DEV Community: Muhi

How I Automated News Discovery with n8n (439K Views, 0€ Spent)

Muhi — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 19:37:46 +0000

I'm building https://AKCACHE.io, a managed database service focused on EU digital sovereignty. My marketing depends on catching relevant EU policy news early, but manually scanning news sites daily was killing my productivity.

Then I got lucky. I found a German government report about US cloud access and posted it to r/europe. The result: 439K views, 2.9K upvotes, 229 comments - all organic. Zero ad spend.

Link to the post

I've spent money on ads before. To get even 50K impressions would cost thousands of euros. This single post drove more qualified traffic than months of paid campaigns.

The problem: I can't manually hunt for articles like this every day. So I did what any developer would do: I automated it.

The Solution: n8n News Discovery Pipeline

I already host n8n on my server, so the setup cost was €0. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Aggregate News Sources

The workflow pulls from multiple RSS feeds every 6 hours:

heise.de (German tech news)
Ars Technica
Euractiv (EU policy)
EUobserver
TechCrunch
The Verge
Google News RSS (custom search query)

Step 2: Filter by Keywords

After merging all sources, I filter for the last 6 hours (since it runs every 6 hours) and use JavaScript to check for relevant keywords:

const keywords = [
  'cloud act', 'fisa', 'digital sovereignty',
  'gdpr', 'eu cloud', 'data residency',
  'schrems', 'gaia-x', etc.
];

This cuts down ~100 articles to maybe 10-15 relevant ones.

Step 3: AI Relevance Scoring

Each article that passes keyword filtering goes to GPT-4o-mini for analysis:

Score 1-10 for relevance
Extract key topics
Determine urgency (high/medium/low)
Suggest post angle

Cost consideration: I use GPT-4o-mini for cost efficiency, but watch the Token Per Minute limit. That's why I added a 1-minute wait between API calls.

Step 4: Store and Notify

Articles scoring 7+ get saved to PostgreSQL and sent to me via email with:

Title and score
Why it matters
Suggested post hook
One-click link to generate draft

Step 5: Auto-Generate Reddit Posts (Human-in-Loop)

This is where it gets interesting. Each email has a clickable link that triggers a second workflow via GET request. When I click:

AI fetches the full article
Generates Reddit post title and body
Naturally mentions my product where relevant
Returns formatted post ready to copy/paste

I intentionally don't auto-post. I want automation for the tedious research part, not the human judgment part.

The Results

Before automation:

30+ minutes daily scanning news
Missed 80% of relevant articles
Inconsistent posting

After automation:

2 minutes daily reviewing AI-filtered results
Catch articles within 6 hours of publication
Consistent content pipeline

Best part: The whole flow runs on my existing server. No SaaS subscriptions, no external dependencies.

Technical Details

Workflow triggers:

Schedule: Every 6 hours starting at 00:00
Webhook: Manual trigger via URL for generating posts

Stack:

n8n (self-hosted)
PostgreSQL (article storage)
OpenAI GPT-4o-mini
Standard email node

You can adapt this for any use case - just change the RSS sources and keywords to match what you're tracking.

Questions? Ask in the comments.

US Authorities Access EU Cloud Data - Here's What I'm Building

Muhi — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 08:33:52 +0000

Yesterday, a German government report dropped that confirmed what many EU developers suspected but couldn't prove: US authorities have broad legal access to data stored in EU datacenters if a US company controls the infrastructure.

The report, commissioned by the German Interior Ministry and written by University of Cologne law professors, clarifies something critical: physical server location doesn't matter. What matters is who controls it.

AWS Frankfurt? Still subject to the CLOUD Act.

Azure Europe? FISA 702 applies.

Google Cloud EU regions? Same problem.

Even if your data sits in a German datacenter, if the parent company is US-based, US law can compel them to hand it over. The "EU data residency" marketing from big tech is misleading at best.

https://www.heise.de/news/Gutachten-US-Behoerden-haben-weitreichenden-Zugriff-auf-europaeische-Cloud-Daten-11111043.html

Why This Matters Now

I've been watching EU startups default to AWS RDS or DigitalOcean managed databases without thinking about jurisdiction. When compliance officers find out months later, everyone scrambles.

This isn't theoretical anymore. The German government just put it in writing.

