N8n Automation

n8n Automation Master Skill

Unified skill that orchestrates 8 specialized n8n skills to build production-ready workflows.

🔧 Sub-Skills Included

🎯 Quick Reference

Template Search (ALWAYS START HERE!)

MCP Template Library (2,709+ templates):

• search_templates - Find by keyword, nodes, task, metadata
• get_template - Get template JSON for deployment

Web Template Discovery (for recent/community templates):

• Load n8n-template-search skill for comprehensive web search
• Combines n8n.io, GitHub, forum sources

MCP Tools Available

Always Available (no n8n API needed):

• search_nodes - Find nodes among 1,084+ available
• get_node - Get node documentation and config
• validate_node - Check node configuration
• validate_workflow - Validate complete workflow
• search_templates - Search 2,709 templates
• get_template - Get workflow template JSON

Requires n8n API Key:

• n8n_create_workflow - Deploy workflow
• n8n_update_partial_workflow - Update workflow
• n8n_validate_workflow - Validate by ID
• n8n_deploy_template - Deploy template directly

nodeType Format (CRITICAL!)

// For search/validate tools: SHORT prefix
"nodes-base.slack"
"nodes-base.httpRequest"
"nodes-langchain.agent"

// For workflow tools: FULL prefix  
"n8n-nodes-base.slack"
"n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest"
"@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.agent"

📋 Workflow Creation Process

Step 0: Template Discovery (ALWAYS FIRST!) 🔍

CRITICAL: Before building anything, search for existing templates!

// Quick keyword search (MCP - fastest)
search_templates({query: "slack notification"})

// Search by specific nodes
search_templates({
  searchMode: "by_nodes",
  nodeTypes: ["n8n-nodes-base.webhook", "n8n-nodes-base.slack"]
})

// Search by workflow pattern
search_templates({searchMode: "by_task", task: "webhook_processing"})

// Search by complexity/time
search_templates({
  searchMode: "by_metadata",
  complexity: "simple",
  maxSetupMinutes: 15
})

// If MCP insufficient: Web search (load n8n-template-search skill)
WebFetch({
  url: "https://n8n.io/workflows/?search=slack",
  prompt: "Find Slack notification templates with descriptions"
})

Found suitable template?

• ✅ YES → Deploy with n8n_deploy_template({templateId: XXX, autoFix: true})
• ❌ NO → Continue to Step 1 (Node Discovery)

Step 1: Node Discovery (if no template fits)

// Search for nodes
search_nodes({query: "slack", includeExamples: true})

// Get node details
get_node({nodeType: "nodes-base.slack", detail: "standard"})

Step 3: Configuration & Validation

// Quick validation
validate_node({nodeType: "nodes-base.slack", config: {...}, mode: "minimal"})

// Full validation
validate_node({nodeType: "nodes-base.slack", config: {...}, profile: "runtime"})

Step 4: Build & Deploy

// Create workflow
n8n_create_workflow({name: "...", nodes: [...], connections: {...}})

// Or deploy template directly
n8n_deploy_template({templateId: 2947, autoFix: true})

Step 5: Validate Complete Workflow

validate_workflow(workflowJson)
n8n_validate_workflow({id: "workflow-id"})

⚠️ Critical Warnings

Never Trust Defaults

// ❌ FAILS at runtime - missing required params
{resource: "message", operation: "post", text: "Hello"}

// ✅ WORKS - all parameters explicit
{resource: "message", operation: "post", select: "channel", channelId: "C123", text: "Hello"}

IF Node Multi-Output Routing

// Use branch parameter for IF nodes
{
  type: "addConnection",
  source: "If Node",
  target: "True Handler",
  sourcePort: "main",
  targetPort: "main",
  branch: "true"  // ← CRITICAL!
}

addConnection Syntax

// ❌ WRONG - object format
{type: "addConnection", connection: {source: {...}}}

// ✅ CORRECT - four separate strings
{
  type: "addConnection",
  source: "node-id",
  target: "target-id", 
  sourcePort: "main",
  targetPort: "main"
}

🔗 Expression Syntax Quick Reference

// Access current item data
{{ $json.fieldName }}

// Access previous node
{{ $node["NodeName"].json.field }}

// Webhook data (CRITICAL: under .body)
{{ $json.body.fieldName }}

// Built-in variables
{{ $now }}      // Current datetime
{{ $env.KEY }}  // Environment variable
{{ $runIndex }} // Current run index

📊 Popular Nodes Reference

🔍 When to Load Sub-Skills

Read the specific sub-skill when:

✅ Validation Checklist

Before deploying any workflow:

• All nodes have unique IDs
• All required parameters configured
• Connections properly mapped
• Expressions use correct syntax
• Error handling implemented
• validate_workflow passed
• Tested in development first