Using the n8n-mcp Skills

When to Use

Use this router at the start of any n8n MCP workflow design, inspection, edit, validation, test, deployment, credential, execution, or troubleshooting task so the relevant specialist guidance is loaded first.

Begin with read-only discovery and live schema inspection. Never copy secrets into prompts or workflow fields, never infer the target instance, and obtain approval before tests with side effects, activation, deletion, credential mutation, or other externally visible changes.

This is a router, not a reference. It tells you which skill owns the rules for what you're about to do. The skill bodies hold the actual guidance — invoke them with the Skill tool. When in doubt, load more skills rather than fewer.

The community n8n-mcp server and n8n itself move faster than any model's training cutoff. Tool names, parameters, node typeVersions, and default behaviors drift between releases. When you spot drift — a tool a skill names doesn't exist, a parameter shape doesn't match what get_node returns, behavior differs from what a skill describes — trust the live tool, tell the user, and suggest updating the pack and the instance.

Non-negotiables