Anatomy of a Workflow

The pieces

Every workflow has one or more trigger nodes that start it, followed by action nodes joined by connections. Each run is an execution, and n8n keeps its input and output data so you can inspect every node afterwards. While building, use Execute workflow or Execute step to test, and pin data on a node to reuse sample output without calling the real service again.

A first workflow, in words

Build this in the editor. Each line is a node, in order.

1. Schedule Trigger      every day at 09:00
2. HTTP Request          GET https://api.example.com/orders?status=new
3. IF                    {{ $json.total }} is greater than 5000
4. Slack                 post "Big order {{ $json.id }}" to #sales   (true branch)

Pin data while you build

Pinned data saves API calls and lets you iterate on later nodes quickly. Remember to unpin before you activate the workflow, because pinned data is only used when testing.

Quick check: What is a trigger node?

• A kind of credential
• A node that deletes data
• The last node in every workflow
• A node that starts the workflow