agentleFS
Sign inStart free
tmolavitmolavi/n8n-agent-skills/skills/n8n-workflow-lifecycle/SKILL.md

n8n-workflow-lifecycle

Skill1 starsChanged 3 months agoMITView on GitHub

Use when starting, designing, organizing, validating, testing, publishing, or handing off any n8n workflow. Covers naming, folders/projects, sticky notes, validation vs verification, side-effect-aware testing, and production handoff.

1 other project uses a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

1 rule. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈1

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Ask before tests that hit real external systems.

    line 31

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

n8n Workflow Lifecycle

Author: Taghi Molavi · Pack: n8n-agent-skills

Stages (do not skip)

  1. CLARIFY — trigger, inputs/outputs, side effects, env (dev/stage/prod), folder/project, success criteria.
  2. DISCOVER — search existing workflows/sub-workflows/tags before duplicating logic (n8n-subworkflows).
  3. DESIGN — outline nodes on paper/sticky notes; identify credentials needed; error strategy.
  4. BUILD — create inactive; prefer expressions; wire carefully (no .to()-inside-.add() traps in SDK).
  5. VALIDATE — schema lint + re-fetch workflow and inspect connections object.
  6. WIRE-UP (user) — credentials per node, folders, webhook URLs — things the agent cannot invent.
  7. TEST — pin/mock where possible; ask before real side effects (references/TESTING.md).
  8. PUBLISH/ACTIVATE — only after 5–7 clean.
  9. HANDOFF — how to trigger, expected output, monitors, known limits.

Non-negotiables

  • Validate and verify connections before activate.
  • Surface platform limits (folders need registered instance on official MCP, etc.) instead of silent wrong placement.
  • Ask before tests that hit real external systems.

Naming (short)

  • Workflows: verb-first, scoped — Sync HubSpot deals to BigQuery nightly
  • Nodes: what they do here — Fetch open deals not HTTP Request1
  • Tags: lowercase, 2–4 — subworkflow, domain, env (prod/staging)
  • Full rules: references/NAMING.md

Readability

  • Workflow description: 1–2 sentences of what + why
  • Sticky notes for non-obvious why (not restating node titles)
  • Group related nodes; extract sub-workflow only for reuse/isolation/agent-tool — not mere canvas tidiness

Execution model reminder

n8n runs fan-out branches sequentially (top-to-bottom by Y). Not parallel. For real concurrency use sub-workflows with waitForSubWorkflow: false patterns — see n8n-loops and n8n-subworkflows.

Validation is not enough

Lint/validate misses: dropped wires, fan-out collapse, Merge off-by-one, error output without onError: continueErrorOutput, semantically wrong but schema-valid IDs. Always re-read connections + run a representative test.

Checklists

  • Pre-publish: references/VALIDATION_CHECKLIST.md
  • Human review: references/REVIEW_CHECKLIST.md
  • Testing: references/TESTING.md

Download now (ZIP)

Does it work?

Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.

No reviews yet

People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.

  • It worked
  • Partly
  • It didn't
What did you use it for? e.g. Reviewing pull requests in a Rails app

Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.

Your trail

Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.

Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.

Now do this for your own.

Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

Check your setup, free