Glossary

n8n glossary

Plain-language definitions for every core n8n concept — perfect for onboarding and interviews.

$A B C D E F H I J M N O P Q R S T U V W

59 terms

$json: Refers to the JSON data of the current item being processed by an expression or Code node.
$node: Accesses the output data of any other named node in the workflow, e.g. $node['HTTP Request'].json.
Action node: A node that performs an operation against an app or service, e.g. 'Create row' or 'Send message'.
Active workflow: A workflow toggled 'Active' so its triggers (webhook, cron) listen continuously in production.
AI Agent node: Connects a chat model with tools and memory so it can reason step-by-step and take actions (LangChain-based).
API key: A static token used to authenticate requests, stored securely inside an n8n credential.
Binary data: Files (images, PDFs, CSVs) attached to an item, distinct from the json field.
Canvas: The visual editor where you drag, drop and connect nodes to build a workflow.
Chat Trigger: A trigger node that exposes a chat interface/webhook for conversational workflows.
Code node: Runs custom JavaScript (or Python) against all items or per item for full control over data.
Community node: A node published by the community and installed via npm on self-hosted n8n instances.
Connection: The line linking one node's output to another node's input, defining data flow order.
Continue on fail: A node setting that lets the workflow keep running past a failed node instead of stopping.
Credential: Encrypted secrets (API key, OAuth token, DB password) that can be reused across workflows.
Data pinning: See Pin data — locking sample data on a node during development.
Embedding: A numeric vector representation of text produced by an embedding model, used to measure semantic similarity.
Encryption key: N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY encrypts credentials at rest; losing it means losing access to all stored credentials.
Environments: Enterprise feature separating dev/staging/production instances with promotable workflow changes.
Error workflow: A workflow assigned to run automatically whenever another workflow fails — central alerting.
Execution: One run of a workflow. n8n stores executions so you can inspect input/output data per node.
Expression: Inline JavaScript such as {{$json.email.toLowerCase()}} used to pull or transform data from other nodes.
Fair-code license: n8n's Sustainable Use License — free to self-host and use commercially, with limits on reselling n8n itself as a service.
Horizontal scaling: Adding more worker instances/containers to handle higher execution volume in queue mode.
IF / Switch node: Logic nodes that branch the workflow based on conditions (boolean for IF, multiple outputs for Switch).
Item: The atomic unit of data flowing between nodes; each item has a json field and optional binary.
JMESPath: A query language n8n supports for filtering/transforming JSON, available via the $jmespath() helper.
Manual execution: Running a workflow directly from the editor via 'Execute workflow', useful for testing.
MCP (Model Context Protocol): An open protocol n8n can expose/consume so AI agents and tools interoperate across systems.
Memory (buffer/window): A LangChain component that stores prior conversation turns so an AI Agent has context.
Merge node: Combines two input branches by append, merge by key, SQL-style join, or choose branch.
n8n Academy / Courses: Free official courses (Level 1, Level 2, Advanced AI) teaching n8n from basics to production patterns.
n8n Cloud: The official managed hosting offering from n8n, removing the need to operate infrastructure yourself.
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY: The environment variable holding the credential-encryption secret; must be backed up and kept identical across instances.
n8n.io/workflows: The official public library of thousands of shareable, importable workflow templates.
Node: A single step — Trigger, Action, or Logic — representing an app, API call, or transformation.
npm package: The distribution format for community nodes, installed into self-hosted n8n via npm install.
OAuth2: An authorization flow many n8n credentials use, requiring a redirect URI configured on the app side.
Pin data: Freezing a node's output so you can iterate on downstream nodes without re-running the trigger.
Queue mode: A scaling mode where the main process enqueues jobs to Redis and separate workers execute them in parallel.
RAG: Retrieval-Augmented Generation — fetching relevant documents first, then asking an LLM to answer using them.
Retry on fail: A node setting that re-attempts execution after a failure, with configurable wait time and max tries.
Reverse proxy: Software like Caddy, Nginx, or Traefik that terminates HTTPS and forwards traffic to the n8n container.
Self-hosted: Running n8n on your own infrastructure (Docker, VPS, Kubernetes) instead of n8n Cloud.
Set / Edit Fields node: Adds, renames, or removes fields on the current item without writing code.
Split In Batches / Loop node: Iterates over items in chunks, useful for rate-limited APIs or large datasets.
Sticky note: A canvas annotation node used to document a workflow for teammates.
Structured Output Parser: A LangChain component that forces an LLM's response into a defined JSON schema.
Sub-workflow: A workflow invoked by the Execute Workflow node — the DRY way to reuse logic across workflows.
System prompt: Instructions given to an AI Agent/chat model defining its role, tone, and constraints.
Template: A pre-built workflow published on n8n.io/workflows that you can import and adapt.
Tool node: A node exposed to an AI Agent as a callable function, e.g. HTTP Request Tool or Vector Store Tool.
Trigger interval: How often a polling trigger (e.g. Schedule Trigger) checks for new data.
Trigger node: The node that starts a workflow: Webhook, Schedule/Cron, Form, Chat, or an app-specific event.
User management / RBAC: Enterprise/Cloud feature controlling who can view, edit, or execute workflows and credentials by role.
Vector store: A database (Pinecone, Qdrant, Supabase pgvector) that stores embeddings and enables similarity search for RAG.
Version control (Git): Enterprise/Cloud feature that syncs workflows to a Git repository for review and rollback.
Wait node: Pauses execution for a duration, until a date, or until a webhook/form resumes it.
Worker: A separate n8n process that consumes jobs from the Redis queue when running in queue mode.
Workflow: A directed graph of nodes that runs on a trigger — the fundamental unit of automation in n8n.