Zapier → n8n: what’s actually replaced

The one-screen version

The eight systems (the whole migration)

The plan is not “rebuild every zap.” It is eight registry-driven systems plus a handful of small spokes. New campaigns become rows, not new workflows.

Already live beside that plan: CYA (232b welcome + AC event router), phone verification (241c), Close/AC lead-ops spokes, and the webinar round-robin spoke (422a) that Wave 2 reuses rather than rebuilding.

How lead routing actually works

Today, Zapier has a clone per campaign: “Subto Fast Pass Typeform,” “HNWI opt-in,” “A–Z ebook,” “ZDB organic Typeform,” each doing the same job with slightly different tags and sheets. The n8n version is one pipeline with a lookup table.

The table is the product

LEAD_ROUTES is a 69-row n8n data table. Each row is a door:

• what showed up — a Typeform id, an AC tag name, a list name, a webhook key, or a OnceHub calendar name
• who it belongs to — brand (Subto / Gator / ZDB / TTTC) and pool (DOE or SDR)
• what to do on cutover — AC tags to add, Slack channel, tracker sheet, whether to score the answers
• the switch — cutover. Every live row is false. False means “remember we saw this, do not assign.” True means n8n does Close + round robin + Slack + the sheet, and that Zapier zap must be paused in the same minute.

69 rows today: 37 Typeform, 23 AC tags, 3 lists, 2 high-volume Subto webhooks, 4 OnceHub calendars. Zero cutover=true. 26 of them use the Hot App score model.

What happens to one lead

Why 422a is not “the lead routing system”

422a is the picker: given a Close lead and DOE vs SDR, who is next. The webinar hub already uses it. Wave 2 does not rebuild it. The new work is everything around the picker: which door, which brand, whether to score, claiming, phone check, and the cutover writes. Calling 422a with a real lead during shadow would assign someone — that’s why it is behind the switch.

After the call (dispositions)

Separate system, same wave: when a DOE logs a completed / not-completed custom activity in Close, Zapier currently changes status and slaps DNC / Wrong Avatar tags. 424a/b are inactive drafts. The mapping table is empty because the Zapier clones still say NEED TO UPDATE on Close status ids. We are not inventing those.

Wave 2 — built vs still Zapier

The extract found ~274 zaps in this neighborhood (~1.09M tasks/90d). After kicking out webinar RR, conversion relays, and MSA, the proposed rebuild was 121 routes. We filled 69. The rest were blocked (missing tag names, other brands, ClickFunnels, Facebook leads) or were duplicates of rows already in.

Highest-volume zaps still running in Zapier

These are the ones that move the bill. n8n has a matching row unless noted.

Covered in the table, still Zapier because the doors are off

• The ~40 zero-task Typeform clones (Fast Pass copies, etc.). They are rows. They do not need their own workflows.
• 23 magnet tags + 3 lists. 232b already hears AC; we have not connected the wire.
• 4 OnceHub calendars, matched by calendar name (Pace Approves, Wix Funnel, No rescheduling, Seller Spells).

Still Zapier, not in the 69 rows

• Several high-volume SDR zaps whose export had no tag name (~14k + 13k + 13k + 11k). Need the tag from the Zapier UI or the magnet sheet before they can be a row.
• ClickFunnels, Facebook Lead Ads, Kajabi, PM/SUS/SquadUp brands, AR-from-Close “15 day lead” zaps — later wave or a later fill, not this hub.
• Number Validator zap (~15k). 241c already does the job inside intake; that zap can die when its callers die.
• The Zapier Round Robin Sub Zap and Hot App Lead Score Sub Zap. Replaced by 422a and 432a. They stay on until every parent zap is paused.

Wave 1 — webinars (the other 54%)

This wave is absorption, not a new product. Per-event Zapier zaps become rows on the existing webinar registry. SMS v3 is already the live sender.

Everything else still on Zapier

What’s next (and what isn’t)

1. Open a live shadow door for lead routing without pausing Zapier. Decision #309: extra Typeform webhook on ZDB organic (smallest blast radius), or connect 232b magnet tags (more volume, 2 min AC drop), or wait.
2. Watch claims for 48h against Zapier task counts. Mismatch → stop.
3. Per-route cutover, lowest volume first (ZDB organic, then TTTC KEEP). Flip the row and pause that zap in the same window. Rollback = flip the row back — but only if Zapier is still on, so write the runbook before the first true flip.
4. Dispositions after sales-ops fills Close status ids.
5. Wave 0 off-switch in the Zapier UI (200 zaps).
6. Wave 1 per-event flips when Jason is ready (BiB last).

Glossary