How to setup n8n MCP Server?
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is quickly becoming a major player in the AI infrastructure space. While powerful new language models like DeepSeek-R2 and Gemini 2.5 Pro get most of the attention, it’s frameworks like MCP that are quietly revolutionizing real-world AI integration.
In this post, we’ll explore how you can use the n8n MCP Server to automatically create and manage workflows using AI agents. This means AI can now build automations for you — turning ideas into workflows instantly.
https://medium.com/media/948c5bfd6af112368ec046454114883b/href
Some examples workflows you can create using n8n are:
Send a daily digest email with events, tasks, and news.
Get Slack or Telegram alerts for important incoming emails.
Create a Todoist or Notion task from new Trello cards.
Auto-generate recurring tasks weekly or monthly.
Post automatically on LinkedIn or Twitter
Save new Instagram posts to a Google Drive folder.
Back up Google Sheets to timestamped CSVs in Drive or Dropbox.
And many more…
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If you’re new to n8n, the below tutorial should be helpful
https://medium.com/media/0b2405c395eb4ece9974430cff370aa9/href
Key Capabilities of the n8n MCP Server
Workflow Management
list_workflows: Displays a list of all workflows from n8n.
create_workflow: Creates a new workflow in n8n.
get_workflow: Gets workflow details by its ID.
update_workflow: Updates an existing workflow.
delete_workflow: Deletes a workflow by its ID.
activate_workflow: Activates a workflow by its ID.
deactivate_workflow: Deactivates a workflow by its ID.
execute_workflow: Manually executes a workflow by its ID.
Execution Management
list_executions: Displays a list of all workflow executions with filtering capabilities.
get_execution: Gets details of a specific execution by its ID.
delete_execution: Deletes an execution record by its ID.
Tag Management
create_tag: Creates a new tag.
get_tags: Gets a list of all tags.
get_tag: Gets tag details by its ID.
update_tag: Updates an existing tag.
delete_tag: Deletes a tag by its ID.
How to setup n8n MCP Server?
Quite easy, just follow the below steps
- Git clone
git clone https://github.com/salacoste/mcp-n8n-workflow-builder.git
2. Run the below commands (hope you have Node.js in your system)
cd mcp-n8n-workflow-builder
npm install
npm run build
3. Create n8n API and get URL
For the n8n API:
Go to account settings
Choose n8n API option on left pane
Create API
For the URL, change “the your-n8n-instance” part with your local host address (if running n8n locally) else your clous instance
https://your-n8n-instance.com/api/v1/
4. Change Claude/Cursor config and add this MCP server
{
"n8n-workflow-builder": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["path/to/your/project/build/index.js"],
"env": {
"N8N_HOST": "https://your-n8n-instance.com/api/v1/",
"N8N_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here",
"MCP_PORT": "58921"
},
"disabled": false,
"alwaysAllow": [
"list_workflows",
"get_workflow",
"list_executions",
"get_execution"
],
"autoApprove": [
"create_workflow",
"update_workflow",
"activate_workflow",
"deactivate_workflow",
"delete_workflow",
"delete_execution"
] }
}
5. Restart your application and boom, n8n MCP tools are now available !!
Hope this was useful and now you are able to automate your work using AI
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Automate n8n Workflows with AI using n8n MCP Server was originally published in Data Science in Your Pocket on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
