Huginn for NS8 – self-hosted automation agents (community module, hobby project)

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Hi all,

I’d like to share a module I built as a hobby project: Huginn packaged for NethServer 8.

What is Huginn?

Huginn is a system for building agents that perform automated tasks for you online. They can read the web, watch for events, and take actions on your behalf. Think of it as a hackable version of IFTTT or Zapier running on your own server — you always know who has your data: you do. The original project is MIT-licensed and was created back in 2013, so it’s mature and well documented. GitHubGitHub

Why I like it

  • Small and simple. No cloud account, no subscription, just a container on your NS8 node.
  • JSON- and scenario-based. Every agent is configured as a small JSON snippet. Agents can be grouped into scenarios that you can export and import as a single JSON file — so complete workflows are shareable between installations.
  • Event-driven. Agents create and consume events and pass them along a directed graph: one agent watches something, the next filters or de-duplicates, the next sends a notification.
  • Lots of connectors. Website scraping, RSS, IMAP, HTTP/webhooks, MQTT, email and many more.

What I use it for

Two real examples from my own setup:

  1. Watching websites for changes. I monitor regulatory guideline pages (e.g. ICH, national agencies) and get an email as soon as content changes — no more manual checking.
  2. Keeping an eye on an irrigation controller. Huginn periodically polls my OpenSprinkler-based irrigation setup and alerts me when it stops responding, so a silent failure doesn’t go unnoticed.

Anything that has a URL, a feed or an API can be watched the same way.

NS8 integration

The module runs Huginn with its database as a standard NS8 module behind Traefik, with Let’s Encrypt handled the usual way. Outgoing mail uses the NS8 smarthost settings; a manually configured SMTP host in the module takes priority over the cluster default.

Repo: GitHub - tebbiworld/ns8-huginn: NethServer 8 module for Huginn (agents that monitor and act on your behalf) · GitHub

Important disclaimer

This is a private hobby project. I built it for my own needs and share it as-is. No warranty, no guaranteed support, use at your own risk. Feedback and bug reports are welcome via GitHub issues, but please don’t expect enterprise-level maintenance.

Have fun with it!

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