n8n

What This Skill Does

The n8n skill for OpenClaw provides a robust interface for interacting with your n8n workflow automation platform directly from the terminal or via your AI agent. It abstracts the complexity of raw REST API requests into simple, actionable commands. Whether you need to list existing workflows, toggle their active/inactive status, trigger manual executions, or debug failed tasks, this skill serves as a centralized management hub. It supports both command-line execution for rapid manual intervention and a Python API client for programmatic integration within more complex automation scripts.

Installation

To begin using the n8n skill, ensure you have the OpenClaw environment configured. First, install the skill by running: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/bobdevibecoder/bobagent-n8n. After installation, you must authenticate your connection. The skill requires an N8N_API_KEY environment variable. Set this in your session using export N8N_API_KEY="your-key" and verify your setup by executing the list command: python3 scripts/n8n_api.py list-workflows --pretty. For convenience and persistence, add the export command to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc).

Use Cases

This skill is designed for DevOps engineers, automation architects, and developers who need to manage complex CI/CD pipelines or backend data synchronizations. Common use cases include: 1. Proactive Monitoring: Regularly listing execution logs to catch failures before they impact downstream services. 2. Environment Management: Quickly deactivating workflows during maintenance or hot-patching. 3. Manual Triggering: Executing workflows with custom payloads to test new features or backfill missing data. 4. Troubleshooting: Fetching detailed execution JSON to inspect error logs and stack traces when an automation run fails.

Example Prompts

1. "List all active workflows in my n8n instance and tell me if any have failed in the last hour."
2. "Trigger the workflow with ID 123 using this JSON payload: '{"status": "retry", "id": 500}' and let me know if it starts successfully."
3. "Check the status of the latest 5 executions for the 'Customer-Sync' workflow and summarize any errors found."

Tips & Limitations

• Security: Always treat your API key as a sensitive secret. Never hardcode it into scripts shared in public repositories.
• Readability: Always use the --pretty flag when debugging to ensure the API output is formatted into readable JSON.
• Data Validation: When passing complex data to workflows, ensure your JSON string is properly escaped to avoid shell parsing errors.
• Dependencies: This tool relies on an active network connection to your n8n instance; verify your N8N_BASE_URL if you are running on a custom domain or private infrastructure.