n8n for Beginners: Looping Over Items with Wait & Split Control

If you're new to n8n and want to understand how looping works, this beginner-friendly automation template is your perfect starting point.

This workflow visually explains two fundamental looping mechanisms:

1. Built-in Looping – Most nodes in n8n automatically iterate over items.
2. Explicit Looping – Use the "Loop Over Items" node for custom-controlled iteration, batch operations, and delays.

The included example takes a list of URLs and demonstrates:

• What happens when you don't split an array before looping
• How splitting changes item-by-item behavior
• Adding delays using the Wait node
• Modifying data using Code nodes
• How outputs differ based on iteration strategy

🧠 Ideal for:
Beginners, learners, educators, or anyone building workflows with multiple steps per item (e.g., API calls, scraping, batch processing).

🔧 Key Features:
🌀 Split vs. Unsplit loop demonstration
🕐 Per-item delay with the Wait node (optional)
🧪 Code node that injects custom data into each item
📄 Easy-to-follow structure with built-in sticky notes
📊 Real output examples for visual learners