Create short social video clips from webinars with WayinVideo, Google Sheets and Gmail

Description

Submit any YouTube, Vimeo, or Zoom webinar URL using a simple form and the workflow handles everything from there. It runs a two-phase pipeline: first identifying the top viral moments in your video without rendering anything, then exporting only the best clips as ready-to-post 9:16 vertical videos with animated captions, an AI hook, and AI subject reframing. Every clip is logged to Google Sheets and a Gmail digest with direct download links arrives in your inbox when all clips are ready. Built for content marketers and social media teams who want to turn a 1–2 hour webinar into short video content without any manual editing.

What This Workflow Does

• Identifies viral moments first, renders second — Phase 1 scans the entire video and ranks all potential clips by viral score before any rendering happens, so you only pay to export the best ones
• Exports clips as 9:16 vertical video — Renders each selected clip in portrait format with animated captions, an AI-generated hook, and AI subject reframing — ready to post on TikTok, Reels, or Shorts
• Runs two independent polling loops — Waits patiently for both the identification phase (up to 25 minutes) and the rendering phase (up to 20 minutes) with hard timeouts to prevent indefinite hanging
• Sorts clips by viral score — Picks only the highest-scoring clips up to your chosen maximum so the best content always gets exported first
• Logs every clip to Google Sheets — Appends one row per clip with title, duration, viral score, tags, description, and download link for your content library
• Sends a Gmail digest with download links — Delivers all clip details and direct download links in one email after all clips are logged — with a 24-hour expiry warning so you download immediately

Setup Requirements

Tools Needed

• n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)
• WayinVideo account with API access
• Google Sheets (one sheet with a tab named Social Media Clips)
• Gmail account (the account you want to receive the digest)

Credentials Required

• WayinVideo API key (pasted into 2. Set — Config Values)
• Google Sheets OAuth2
• Gmail OAuth2

Estimated Setup Time: 10–15 minutes

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Import the workflow — Open n8n → Workflows → Import from JSON → paste the workflow JSON → click Import

2. Get your WayinVideo API key — Log in to your WayinVideo account → go to your account or API settings dashboard → copy your API key

3. Fill in Config Values — Open node 2. Set — Config Values → replace all placeholders:

1. Create your Google Sheet tab — Open your Google Sheet → add a tab named exactly Social Media Clips → add these 10 column headers in row 1: Date, Video Title, Clip #, Clip Title, Duration (sec), Viral Score, Tags, Description, Export Link, Logged At

2. Connect Google Sheets — Open node 19. Google Sheets — Log Clips → click the credential dropdown → add Google Sheets OAuth2 → sign in with your Google account → authorize access

3. Connect Gmail — Open node 22. Gmail — Send Clips Digest → click the credential dropdown → add Gmail OAuth2 → sign in with the Gmail account that matches recipientEmail → authorize access

4. Activate the workflow — Toggle the workflow to Active → copy the Form URL from node 1. Form — Enter Video URL → open it in a browser to submit your first video

How It Works (Step by Step)

Step 1 — Form: Enter Video URL
You open the form URL in a browser and fill in four fields: the video URL (YouTube, Vimeo, or Zoom), a title for the video, your name, and how many clips you want (maximum 5). Submitting the form kicks off the entire workflow automatically.

Step 2 — Set: Config Values
Your WayinVideo API key, Google Sheet ID, sheet tab name, recipient email, sender name, export settings, and all four form inputs are stored here. The clip count is automatically capped at 5 even if a higher number is entered. A submission timestamp is also generated.

Step 3 — HTTP: Submit AI Clipping Task
The video URL and title are submitted to the WayinVideo API with enable_export: false. This tells WayinVideo to analyze the video and identify all viral clip candidates without rendering any videos yet. WayinVideo returns a project ID confirming the job was accepted.

Step 4 — Code: Save Clipping Project ID
The project ID is saved along with all config values. A poll counter is initialized at zero to track how many times Phase 1 has been checked.

