John Drefahl

n8n Automation Engineer | AI Workflow Architect | MCP Server Developer

n8n Certified Level 1 and 2 | Active Consultancy | 200+ Production Nodes Published | Currently Available for Employment

I am an automation engineer running an active consultancy called Velocity BPA, and I am currently available for senior or principal employment with a company that has real operational complexity to automate.

The most complete example of what I build is the Velocity BPA operation itself. A prospect submits a form on the website, Claude AI scores the lead, extracts API specifications, runs a feasibility analysis, generates a quote, and delivers it by email — all without anyone touching a keyboard. When a client pays, the system triggers a build pipeline, publishes the finished package to npm, and onboards the client into Airtable, Notion, and email automatically. I also built the operational intelligence layer: twice-daily Telegram briefings aggregating pending approvals and inbound inquiries classified by Claude AI, automated invoice chase workflows that draft and stage emails without prompting, and an approval processor with one-tap bulk-approve via Telegram.

Client projects span enterprise treasury automation integrating SAP, GTreasury, Workday, and BlackLine with XRPL blockchain settlement rails, and a real-time cross-exchange arbitrage monitoring system with ML-optimized detection thresholds. The node development pipeline I built has published over 200 n8n community nodes to npm. Four custom MCP servers connect Claude AI directly to Airtable, n8n, GitHub, and AWS.

Before automation I spent 20-plus years in software development at AbbVie, CVS/Aetna, Pandora, Samsung, and Apple. I have been building in blockchain and crypto since 2013. Certified in n8n at Level 1 and Level 2.

Automated Sales and Client Delivery Pipeline

February 2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA
  • Designed and built an 8-workflow end-to-end automated business system: a prospect submits a form on the website, Claude AI scores and qualifies the lead, extracts API specifications, runs a feasibility analysis, generates a quote, and delivers it via AWS SES — all without human involvement
  • On payment via Stripe, the system triggers a build approval gate, routes the job through the 45-node n8n development pipeline, publishes the completed package to npm, and automatically onboards the client by creating an Airtable record, generating a Notion project page, and sending an SES welcome email
  • The lead scoring and qualification layer uses Claude AI to analyze inbound requests, assess complexity, and route to the appropriate workflow branch — replacing what would otherwise require a sales and project management function
Stack: n8n, Claude AI API (Sonnet, Opus, Haiku), Stripe API, AWS SES, Airtable, Notion API, GitHub API, TypeScript, Node.js

Operational Intelligence and CEO Agent Suite

March 2026  |  Velocity BPA
  • Built 5 n8n workflows forming the operational intelligence layer: twice-daily Telegram briefings aggregating pending approvals, new client activity, and inbound inquiry classifications generated by Claude Haiku
  • Automated invoice chase system: daily Airtable query, Claude Haiku-drafted emails staged as Outlook drafts for one-click sending, full activity log written back to Airtable
  • Daily approval processor delivers pending-approval items with a one-tap bulk-approve button via Telegram, reducing the approval function to under a minute per day
  • Client Onboarding Enricher fires on Stripe checkout: simultaneously creates the Airtable record, generates a Notion project page, and sends the SES welcome sequence — no manual steps
Stack: n8n, Claude AI API (Haiku), Airtable, Stripe Webhooks, AWS SES, Notion API, Outlook API, Telegram Bot API

MCP Server Architecture and Business Infrastructure

February 2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA
  • Designed and deployed four production MCP servers in TypeScript that give Claude AI direct control over Airtable project management, n8n workflow orchestration, GitHub repository operations, and AWS infrastructure — managing 168-plus projects without manual intervention
  • Built an approval-gate architecture where Claude AI executes autonomously on well-defined tasks and automatically escalates ambiguous decisions to a human-in-the-loop gate via Telegram
Stack: MCP (Model Context Protocol), TypeScript, Node.js, Airtable, GitHub API, AWS (S3, CloudFront, Route 53, SES), n8n

Node Development Pipeline

February 2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA
  • Built a 45-node n8n workflow that accepts a service name as input and outputs a complete, publishable n8n community node package in 4 to 11 minutes — replacing a process that previously required days of manual work
  • Shipped 200-plus production n8n nodes through this pipeline covering blockchain and DeFi (Uniswap, Aave, XRPL, Solana, Kraken, 80-plus others), enterprise SaaS (Auth0, Braze, Datadog, Canvas LMS), and fintech (Dwolla, Square, Klarna, Railsr, Adyen)
  • Wrote the prompt engineering layer for Claude AI: Sonnet for code generation, Opus for architecture decisions. Parallel execution with Promise.all generates 10 to 20-plus resources simultaneously per run
Stack: n8n, Claude AI API (Sonnet, Opus), TypeScript, Node.js, GitHub Actions, npm, pnpm, Jest

API Change Monitor

2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA
  • Three-tier monitoring system watching 168 published integrations: OpenAPI spec diffing, MD5 documentation hashing, and GitHub release tracking
  • Claude AI scores detected changes 0 to 100. Anything scoring 60 or higher triggers an automatic rebuild, keeping the entire catalog current without manual initiation
Stack: n8n, Claude AI API, Airtable, GitHub API, AWS SES

