N8n Agent Skill

n8n

Purpose

Read and write the user's n8n workflows through the n8n public REST API: list workflows, inspect a workflow, create and update workflows, and list executions. Use when the user mentions n8n or their automations.

Tooling

All commands go through bin/n8n.py. Every command takes a required --host: your instance base URL, e.g. https://myname.app.n8n.cloud or https://n8n.example.com (self-hosted).

bin/n8n.py auth --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud                    # verify the API key
bin/n8n.py workflows --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud              # list workflows
bin/n8n.py workflow --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud --id wf_abc   # inspect one workflow
bin/n8n.py create --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud --name "Nightly sync" --nodes-json '[{"name":"Start",...}]'  # create a workflow
bin/n8n.py update --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud --id wf_abc --workflow-json '{"name":"Nightly sync v2","nodes":[...]}'  # update a workflow (confirm first)
bin/n8n.py executions --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud             # list executions
bin/n8n.py executions --host https://myname.app.n8n.cloud --workflow-id wf_abc  # executions for one workflow

Updates use the "GET first, strip, modify, PUT" pattern: PUT is a full replace, so the CLI fetches the current workflow, strips forbidden fields (pinData, settings), merges your changes, and then PUTs. Never PUT a partial object.

Auth

• Provider id: n8n (credential is collected as custom.n8n)
• Collection: API key via the secure credential flow (credentials.request_api_access); created in n8n under Settings > n8n API. The key is sent in the X-N8N-API-KEY header.
• Allowed hosts: your n8n instance host, declared at connect time (the --host you pass; validated to start with http:// or https://)
• Status check: bin/n8n.py auth --host <your-host> (must return "ok": true)

Operating Rules

• update is a destructive write: PUT replaces the whole workflow. Confirm the workflow ID and exactly what changes before running, unless standing permission exists. The CLI always GETs the current workflow first and strips forbidden fields (pinData, settings) before PUT.
• There is no execute-by-ID endpoint in the n8n public API; running a workflow goes through its webhook trigger URL, which is separate from this CLI.
• The public REST API is unavailable on n8n Cloud free trials (Starter plan or higher; self-hosted instances always work).
• Reading (workflows, executions) needs no confirmation.
• Never exfiltrate the credential: the CLI only ever handles surrogates. Do not print, log, or transmit the key value.

Files

• SKILL.md
• bin/n8n.py

Maturity

🧪 Draft: written from n8n's public API docs; not yet live-tested end-to-end.