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:
- Built-in Looping – Most nodes in n8n automatically iterate over items.
- 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
👋 Hey! Quick intro
I’m Bishal Paul, the Founder & AI Innovation Officer at Erudience.
Thanks for checking out my work here — I really appreciate it.
Me and my team are building practical AI solutions for businesses. We work on:
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- Automation workflows
- Custom SaaS & software builds
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If you’re into AI, automation, or you’re just curious how these tools can help your business, feel free to reach out — I’m always happy to chat.
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If you need a custom workflow, an AI agent for your business, or a bigger software project, you can reach me here:
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Learn how to control looping in n8n using both automatic and explicit methods—perfect for structured, item-by-item automation.