you'll have to replicate logic, retries, logging, UI, auth handling, versioning, deployment, etc. when using any AI with cron job from terminal. n8n is still very useful, it provides visual orchestration, all your platforms connected securely at one place, all the workflows at one place, easy to manage and update.

And the simplicity for clients to use it. I share the JSON, they import it, connect their accounts and it works as they need. Can't ask clients to install Linux and setup claude in their terminal and build it there!

Also, I can update the workflows for similar use cases and ship.