N8n CLI Agent Skill

Use the n8n CLI to manage workflows, credentials, executions, and more on an n8n instance. Use when the user asks to interact with n8n, automate workflows, manage credentials, or operate their instance from the command line.

2k tokens

context cost

the whole folder, loaded on every use

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

199283

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n --skill n8n-cli

What it tells the agent to use

found in the instruction text

Bash runs shell commands — read the instruction before connecting

The instruction itself

14 sections, as written by the author

n8n CLI

The n8n-cli command-line tool manages an n8n instance via its REST API.

It auto-detects piped output and switches to JSON, making it composable for scripts and LLM tool use.

Setup

# Interactive login (saves to ~/.n8n-cli/config.json)
n8n-cli login

# Or configure directly
n8n-cli config set-url https://my-instance.n8n.cloud
n8n-cli config set-api-key n8n_api_...

# Or use environment variables (no config file needed)
export N8N_URL=https://my-instance.n8n.cloud
export N8N_API_KEY=n8n_api_...

Global Flags

Every command supports these flags:

| Flag | Short | Description |

|------|-------|-------------|

| --url | -u | Instance URL (overrides config/env) |

| --apiKey | -k | API key (overrides config/env) |

| --format | -f | Output format: table, json, id-only |

| --json | | Shorthand for --format=json |

| --jq | | jq-style filter (implies --json), e.g. '.[0].id', '.[].name' |

| --quiet | -q | Suppress output |

| --no-header | | Hide table headers (for awk/cut parsing) |

| --debug | | Print HTTP details to stderr |

Auto-JSON: When stdout is piped (not a TTY), output defaults to JSON automatically.

Workflows

# List all workflows
n8n-cli workflow list

# Filter workflows
n8n-cli workflow list --active
n8n-cli workflow list --tag=production
n8n-cli workflow list --name="My Workflow"
n8n-cli workflow list --limit=5

# Get a single workflow (full JSON with nodes and connections)
n8n-cli workflow get <id>

# Extract just node names from a workflow
n8n-cli workflow get <id> --jq '.nodes[].name'

# Create a workflow from JSON
n8n-cli workflow create --file=workflow.json
cat workflow.json | n8n-cli workflow create --stdin

# Update a workflow
n8n-cli workflow update <id> --file=updated.json
cat updated.json | n8n-cli workflow update <id> --stdin

# Activate / deactivate
n8n-cli workflow activate <id>
n8n-cli workflow deactivate <id>

# Delete a workflow
n8n-cli workflow delete <id>

# Transfer to another project
n8n-cli workflow transfer <id> --project=<projectId>

# List tags on a workflow
n8n-cli workflow tags <id>

Executions

# List recent executions
n8n-cli execution list
n8n-cli execution list --workflow=<id> --status=error --limit=10
# status options: canceled, error, running, success, waiting

# Get execution details
n8n-cli execution get <id>
n8n-cli execution get <id> --include-data   # includes full node I/O

# Retry a failed execution
n8n-cli execution retry <id>

# Stop a running execution
n8n-cli execution stop <id>

# Delete an execution
n8n-cli execution delete <id>

Credentials

# List credentials
n8n-cli credential list

# Get credential metadata (not secrets)
n8n-cli credential get <id>

# Get the schema for a credential type (shows required fields)
n8n-cli credential schema notionApi
n8n-cli credential schema slackOAuth2Api

# Create a credential
n8n-cli credential create --type=notionApi --name='My Notion' --data='{"apiKey":"..."}'
n8n-cli credential create --type=notionApi --name='My Notion' --file=cred.json
cat cred.json | n8n-cli credential create --type=notionApi --name='My Notion' --stdin

# Delete / transfer
n8n-cli credential delete <id>
n8n-cli credential transfer <id> --project=<projectId>

Tip: Use credential schema <type> to discover required fields before creating.

Projects

n8n-cli project list
n8n-cli project get <id>
n8n-cli project create --name="My Project"
n8n-cli project update <id> --name="New Name"
n8n-cli project delete <id>

# Team management
n8n-cli project members <id>
n8n-cli project add-member <id> --user=<userId> --role=<role>
n8n-cli project remove-member <id> --user=<userId>

Variables

n8n-cli variable list
n8n-cli variable create --key=API_ENDPOINT --value=https://api.example.com
n8n-cli variable update <id> --key=API_ENDPOINT --value=https://new-api.example.com
n8n-cli variable delete <id>

Data Tables

# CRUD
n8n-cli data-table list
n8n-cli data-table get <id>
n8n-cli data-table create --name=Inventory --columns='[{"name":"item","type":"string"},{"name":"qty","type":"number"}]'
n8n-cli data-table delete <id>

# Row operations
n8n-cli data-table rows <id>
n8n-cli data-table add-rows <id> --file=rows.json
n8n-cli data-table update-rows <id> --file=rows.json
n8n-cli data-table upsert-rows <id> --file=rows.json
n8n-cli data-table delete-rows <id> --ids=row1,row2,row3

# All row commands support --stdin
cat rows.json | n8n-cli data-table add-rows <id> --stdin

Users

n8n-cli user list
n8n-cli user get <id>

Other

# Security audit
n8n-cli audit
n8n-cli audit --categories=credentials,nodes

# Source control
n8n-cli source-control pull

# View config
n8n-cli config show

Composability Patterns

The CLI is designed to be piped and composed:

# Get all workflow IDs
n8n-cli workflow list --jq '.[].id'

# Get the name of the first workflow
n8n-cli workflow list --jq '.[0].name'

# Export a workflow to a file
n8n-cli workflow get 1234 --json > workflow-backup.json

# Find failing executions for a workflow
n8n-cli execution list --workflow=1234 --status=error --json

# Pipe workflow JSON for modification
n8n-cli workflow get 1234 --json | jq '.name = "Updated Name"' | n8n-cli workflow update 1234 --stdin

# Table output without headers for shell parsing
n8n-cli workflow list --no-header | awk '{print $1}'

# Debug API calls
n8n-cli workflow list --debug 2>debug.log

Workflow JSON Structure

When creating or updating workflows, the JSON follows this structure:

{
  "name": "My Workflow",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "Start",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.manualTrigger",
      "position": [250, 300],
      "parameters": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "HTTP Request",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest",
      "position": [450, 300],
      "parameters": {
        "url": "https://api.example.com/data",
        "method": "GET"
      }
    }
  ],
  "connections": {
    "Start": {
      "main": [[{ "node": "HTTP Request", "type": "main", "index": 0 }]]
    }
  }
}

Key points:

nodes[].type follows the pattern n8n-nodes-base.<nodeName> for built-in nodes
connections is keyed by source node name, with main output arrays
Each connection specifies target node, type (usually main), and output index
Use workflow get <id> --json to see real examples from the instance

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How to use it

Copy the folder

Take n8n-io/n8n-cli from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

N8n CLI Agent Skill

Install

What it tells the agent to use

The instruction itself

n8n CLI

Setup

Global Flags

Workflows

Executions

Credentials

Projects

Tags

Variables

Data Tables

Users

Other

Composability Patterns

Workflow JSON Structure

Other skills for the same job

How to use it