n8n-builder

name

n8n-builder

description

Expert n8n workflow builder that creates, deploys, and manages n8n workflows programmatically via the n8n REST API. Use when asked to create n8n workflows, automate n8n tasks, build automations, design workflow pipelines, connect services via n8n, or manage existing n8n workflows. Handles webhook flows, scheduled tasks, AI agents, database syncs, conditional logic, error handling, and any n8n node configuration.

n8n Workflow Builder

Setup

Requires two environment variables:

• N8N_URL — n8n instance URL (e.g. https://your-n8n.example.com)
• N8N_API_KEY — n8n API key (Settings → API → Create API Key)

Workflow

1. Understand the automation — Clarify trigger (webhook/schedule/manual), data sources, processing logic, outputs, and error handling needs.

2. Design the workflow JSON — Build valid n8n workflow JSON following the schema in references/workflow-schema.md. Use patterns from references/workflow-patterns.md as templates.

3. Deploy via API — Use scripts/n8n-api.sh create <file> or pipe JSON to scripts/n8n-api.sh create-stdin.

4. Activate — Use scripts/n8n-api.sh activate <workflow_id> for trigger-based workflows.

5. Verify — List workflows to confirm deployment: scripts/n8n-api.sh list.

API Script Reference

# List all workflows
scripts/n8n-api.sh list

# Create workflow from JSON file
scripts/n8n-api.sh create /tmp/workflow.json

# Create from stdin
echo '{"name":"Test",...}' | scripts/n8n-api.sh create-stdin

# Get, activate, deactivate, delete, execute
scripts/n8n-api.sh get <id>
scripts/n8n-api.sh activate <id>
scripts/n8n-api.sh deactivate <id>
scripts/n8n-api.sh delete <id>
scripts/n8n-api.sh execute <id>

# List credentials and tags
scripts/n8n-api.sh credentials
scripts/n8n-api.sh tags

Building Workflow JSON

Every workflow needs: name, nodes[], connections{}, settings{}.

Every node needs: id, name, type, typeVersion, position, parameters.

Connections use source node display name as key, mapping outputs to target nodes.

For full schema, node types, and expression syntax → read references/workflow-schema.md For complete workflow examples (webhook, schedule, AI agent, DB sync, error handling) → read references/workflow-patterns.md

Key Rules

• Always set "executionOrder": "v1" in settings
• Node names must be unique within a workflow
• Node IDs must be unique — use descriptive slugs like webhook1, code1
• Position nodes starting at [250, 300], spacing ~200px horizontally
• IF nodes have two outputs: index 0 = true, index 1 = false
• Webhook workflows need respondToWebhook node if responseMode is responseNode
• Credentials must exist in n8n before activation — check with scripts/n8n-api.sh credentials
• Test before activating — use scripts/n8n-api.sh execute <id> for manual trigger workflows
• Use continueOnFail: true on risky HTTP/API nodes, then check for errors downstream

Common Real Estate Workflows

• Lead intake: Webhook → validate → dedupe → insert DB → notify Slack/SMS
• Call follow-up: Schedule → query DB for completed calls → send SMS/email based on outcome
• Drip campaign: Schedule → query leads by stage → send stage-appropriate email/SMS
• CRM sync: Webhook → transform → update HubSpot/Salesforce + internal DB
• Property alerts: Schedule → scrape/API listings → filter new → notify leads
• AI qualification: Webhook → AI Agent (classify lead intent) → route to appropriate pipeline