Step 5 — Wait: 60 Seconds
The workflow pauses for 60 seconds before checking the Phase 1 status for the first time, giving WayinVideo time to begin processing.

Step 6 — HTTP: Poll Clipping Results
A GET request checks the WayinVideo results endpoint using the project ID. It returns the current status and, once complete, the full list of identified clips with their viral scores, titles, descriptions, timestamps, and tags.

Step 7 — Code: Check Clipping Status
The poll counter is incremented and the status is evaluated. SUCCEEDED sets isReady to true. FAILED throws an error and stops. Still processing continues. If 25 polls pass without success (approximately 25 minutes), the workflow times out with an error.

Step 8 — IF: Clips Ready?
Phase 1 gate check. If clips are identified (YES path), the workflow moves to select the top clips for export. If still processing (NO path), the workflow routes to 9. Set — Still Clipping which loops back to 5. Wait — 60 Seconds for another cycle.

Step 9 — Set: Still Clipping
Handles the still-processing case for Phase 1. Sets a brief in-progress message and loops back to the 60-second wait.

Step 10 — Code: Select Top Clips for Export
All identified clips are sorted by viral score from highest to lowest. The top clips up to your chosen maximum are selected. Their index numbers are extracted and packaged as the clipIndices list needed for the export API call.

Step 11 — HTTP: Submit Export Task
The selected clip indices are submitted to the WayinVideo export API. The export is configured with: animated captions in original style using caption template temp-7, an AI-generated hook in excited style placed at the beginning, AI subject reframing, 9:16 aspect ratio, and HD 720p resolution. WayinVideo returns an export task ID.

Step 12 — Code: Save Export Task ID
The export task ID is saved and the export poll counter is reset to zero for the Phase 2 polling loop.

Step 13 — Wait: 60 Seconds (Export)
The workflow pauses for 60 seconds before checking the Phase 2 rendering status for the first time.

Step 14 — HTTP: Poll Export Results
A GET request checks the WayinVideo export endpoint using the export task ID. It returns the rendering status and, once complete, the list of exported clips with their download links.

Step 15 — Code: Check Export Status
The export poll counter is incremented and the status is evaluated. SUCCEEDED sets isExportReady to true. FAILED throws an error. Still rendering continues. If 20 polls pass without success (approximately 20 minutes), the workflow times out.

Step 16 — IF: Export Ready?
Phase 2 gate check. If rendering is complete (YES path), the workflow moves to build sheet rows and send the email. If still rendering (NO path), the workflow routes to 17. Set — Still Exporting which loops back to 13. Wait — 60 Seconds (Export).

Step 17 — Set: Still Exporting
Handles the still-rendering case for Phase 2. Sets a brief in-progress message and loops back to the 60-second export wait.

Step 18 — Code: Build Sheet Rows
The exported clips with download links are matched to the original clip metadata by index. Duration in seconds is calculated. Each clip is assembled into a complete sheet row. An isLastRow flag is set on the final clip. All clip details are also assembled for the Gmail digest.

Step 19 — Google Sheets: Log Clips
Each clip is appended as one row to your Social Media Clips tab with all 10 columns populated: date, video title, clip number, clip title, duration, viral score, tags, description, download link, and logged-at timestamp.

Step 20 — IF: Last Row?
After each row is written, this check reads the isLastRow flag. If true (YES path — final clip logged), the Gmail digest is built and sent. If false (NO path — more clips to log), the workflow routes to 23. Set — More Rows and continues logging.

Step 21 — Code: Build Gmail Digest
The email subject and body are assembled. The body includes a greeting, video title, total clips found, export count, format summary, and a full breakdown of each clip with title, duration, viral score, tags, description, and download link. A clear 24-hour download link expiry warning is included.

Step 22 — Gmail: Send Clips Digest
The digest email is sent to your recipient email. All clips, their details, and download links arrive in one clean message.