The EU knows this too. They just announced the Cloud and AI Development Act with a goal to triple EU datacenter capacity by 2030. US companies currently control 70%+ of EU cloud infrastructure. Digital sovereignty is moving from "nice to have" to official policy.

What I Built

I'm Muhi, solo dev from Germany. Over the last few months I built akcache.io - managed Redis and PostgreSQL on Hetzner infrastructure.

The setup is straightforward:

Hetzner CX23 servers (€2.99/month)
Multi-tenant architecture (6 Redis instances per server)
Automated provisioning via Hetzner Cloud API
Takes 1-2 minutes to spin up a new database

The economics work because Hetzner's hardware is affordable and Redis is memory-bound, not CPU-bound. One €2.99 server runs 6 isolated instances at €7.99 each. That's €47.94 revenue vs €2.99 cost per server.

PostgreSQL is even better - one server handles 10+ databases with proper isolation.

The Architecture

Backend: ASP.NET Core (C#)

Fast, stable, good tooling
Entity Framework for my own PostgreSQL data store
Hangfire for background jobs (health checks, billing)

Provisioning:

Customer clicks "Create Instance"
API calls Hetzner Cloud API
SSH.NET configures Redis/PostgreSQL
Customer gets connection string
Whole process: 1-2 minutes

The sovereignty piece goes deeper than just databases. My customer database runs on my own PostgreSQL instances across multiple German locations. Authentication, billing, monitoring - everything avoids US dependencies. I even use Mollie instead of Stripe for payments.

If Hetzner got acquired tomorrow, I can migrate to OVHcloud or Scaleway. The architecture assumes providers might change. What matters is avoiding vendor lock-in at every layer.

The Solo Dev Reality

No VC funding. No team. Just me and Hetzner's API.

Started with "one server per customer" before realizing the economics were impossible. Multi-tenant from day one would have saved weeks.

Current costs:

Servers: €0 until first customer, then pay-as-you-grow
Domain: €15/year
SSL: Free (Let's Encrypt)
Everything else: self-hosted

50 customers = 8-10 servers = €25-30/month infrastructure for €400-500 revenue.

What I'd Do Differently

Better monitoring upfront. Added Sentry in week six. Should have been day one.

Public pricing from the start. Had to add this after feedback. Transparency matters when you're competing on values, not features.

Simpler frontend initially. Started with complex Next.js state management. Should have launched with basic React first.

Multi-tenant architecture from day one. Rewrote this after realizing single-tenant economics don't work at scale.

The Market Gap

I'm not trying to build Aurora or compete with AWS's 200+ services. Just solid managed databases that legally stay in the EU.

For Aurora-level stuff, check Aiven or Crunchy Data's EU offerings. They're more mature but 3-5x more expensive.

I'm targeting the gap between DIY Hetzner and enterprise solutions. Developers who want Hetzner's sovereignty without dealing with Redis configuration, backups, monitoring, failover.

Current Status

Launching publicly next week. Already got some early signups from a Reddit post about the government report. Planning to expand the server range - not just multi-tenant CX23, but dedicated CCX and CAX instances for customers who need guaranteed resources.

Roadmap is focused:

Redis Sentinel for high availability
Automated backups with self-service downloads
Better monitoring dashboards
Support for Hetzner's full server lineup

Solo dev means slower feature rollout but no pressure to compromise on the core principle. Building what I'd actually trust to use.

Why Share This

The EU needs infrastructure that's actually European, not just EU regions of US companies. The economics work if you're willing to use affordable providers like Hetzner, build multi-tenant from the start, and keep overhead low.

We don't need to replicate AWS's complexity. We need solid, sovereign basics that developers can trust.

Tech stack:

Backend: ASP.NET Core 9.0, Entity Framework, PostgreSQL
Infrastructure: Hetzner Cloud API, SSH.NET
Payments: Mollie (SEPA, iDEAL, cards, PayPal)
Monitoring: Sentry
Frontend: Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind

Check it out at akcache.io.

Questions about the architecture, economics, or the sovereignty angle? Ask below.

Building a Managed Database Service on €3 Hetzner Servers: The Economics of EU Cloud Sovereignty

Muhi — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:17:05 +0000

I spent the last few months building akcache.io - managed Redis and PostgreSQL hosting that's actually EU-sovereign, not just "EU region of a US company." Here's what I learned about the economics and why this matters right now.