Cross-DEX Arbitrage Bot Suite

March 2026  |  Client Project
  • Eight-workflow n8n system monitoring price spreads across Uniswap, SushiSwap, 1inch, OKX DEX, and Kraken on a 30-second polling interval, with paper trading tracked across nine Airtable tables
  • Gas optimization engine querying Etherscan Gas API every 15 minutes to compute dynamic minimum-spread thresholds
  • ML threshold optimizer processing historical data across three strategy profiles mapped to market volatility. Converges near 1.5% spread at full training confidence
  • Portfolio risk manager running every five minutes, plus a Bootstrap and Chart.js real-time dashboard on 30-second refresh cycles
Stack: n8n, Airtable, DEX Screener API, 1inch API, Etherscan Gas API V2, Kraken REST API, Bootstrap, Chart.js

Enterprise Treasury Automation

March 2026  |  Client Project
  • Eight n8n workflows integrating SAP, GTreasury, Workday, BlackLine, and Coupa with XRPL blockchain settlement rails — cross-border AP payments, liquidity sweeps, milestone escrow, FX hedging, intercompany netting, automated reconciliation
  • Each workflow applies configurable approval-gate logic before executing payment instructions and persists full audit trails to Airtable for compliance review
Stack: n8n, Airtable, XRPL, RLUSD, SAP, GTreasury, Workday, BlackLine, Coupa, Alloy, Ripple Custody, BitGo

Client: Hello Crypto

2024  |  Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • DEX Opportunity Tracker dashboards and AI-powered trading bots for a blockchain startup using n8n workflows and Bootstrap
  • Real-time market analysis algorithms using OpenAI GPT and Anthropic Claude APIs with DEX integration
Stack: n8n, OpenAI GPT API, Anthropic Claude API, Bootstrap, JavaScript, JSON
Feb 2024 - Present
CEO / Lead Consultant
Velocity BPA - Grayslake, IL
Active automation consultancy. Automated sales and delivery pipelines, operational intelligence systems, MCP server architecture, n8n node development. Currently available for employment.
Sep 2020 - Jan 2024
UI/UX Technical Lead, AEM / BTS
AbbVie - Abbott Park, IL
AEM 6.5 platform engineering across 130-plus global sites, React component library, WCAG AA accessibility compliance
Mar 2020 - Jun 2020
UX/UI Software Developer (Architect III)
CVS/Aetna - Downers Grove, IL
Jul 2018 - Jan 2019
Full Stack Developer
Ken Cook Company - Milwaukee, WI
Nov 2015 - Feb 2017
Full Stack Developer
Pandora - Oakland, CA
Mar 2013 - Oct 2016
Founder, CTO
AlphaLion Technologies - San Francisco, CA
Blockchain startup on Bitcoin and OpenTransactions protocols. Beginning of crypto depth.
Sep 2011 - Mar 2013
Senior Front End Developer
AKQA - San Francisco, CA
Target.com frontend, IBM WebSphere CMS, Akamai CDN
Earlier: Full Stack Developer, Swirl (SF) | Android Developer, Samsung Design America (SF) | WordPress Developer, Radio One (NYC) | Creative Director, GeoSolutions BV (Amsterdam) | Content Manager, Apple iTunes (Cupertino) | Manager of New Technology, BMG Entertainment (NYC) | UX Designer, Inktomi (SF) | UX Designer, Vivid Studios (SF) | UX Designer, C|NET (SF) | Production Artist, Cyborganic Gardens (SF)
Workflow Automation and Orchestration
n8n (Certified Level 1 and 2), Make, Zapier, Contextual SolutionAI, Airflow
AI Integration and Prompt Engineering
Claude AI API (Sonnet, Opus, Haiku), MCP Server Development, OpenAI GPT API, Anthropic API, Prompt Engineering for code generation and AI agent workflows, LLM orchestration
Business Process Automation
End-to-end pipeline automation, approval-gate systems, operational intelligence agents, event-driven automation, API change monitoring, autonomous scheduling
Systems Integration and APIs
RESTful APIs, GraphQL, WebSockets, JSON, XML, OAuth2, GitHub API, Stripe API, npm Registry, MCP (Model Context Protocol), OpenAPI spec parsing, Webhook design
Backend Development
TypeScript, Node.js, Express, Python, PHP, JavaScript, Linux Shell, Docker
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS (S3, CloudFront, Route 53, SES, Lightsail), Azure
Data and Databases
Airtable (advanced API and schema design), MongoDB, MySQL, SQL, GraphQL
Enterprise Financial Systems
SAP, GTreasury, Workday, BlackLine, Coupa, Clarity PPM — integrated via custom n8n nodes
Blockchain and DeFi
XRPL, Ethereum, Bitcoin, DeFi protocols, Solidity, RLUSD — active since 2013
Frontend (Supporting Capability)
React.js, HTML5, CSS3, Angular, Bootstrap, jQuery, Next.js, Chart.js — used to build dashboards and tooling for automation projects
200+
n8n nodes published to npm
4
production MCP servers
168+
integrations monitored
4-11m
build time vs. days manual
8
workflows: sales to delivery
200+
GitHub repositories
  • n8n Course Level 1 and Level 22025
  • Decentralized Finance SpecializationDuke University, 2023-2024
  • Neural Networks and Deep LearningDeepLearning.ai, 2024
  • Generative AI with Large Language ModelsDeepLearning.ai, 2023
  • Adobe Experience Manager: Sites Front-End and Back-End DeveloperAdobe, 2022
  • Business of MusicNew York University, 2001