---
type: concept
title: "Hybrid No-Code + Code Architecture"
description: "Reject the either/or: use n8n for orchestration, entry points, and integrations while offloading heavy processing (agents, RAG chunking, large files) to Python microservices deployed on the same instance."
tags: [architecture, hybrid, microservices]
videos: [should-i-build-my-ai-agents-with-n8n-or-python]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# Hybrid No-Code + Code Architecture

The n8n-or-Python question is a false binary, and the hybrid architecture is the answer to it: let the visual tool own the parts it is genuinely better at and hand the rest to code. Cole draws the seam by responsibility: "You can for example use N8N for the orchestration all of the entry points and integrations for your applications but then offload the heavy processing like your agents chunking for rag."

So no-code keeps the **edges** of the system: webhooks and chat triggers, scheduling, credential-managed connections to Slack, Gmail, Drive, and databases, plus the top-level routing between steps. Those are the pieces that are tedious in code and nearly free in a visual builder, and they are also the pieces that change most often as a business rewires its tools. Code keeps the **core**: the agent loop itself, chunking and embedding pipelines, large-file processing, anything needing real error handling, tests, versioning, or performance work. Cramming that into nodes is where no-code projects stall out.

The two halves connect over plain HTTP. The Python side is exposed as an API endpoint and n8n calls it like any other integration, which keeps the boundary explicit and either half independently replaceable. Deployment does not have to be complicated either: "even deploy both of the things together Python and N8N on the same instance in the cloud." One box, two containers, no network hops between them, and no forced choice between shipping quickly and building something maintainable.

## Prerequisites

- [No-Code vs. Code](./no-code-vs-code.md) - the tradeoff this pattern refuses to resolve as either/or.
- [No-Code AI Agents](./no-code-agents.md) - what the visual half is actually doing.

## Contrasts with

- [Full-Stack AI Application](./full-stack-ai-application.md) - the all-code path, where even integrations and triggers are hand-built.
- [Visual Workflow Builder](./visual-workflow-builder.md) - the all-nodes path, which hits a ceiling on heavy processing.

## Builds on

- [Agent as an API Endpoint](./agent-as-api-endpoint.md) - the coded agent is reached over HTTP, which is what makes the split clean.
- [Workflow as a Tool](./workflow-as-a-tool.md) - the inverse direction: a coded agent invoking an n8n workflow.

## Tools

- [n8n](../entities/tools/n8n.md) - the orchestration, trigger, and integration layer.
- [Python](../entities/tools/python.md) with [Pydantic AI](../entities/tools/pydantic-ai.md) or [LangGraph](../entities/tools/langgraph.md) - the agent and processing layer.
- [FastAPI](../entities/tools/fastapi.md) - wraps the Python side as the endpoint n8n calls.
- [Docker](../entities/tools/docker.md) - how both halves land on one instance.
- [n8n Self-Hosted AI Starter Kit](../entities/tools/n8n-self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.md) and [Local AI Package](../entities/tools/local-ai-package.md) - prebuilt stacks that already co-locate the pieces.

## Related

- [Webhook-Driven Agents](./webhook-driven-agent.md) and [HTTP Request Extensibility](./http-request-extensibility.md) - the connective tissue between the two halves.
- [Chunking](./chunking.md) and [Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)](./rag.md) - the canonical workload that belongs on the Python side.
- [Production-Grade Agents](./production-grade-agents.md) - testing, versioning, and error handling are why the core moves to code.
- [Agent Deployment](./agent-deployment.md) and [Containerization & Docker Networking](./containerization.md) - co-deploying both services on one box.
- [The Seven Node Blueprint](./seven-node-blueprint.md) - the n8n-side structure the orchestration half follows.
- [Buy vs. Build](./buy-vs-build.md) and [Self-Hosting Cost Crossover](./self-hosting-cost-crossover.md) - the same "use each where it wins" calculus at the platform level.
- [Frontend-Agnostic Agents](./frontend-agnostic-agent.md) - an HTTP-exposed agent serves any front end, n8n included.

## Sources

- [Should I Build My AI Agents with n8n or Python?](../sources/should-i-build-my-ai-agents-with-n8n-or-python.md) - "[0:14:55] You can for example use N8N for the orchestration all of the entry points and integrations for your applications but then offload the heavy processing like your agents chunking for rag"
- [Should I Build My AI Agents with n8n or Python?](../sources/should-i-build-my-ai-agents-with-n8n-or-python.md) - "[0:15:14] even deploy both of the things together Python and N8N on the same instance in the cloud"
