsidian Git plugin to Gitea repo on homelab
- [ ] Build Switch node routing for `flag2` (PBS Content, Thought, etc.)
- [ ] Migrate existing Google Chat webhook workflows to centralized sub-workflow
- [ ] Add GDrive dynamic subfolder creation based on `path` frontmatter field
- [ ] Deploy Gitea to production after staging validation
- [ ] Explore Quartz for browser-based vault viewing (Jenny access)
- [ ] Update Gmail trigger subject convention from `[PBS Project]` to `[n8n]` prefix

---

## 🏗️ Current Pipeline Architecture

```
Gmail (hourly poll)
  └── Filter: subject:[n8n] -label:n8n/processed
  └── Parse HTML body (extract  block)
  └── Validate YAML frontmatter
  └── Extract: project, path, flag2, emailId, subject
  └── Prepare file content
      ├── Gitea: base64 encoded → HTTP Request → /api/v1/repos/
      └── GDrive: base64 → Convert to File → GDrive Upload
  └── Label email: add n8n/processed, remove INBOX
  └── Notify: Google Chat automation space
  
Error Trigger (unconnected, auto-fires on error)
  └── Set error payload
  └── Notify: Google Chat automation space
```

---

*Last Updated: 2026-03-24*
*Maintained by: Travis*
*Session: Email to Obsidian Git Pipeline*