n8n Skills — Agent Skill Profile

What it actually does

Pairs 13 capability skills — covering sub-workflow reuse, expressions, loops/pagination, AI agents, error handling, credentials, Data Tables, and debugging — with n8n's instance-level MCP server.
Ships a SessionStart hook that loads a routing skill every session and PreToolUse hooks that pull in the matching skill before high-impact MCP calls.

When to use it — and when not to

Use it when

You're building or editing n8n workflows through an agent connected to n8n's MCP server.

Not for

You don't have a running n8n instance — this is guidance for driving n8n's MCP server well, not a general workflow-automation skill.
You're on Cursor — n8n's own README says Cursor support doesn't exist yet and is open to contributors.

Agent compatibility

Claude Code
Codex
Requires Codex ≥0.142.0 for root-plugin marketplace support, per n8n's own README.

Confirmed means the skill’s own source or vendor states it works with that agent. Portable means it only reaches that agent through the shared SKILL.md format and a directory convention — real, but a weaker claim. An agent with no entry here isn’t known to be unsupported; it simply isn’t documented either way, so nothing is claimed. Full model on Agent Skills Compatibility.

Requirements and operational surface

Depends on

An n8n instance (Cloud or self-hosted, ≥2.2.0) with instance-level MCP enabled
The `n8n-mcp` MCP server (auto-configured for Claude Code; added manually via `codex mcp add` for Codex)

What it actually does at runtime

Calls the n8n MCP server to read, build, and edit workflows
Hooks fire automatically at session start and before high-impact MCP tool calls

Evidence and provenance

Maintained by n8n (vendor). Primary source: n8n-io/skills, last checked against this page’s claims on August 16, 2026. This page summarizes and analyzes that source — it isn’t a copy of its SKILL.md or README, and installation happens at the source, not here.