instance-readiness

name

instance-readiness

description

Assess n8n instance readiness before provisioning. Runs health checks, inventories workflows and credentials, detects conflicts, verifies community nodes, and produces a readiness report with pass/warn/fail ratings. Use when: "check n8n instance", "is n8n ready for provisioning", "n8n health check", "verify n8n instance", "pre-provisioning check", "audit n8n before import", "instance readiness report"

Instance Readiness

Assess whether an n8n instance is ready to receive new workflows. Produces a structured readiness report with pass/warn/fail ratings for each check category. All calls use ~~capability with automatic fallback (see CONNECTORS.md).

Readiness Assessment Overview

Run the full assessment in this order:

1. Health Check         → Is the instance alive and responsive?
2. Workflow Inventory   → What already exists? Any conflicts?
3. Credential Inventory → What credentials are configured?
4. Community Nodes      → Are required community nodes installed?
5. Webhook Conflicts    → Any duplicate webhook paths?
6. Resource Capacity    → Can the instance handle more workflows?
7. Security Posture     → Is the instance properly secured?

Step 1: Health Check

~~instance_audit

Extract and evaluate:

Metric	Source	Pass	Warn	Fail
Instance reachable	Audit response	Responds < 5s	Responds 5-15s	No response / timeout
n8n version	Audit .version	Latest stable or N-1	N-2 or N-3	More than 3 versions behind
Uptime	Audit .uptime	> 24 hours	1-24 hours	< 1 hour (recent restart)
Queue health	Audit .queue	No backed-up executions	< 50 queued	> 50 queued
Database	Audit .database	Connected, responsive	Slow queries detected	Connection errors

Step 2: Workflow Inventory

~~workflow_list

Analyze the results:

Metric	Pass	Warn	Fail
Total workflow count	< 50	50-100	> 100 (performance risk)
Active workflows	< 30	30-60	> 60
Inactive workflows	Any count (no risk)	—	—

Conflict detection: Compare each planned import name against existing workflows. Exact match = CONFLICT (must rename or skip). Partial match = WARNING (review for duplication). No match = CLEAR.

Step 3: Credential Inventory

Call ~~credential_manage (action: list) to map existing credentials by name, type, and usage count. Compare against planned imports to identify reusable vs missing credentials. See credential-planning skill for full credential analysis.

Step 4: Community Node Verification

Extract required node types from planned workflow JSONs (filter to non-core nodes — those NOT starting with n8n-nodes-base.). Compare against installed community nodes from ~~instance_audit or n8n settings. Produce a gap report listing each required package with installed/missing status. FAIL if any required community node is missing.

Step 5: Webhook Conflict Detection

Extract webhook paths from planned imports (look for n8n-nodes-base.webhook nodes, read node.parameters.path). Compare against webhook paths in existing active workflows from ~~workflow_list. Duplicate path = FAIL (two workflows cannot share a webhook path). Similar paths = WARN (review for intent).

Step 6: Resource Capacity

Estimate whether the instance can handle additional workflows:

Factor	Assessment Method	Threshold
Active workflow count	Current active + planned active	Warn if total > 60
Trigger density	Count trigger/webhook/cron nodes	Warn if > 30 triggers total
Execution volume	Check recent execution history	Warn if > 1000 executions/day
Memory usage	Instance audit resource metrics	Warn if > 80% utilized
Storage	Database size trend	Warn if execution log growing rapidly

Step 7: Security Posture

Check	Pass	Warn	Fail
API key configured	Key is set and non-default	—	No API key or using default
HTTPS enabled	Instance served over HTTPS	HTTP with reverse proxy	Plain HTTP exposed
Authentication	Users require login	Single-user mode	No authentication
Environment variables	Secrets stored in env vars	Mixed (some hardcoded)	Secrets hardcoded in workflows
Execution data pruning	Auto-prune enabled	Manual pruning only	No pruning (data growth risk)

Readiness Report Format

Produce the final report with these sections:

• Header: Instance URL, date, planned import count
• Summary: Overall rating — READY / READY WITH WARNINGS / NOT READY
• Per-check sections: Each step with key metrics and PASS/WARN/FAIL rating
• Action Items: Ordered by priority (CRITICAL first, then WARNING)
• Conclusion: How many critical items to resolve before provisioning

Quick Check vs Full Assessment

Mode	Steps Included	When to Use
Quick	Steps 1-2 only (health + workflow count)	Before a single workflow import
Full	All 7 steps	Before batch provisioning or first-time setup