What it does
n8n is a workflow automation platform aimed at technical teams. You build workflows and AI agents on a visual canvas and can write JavaScript or Python at any step when you need code. The site says each step of an agent's reasoning can be traced on the canvas, and that every execution can be inspected down to the prompt, the response and what happened next. It connects to over 500 integrations through pre-built nodes, with custom API connections for apps that have no node, and it handles setups with several cooperating agents as well as retrieval-augmented generation. You can switch between cloud and offline models without redoing workflows, and it works with MCP-compatible tools. For control, it offers structured inputs and outputs for AI steps, human-in-the-loop approvals, rule-based automation, guardrails and native evaluation of AI steps. You can run n8n on your own infrastructure with Docker, including on-prem and air-gapped setups, or use a hosted version. The site says the full source code is available on GitHub. Enterprise features it lists include SAML SSO, LDAP, encrypted secret stores, role-based permissions, audit logs, log streaming to a SIEM and Git-based version control.
Capabilities
- Visual canvas with JavaScript or Python available at any step
- 500+ integrations plus custom API connections
- AI agents with traceable reasoning, multi-agent setups and RAG
- Human-in-the-loop approvals, guardrails and native evaluations
- Re-run single steps and replay or mock data while building
- Self-host with Docker, including air-gapped, or use the hosted version
When to use it
- Automating business processes that mix apps, data and AI steps
- Building AI agents that need human approval before they act
- Keeping workflows and data on your own infrastructure
- IT and security tasks such as onboarding employees or enriching incident tickets
