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n8n

Connecting your n8n instance's MCP server lets your agents work with the n8n workflows you choose: run them, look up their executions, build workflows and work with data tables. The server offers about 53 tools. Each n8n instance has its own server, so you type your instance's host when you connect.

Which entry you pick, and which Outermind plan you need, depends on where your instance runs:

  • n8n Cloud, at a host under app.n8n.cloud such as yourname.app.n8n.cloud: pick the n8n entry. It connects on the Workforce plan and up.
  • Self-hosted n8n, at any other host: pick the n8n (self-hosted) entry. Outermind cannot confirm that a host of your own runs n8n, so it connects as a custom MCP server and needs the Platform plan.

Read How MCP Servers Work in Outermind first if you have not connected an MCP server before.

Before you start​

  • An n8n instance on version 2.12 or later, and its host name, for example yourname.app.n8n.cloud for n8n Cloud or n8n.example.com for a self-hosted instance.
  • A public https:// address for the instance. Outermind connects to the instance over the internet with https://, and refuses an IP address or a host name that points at a private or internal network. An instance you can reach only inside your own network or over a VPN cannot be connected.
  • An n8n instance admin to turn on the instance's MCP server; see Prepare n8n.
  • An n8n account on the instance. The connection acts as the n8n user who signs in, or whose personal access token you paste.
  • A tenant admin in Outermind to run the wizard and grant the tools, on the Workforce plan or higher for n8n Cloud, or the Platform plan for a self-hosted instance.

Prepare n8n​

  1. An instance admin enables the instance-level MCP server in the instance's settings.
  2. For every workflow agents should be able to reach, turn on Available in MCP in that workflow's settings. Agents reach only the workflows you turn on, and no others.
  3. Decide how to sign in. OAuth sign-in is the usual choice. If your instance asks for a personal access token instead, create one for the n8n user the connection should act as, and treat it like a password.

Connect in Outermind​

  1. Open the Capabilities hub, click MCP Servers under Tool Management, and click Add MCP server.

  2. Under Known server, pick the entry for your instance:

    • for n8n Cloud, the n8n entry (shown with the host *.app.n8n.cloud). The wizard shows "Enter your instance host under app.n8n.cloud. An instance admin must enable the instance-level MCP server, and each workflow must be toggled Available in MCP. Sign in and approve, or paste a personal access token when the server asks for one.";
    • for a self-hosted instance, the n8n (self-hosted) entry (shown with the host *). The wizard shows "An instance admin must enable the instance-level MCP server, and each workflow must be toggled Available in MCP. Sign in and approve, or paste a personal access token when the server asks for one. Needs the Platform plan, like any custom MCP server."

    Either way the expected sign-in is OAuth sign-in. Optionally edit Purpose, the one-line description agents see beside this server.

  3. Instead of an endpoint, the wizard asks for an Organisation host. Type your instance's host only, such as yourname.app.n8n.cloud or n8n.example.com, with no https:// and no path. Outermind builds the endpoint, for example https://n8n.example.com/mcp-server/http, from it. The n8n entry accepts only a host under app.n8n.cloud. Click Next.

  4. On Credential, Outermind checks your instance and asks for whatever it needs:

    • for OAuth sign-in, the wizard says "Outermind registers itself with this server automatically when you connect." Click Connect, sign in to n8n and approve;
    • for a Bearer token, paste the personal access token and click Connect. Outermind stores it encrypted and never shows it again.

  5. On Summary, Outermind discovers the instance's tools and makes them active. Under Grant tools to agents, pick an agent to choose an access level for each one; to leave a tool out, use the connection page afterwards.

To connect another n8n instance, add a second connection with that instance's host and a display name that tells the two apart.

What your agents can do​

Agents can:

  • run the workflows you made available in MCP, and look up their executions;
  • build and change workflows with n8n's workflow builder;
  • see which credentials exist on the instance;
  • work with data tables;
  • use n8n Agents, which n8n offers as a preview.

Read actions start at tier low, and every other action starts at high; see Risk tiers.

warning

Running a workflow does whatever that workflow does in the systems it connects to, and the workflow builder can change how a workflow behaves for everyone who uses it. Keep these tools at tier high, and make only the workflows agents need available in MCP.

What is not available​

This server covers less than Outermind's earlier built-in n8n integration did. Agents cannot use:

  • Data-table row query/update/delete. Agents cannot search, change or remove individual rows in an n8n data table.
  • Execution retry/stop. Agents can look up an execution, but cannot retry a failed one or stop a running one.
  • Health check. Agents cannot check whether the n8n instance is up and healthy.
  • Security audit. Agents cannot run n8n's built-in security audit of the instance and read its findings.
  • Raw webhook trigger. Agents cannot call a workflow's webhook URL directly with a request of their own; they run a workflow only through the MCP server.
  • Blanket workflow access. The earlier integration's API key reached every workflow on the instance. Agents now reach only the workflows turned on as Available in MCP.

Billing notes​

Outermind knows of no separate n8n charge for using the MCP server, and calls are not charged per call the way Zapier counts tasks. Workflow runs that agents start count against your n8n plan or your own instance like any other run.