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