Key Features

✅ Two-phase pipeline — Phase 1 identifies all clips first; Phase 2 renders only the top ones — avoiding wasted rendering time and API cost on low-scoring clips
✅ Viral score sorting — Clips are ranked by WayinVideo's viral score before export so your highest-quality content always gets selected first
✅ Two independent retry loops with hard timeouts — Phase 1 retries up to 25 times and Phase 2 retries up to 20 times — long videos never hang indefinitely
✅ 9:16 vertical video with captions and AI hook — Every exported clip is fully production-ready for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts with no manual editing needed
✅ Gmail fires once after all clips are logged — The isLastRow flag ensures you receive one clean email digest, not one email per clip
✅ 24-hour expiry warning in the email — The digest explicitly warns you to download immediately, preventing lost clips due to expired links
✅ Configurable clip count from the form — You set how many clips you want per submission directly in the form — no need to edit the workflow between videos
✅ Permanent clip library in Google Sheets — Every clip from every webinar is logged with its viral score and download link so you can build a searchable content archive

Customisation Options

Change the clip duration range — In node 2. Set — Config Values, update targetDuration from DURATION_30_60 to a longer or shorter WayinVideo duration option to generate clips of a different length for different platforms.

Change the caption style — In node 11. HTTP — Submit Export Task, edit cc_style_tpl from temp-7 to a different WayinVideo caption template ID to change the visual style of the animated captions on your clips.

Send to Slack instead of or alongside Gmail — After node 21. Code — Build Gmail Digest, add a Slack node that posts a short summary (video title, number of clips, and the first download link) to a #content-team channel so your social media team sees the clips immediately without checking email.

Increase the Phase 1 timeout for very long webinars — In node 7. Code — Check Clipping Status, change pollCount >= 25 to pollCount >= 40 to allow up to approximately 40 minutes for identification on 2+ hour recordings that take longer to process.

Log clips to a different sheet per month — In node 2. Set — Config Values, make sheetName dynamic using the current month (e.g. Social Media Clips — April 2026) so clips are automatically organized into monthly tabs without any manual file management.

Troubleshooting

Form submission not starting the workflow:

• Confirm the workflow is Active — inactive workflows do not receive form submissions
• Copy the Form URL fresh from node 1. Form — Enter Video URL after activating — test URLs generated before activation will not work
• Make sure the Video URL field is filled in correctly — the URL must be a direct link to a publicly accessible video

WayinVideo API returning an error or no project ID:

• Confirm YOUR_WAYINVIDEO_API_KEY in node 2. Set — Config Values is replaced with your actual key — not the placeholder text
• Check the execution log of node 3. HTTP — Submit AI Clipping Task for the exact error response from WayinVideo
• Ensure the video URL is publicly accessible — private or password-protected videos cannot be processed by WayinVideo

Phase 1 or Phase 2 polling loop timing out:

• If the loop times out, check your WayinVideo dashboard to see if the job is still processing or failed on their end
• For very long recordings (2+ hours), increase the timeout in 7. Code — Check Clipping Status or 15. Code — Check Export Status by raising the poll limit from 25 or 20 to a higher number
• Check the poll count in the execution log to see how many attempts ran before timeout

Google Sheets not logging rows:

• Confirm the Google Sheets OAuth2 credential in node 19. Google Sheets — Log Clips is connected and not expired — re-authorize if needed
• Check that YOUR_GOOGLE_SHEET_ID in node 2. Set — Config Values is the ID from the sheet URL, not the full URL
• Confirm the tab is named Social Media Clips exactly and all 10 column headers in row 1 match exactly

Gmail digest not arriving:

• Confirm the Gmail OAuth2 credential in node 22. Gmail — Send Clips Digest is connected and authorized
• Check that [email protected] in node 2. Set — Config Values is replaced with your actual email address
• Check your spam or promotions folder — automated Gmail OAuth2 messages sometimes land there on first send
• Check the execution log of node 22 for any Gmail API error message

Support

Need help setting this up or want a custom version built for your team or agency?

📧 Email: [email protected]
🌐 Website: https://www.incrementors.com/