John Drefahl

n8n Automation Engineer | AI Workflow Architect | MCP Server Developer

n8n Certified Level 1 and 2 | Active Consultancy | 162 @velocity-bpa Nodes Published | 30+ Years Experience | 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 under @velocity-bpa, 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.

The node development pipeline I built has published 162 n8n community nodes to npm under the @velocity-bpa org scope. Nine custom MCP servers connect Claude AI directly to Airtable, n8n, GitHub, AWS, Notion, Stripe, npm, Dropbox, and a Claude Agents orchestration layer. I also use n8n as a full CI/CD orchestrator — the 45-node pipeline coordinates parallel Claude AI code generation, GitHub repo creation, automated testing, and npm publication end to end.

Before automation I spent 30-plus years in software development, starting in 1996 at the dawn of the web at companies including 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. I evaluated Zapier and Make before committing to n8n — specifically because enterprise organizations require the ability to self-host and control their own data environments, and I understood that from three and a half years inside AbbVie.

Contractor AI Platform

2026 - Present  |  Velocity BPA  |  github.com/Velocity-BPA/contractor-ai-platform
  • Co-building a mobile-first AI agent platform for independent contractors: contractor records a voice memo describing a job, AssemblyAI transcribes it, Claude AI generates a professional bid with line items, and the system sends follow-ups, invoices, and appointment reminders automatically
  • 14 n8n workflows orchestrating the full contractor lifecycle: voice-to-bid with Voyage AI embeddings and Qdrant RAG similarity search (top 3 similar accepted bids injected into Claude prompt), PDF generation via Lambda with S3 upload and SNS push notification, voicemail processing via Twilio and AssemblyAI, invoice generation, and a customer reply handler triggered by a DynamoDB stream
  • Built a custom n8n community node (@contractor-ai/n8n-context-node) purpose-built for this project using Claude Code and advanced prompt engineering — with 7 tests and full CI/CD validation via GitHub Actions. n8n self-hosted on AWS ECS Fargate
  • Full production stack: React Native 0.74+, Node.js/TypeScript/Express on ECS Fargate, Aurora PostgreSQL Serverless v2, DynamoDB, ElastiCache Redis, Cognito, Stripe, AWS SNS. 137 tests across the monorepo. Code complete at v0.1.0, AWS infrastructure provisioning in progress
Stack: n8n (self-hosted ECS Fargate), Claude AI API, AssemblyAI, Twilio, Qdrant, Voyage AI, React Native, Node.js, TypeScript, AWS (ECS Fargate, Aurora Serverless v2, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Lambda, S3, SNS, Cognito), Stripe

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 under @velocity-bpa, 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 — 9 Production Servers

February 2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA
  • Designed and deployed nine production MCP servers in TypeScript giving Claude AI direct programmatic control over all business systems: Airtable, n8n, GitHub, AWS (S3, CloudFront, Route 53, SES, Lightsail), Claude Agents (23 tools), Notion (18 tools), Stripe, npm-stats, and Dropbox
  • 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 Telegram gate
  • Deployed OpenClaw, a self-hosted AI agent gateway, on a private server to provide Telegram access to the full MCP tool suite from anywhere — enabling remote autonomous operations without cloud dependency
Stack: MCP (Model Context Protocol), TypeScript, Node.js, Airtable, GitHub API, AWS (S3, CloudFront, Route 53, SES), n8n, Stripe API, Notion API, Dropbox API, npm Registry, OpenClaw

