How to Install and Use n8n workflow automation in OpenClaw

Open your terminal and run the ClawHub install command for the n8n-workflow-automation skill. This is the extended n8n skill that adds template management and workflow administration on top of the basic trigger/monitor capabilities. If you already have the base `n8n` skill installed, this skill installs alongside it — both can be active simultaneously and they share the same N8N_BASE_URL and N8N_API_KEY credentials. After installation, ClawHub confirms the skill version and lists the required configuration keys. The skill requires the same credentials as the base n8n skill: N8N_BASE_URL and N8N_API_KEY. If you have already configured these for the base n8n skill, this skill will use them automatically — no additional configuration is needed. If you have not yet set up the base n8n skill credentials, proceed to Step 2 to configure them.

1clawhub install n8n-workflow-automation
2
3# If you already have the base n8n skill, both can run simultaneously:
4clawhub list | grep n8n

If you have not already configured n8n credentials for the base n8n skill, do so now. Log in to your n8n instance and go to Settings > API. Enable the API if it is not already enabled, then generate a new API key under the API Keys section. Copy the generated key — it starts with `n8n_api_`. Your N8N_BASE_URL is the root URL of your n8n instance without any path or trailing slash. For self-hosted installations this is typically `http://localhost:5678` or `http://your-server-ip:5678`. For n8n Cloud accounts, it is in the format `https://your-org.app.n8n.cloud`. Add both values to your OpenClaw configuration using the method you prefer: editing `~/.openclaw/.env` directly, or using `clawhub config set` commands. If you already have these set from the base n8n skill, you can skip this step entirely — the n8n-workflow-automation skill reads the same config values.

1# Set credentials (skip if already configured for the base n8n skill)
2clawhub config set N8N_BASE_URL http://localhost:5678
3clawhub config set N8N_API_KEY n8n_api_your-api-key-here
4
5# Reload to apply
6clawhub reload
7
8# Verify credentials
9clawhub config get N8N_BASE_URL
10clawhub config get N8N_API_KEY

With the skill configured, open OpenClaw chat and start browsing the n8n template library. The skill understands natural language descriptions of automation tasks and matches them against the n8n template catalog. You can search by what you want to automate, by the apps involved, or by category. The template search capability queries the n8n public template library at n8n.io/workflows and returns the most relevant matches for your description. Each result includes the template name, a summary of what it does, which n8n nodes it uses, and a difficulty indicator. You can ask OpenClaw to show you more details about a specific template before deciding to deploy it. Template availability depends on your n8n version and installed nodes. The skill notes when a template requires nodes not available in your n8n instance and suggests installing the relevant n8n community nodes if applicable.

Once you find a template you want to use, ask OpenClaw to deploy it to your n8n instance. The skill imports the workflow JSON directly into your n8n instance via the REST API, creating the workflow in inactive/draft state so you can review and configure credentials before activating it. After deployment, the skill lists the credentials required by the template — for example, a Slack workflow requires a Slack credential with appropriate scopes. It provides instructions for setting up each credential in the n8n dashboard. Credential setup must be done in the n8n UI since API keys for other services are managed by n8n's credential vault, not by OpenClaw. Once credentials are configured in n8n, you can ask OpenClaw to activate the workflow, which sets it to Active and enables it to run on its configured trigger.

The n8n-workflow-automation skill gives you a conversational interface for managing all your n8n workflows without opening the n8n dashboard. You can list workflows by status, activate or deactivate specific workflows, rename them, and check execution statistics. This is particularly valuable for teams managing large n8n environments with dozens of workflows. Instead of scrolling through the n8n dashboard, you can ask OpenClaw to give you a status report, identify workflows that need attention, or make bulk changes based on naming patterns. RapidDev recommends building a habit of running a weekly n8n health check from OpenClaw — asking for failed executions, inactive workflows that should be active, and workflows with no recent runs. This keeps your automation suite clean without requiring dedicated monitoring infrastructure.

1# Example skill configuration for workflow management
2# ~/.openclaw/skills/n8n-workflow-automation.yaml
3n8n-workflow-automation:
4  base_url: ""           # Leave blank if using N8N_BASE_URL env var
5  api_key: ""            # Leave blank if using N8N_API_KEY env var
6  template_cache_ttl: 3600  # Seconds to cache template search results (default: 1 hour)
7  deploy_as_inactive: true  # Deploy templates as inactive for review before activation
8  max_templates_returned: 10  # Max template results per search query