The Problem Nobody Talks About

Most EU developers use AWS, DigitalOcean, or Azure for managed databases without realizing what that means legally. Even if your data sits in Frankfurt, the CLOUD Act gives US authorities access to it. Your "EU-compliant" setup isn't actually sovereign.

When I was working with EU startups, I kept seeing the same pattern: developer picks AWS RDS because it's easy, compliance officer finds out months later, everyone scrambles. There had to be a better way.

The Hetzner Opportunity

Hetzner's CX23 servers cost €2.99/month. They give you:

2 vCPUs
4GB RAM
40GB disk
Actually in Germany/Finland (yes, they also provide regions outside the EU)
Subject only to EU law

Most managed Redis services charge €15-30/month for 512MB. But here's the thing: you can run 6 isolated Redis instances on one CX23 server if you architect it right.

The math:

Server cost: €2.99/month
6 instances at €7.99 each: €47.94 revenue
Margin: €44.95 per server (15x)

This works because Redis is memory-bound, not CPU-bound. With proper isolation (separate Linux users, memory limits, port binding), multi-tenancy is safe.

The Architecture

Backend: ASP.NET Core (C#)

Fast, stable, excellent tooling
Entity Framework for PostgreSQL data store
Hangfire for background jobs (health checks, billing)

Provisioning flow:

Customer clicks "Create Instance"
API calls Hetzner Cloud API to spin up server
SSH.NET connects and configures Redis/PostgreSQL
Takes ~3-4 minutes end-to-end (even faster when the server is already up and running)
Customer gets connection string

For PostgreSQL: Shared instances with separate databases per customer. Even better margins (one €2.99 server = 10+ databases).

Why This Timing Matters

The EU just announced the Cloud and AI Development Act:

Goal: Triple EU data center capacity by 2030
€3 billion IPCEI-CIS funding
Public procurement shifting to EU providers
US companies control 70% of EU cloud right now

This isn't just regulatory theater. Sweden banned US cloud in schools. Germany requires sovereign options for public sector. France has SecNumCloud certification.

Digital sovereignty is moving from "nice to have" to "legal requirement."

The Solo Dev Reality

No VC funding. No team. Just me, my existing server, and Hetzner's API.

Cost structure:

Servers: Self-Hosted on a Hetzner Server
Domain: €30/year
SSL: Free (Let's Encrypt)
Middleware: Cloudflare (Free)
Payments: Mollie (EU Stripe alternative)
Development: Nights and weekends

The beauty of multi-tenant: I can serve 50 customers on 8-10 servers. That's €25-30/month infrastructure cost for €400-500 revenue.

What I'd Do Differently

Started with multi-tenant from day one. I initially built "one server per customer" before realizing the economics were impossible.

Used GitHub Actions earlier. Was manually deploying for too long. CI/CD saves hours every week.

Better monitoring upfront. Sentry integration should have been day-one, not week-six.

Didn't overthink the frontend. Started with Next.js + TypeScript + complicated state management. Should've launched with simpler React first.

The Open Questions

Can this scale? Yes, but watching for:

Support load (currently handling everything myself)
Provisioning bottlenecks (Hetzner API rate limits)
Network complexity as server count grows

What about backups? Currently daily snapshots via Hetzner. Point-in-time recovery coming post-MVP.

High availability? Redis Sentinel on roadmap. For now, positioned as dev/staging workloads.

Why Share This?

The EU needs more infrastructure that's actually European, not just EU regions of US companies. The economics work if you're willing to:

Use affordable infrastructure (Hetzner, OVH, Scaleway)
Build multi-tenant from the start
Keep overhead low
Automate everything

We don't need to compete with AWS's 200+ services. We need solid, sovereign basics that developers can trust.

If you're building in this space or thinking about EU cloud alternatives, I'm going to be documenting the journey herer or later at akcache.io itself. The backend is ASP.NET Core, frontend is Next.js, all running on Hetzner.

Stack details:

Backend: ASP.NET Core 9.0, Entity Framework, PostgreSQL
Infrastructure: Hetzner Cloud API, SSH.NET for provisioning
Payments: Mollie (SEPA, PayPal, cards)
Monitoring: Sentry for errors/performance
Frontend: Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind

Questions? Ask below. I also launched on Product Hunt

Also, special shoutout to Docker.

Want more like this? I'm writing about building EU-sovereign infrastructure and the economics of managed services. Follow me here or check out akcache.io.