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. n8n orchestrates the full CI/CD lifecycle: parallel Claude AI code generation, GitHub repo creation, automated testing via GitHub Actions, and npm publication under @velocity-bpa
  • Shipped 162 production n8n community nodes under the @velocity-bpa org scope covering blockchain and DeFi (Uniswap, Aave, XRPL, Solana, Kraken, 80-plus others including AI-native nodes: SingularityNET, Autonolas, ElizaOS, Ocean Protocol, Bittensor, EigenLayer), enterprise SaaS (Auth0, Braze, Amplitude, Segment, Bitwarden), fintech (Dwolla, Square, Klarna, Railsr, Adyen), and healthcare (Epic FHIR, Change Healthcare, Availity)
  • Wrote the prompt engineering layer for Claude AI: Sonnet for code generation, Opus for architecture decisions. Added parallel execution with Promise.all so 10 to 20-plus resources are generated simultaneously per run. All Claude API calls use Anthropic prompt caching.
  • Implemented a Qdrant vector memory layer (self-hosted on AWS Lightsail) that makes the pipeline self-improving with every build. Before each run, a Voyage AI embedding is generated and queried against a build_memory collection for the top-5 most similar past builds (similarity >= 0.65). Auth patterns, documented gotchas, and resource structures from those past builds are injected directly into Claude's prompts. After each build, metadata is re-embedded and stored back — so every build improves the next.
Stack: n8n, Claude AI API (Sonnet, Opus), TypeScript, Node.js, Qdrant, Voyage AI, GitHub Actions, npm (@velocity-bpa), pnpm, Jest

Claude Conductor — Open Source Desktop App

2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA  |  github.com/Velocity-BPA/claude-conductor
  • Built a macOS desktop application using Tauri (Rust and Node.js) that solves a real limitation in Claude Desktop: only one MCP server configuration can run at a time. Claude Conductor manages named profiles — each with its own MCP server set — and launches multiple fully isolated Claude Desktop instances in parallel with no shared state
  • Credentials and API keys are stored per-profile in the macOS Keychain, never written to disk in plaintext. Running instances display live status with Focus and Kill controls. Profiles can be imported directly from an existing claude_desktop_config.json
  • Built to solve a daily operational problem: switching between client contexts, dev and production configurations, and different MCP tool sets without manual config editing and app restarts
Stack: Tauri, Rust, Node.js, TypeScript, macOS Keychain, MCP (Model Context Protocol)

API Change Monitor

2024 - Present  |  Velocity BPA
  • Three-tier monitoring system watching 162 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  |  R&D / Portfolio 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  |  R&D / Portfolio 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. Based on exploratory R&D conducted with AbbVie treasury and finance stakeholders and calls with Ripple exploring ODL cross-border payment integration.
  • 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, LMS vendor evaluation ($313K cost avoidance identified), Ripple ODL cross-border payment R&D on behalf of VP of Finance
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), CI/CD orchestration, Make, Zapier, Contextual SolutionAI, Airflow
AI Integration and Prompt Engineering
Claude AI API (Sonnet, Opus, Haiku), MCP Server Development (9 production servers), OpenAI GPT API, Prompt Engineering for code generation at scale, LLM orchestration, Qdrant vector memory, Voyage AI embeddings, Claude Code, AssemblyAI, RAG pipeline design
Business Process Automation
End-to-end pipeline automation, approval-gate systems, marketing and sales automation, event-driven automation, API change monitoring, autonomous scheduling, parallel async processing
Systems Integration and APIs
RESTful APIs, GraphQL, WebSockets, JSON, XML, OAuth2, GitHub API, Stripe API, npm Registry (@velocity-bpa), MCP (Model Context Protocol), OpenAPI spec parsing, Webhook design, Twilio
Backend Development
TypeScript, Node.js, Rust (Tauri), Express, Python, PHP, JavaScript, Linux Shell, Docker
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS (S3, CloudFront, Route 53, SES, Lightsail, ECS Fargate, Aurora Serverless v2, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Cognito, SNS, Lambda), Azure, self-hosted servers (Qdrant, OpenClaw)
Data and Databases
Airtable (advanced API and schema design), Qdrant (vector database), MongoDB, MySQL, SQL, GraphQL
Blockchain and DeFi
XRPL, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, DeFi protocols, Solidity, RLUSD, ethers.js, Uniswap/SushiSwap/1inch/OKX DEX — active since 2013
Frontend (Supporting Capability)
React.js, React Native, HTML5, CSS3, Angular, Bootstrap, jQuery, Next.js, Chart.js — used to build dashboards and tooling for automation projects
162
n8n nodes under @velocity-bpa
9
production MCP servers
162
integrations monitored
4-11m
build time vs. days manual
45
node generation pipeline
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