# N8n

> Fair-code workflow automation with native AI — a visual canvas plus code, 400+ integrations, and LangChain-based agent nodes; self-host free or cloud per-execution.

n8n (~192k stars) is the automation platform that grew an AI brain: a visual workflow canvas (with code when you want it), 400+ app integrations, and AI agent nodes — built on LangChain — with memory backends, vector-store nodes for RAG, and broad model support. Fair-code licensed: free self-hosting for internal use, EUR-priced cloud billed per execution.

Website: https://n8n.io

n8n attacks AI from the opposite direction of the AI-native platforms: it was already the automation layer — ~192k stars, 400+ integrations, a decade of workflow muscle — and then gave its workflows a brain. The result is distinctive: **agents with hands**, where the AI node sits between real triggers and real actions.

## Highlights

- **AI Agent nodes on LangChain** — Tools, Conversational, ReAct, Plan-and-Execute, and SQL agent types as canvas nodes, with chains for Q&A and summarization.
- **The integration moat as a toolset** — 400+ apps and 900+ templates double as agent tools: the agent that reads the ticket, queries the DB, and posts to Slack is three nodes.
- **RAG without leaving the canvas** — vector-store nodes (Pinecone, [Qdrant](/tools/qdrant), Chroma, Weaviate), document loaders, embeddings, retrievers.
- **Memory backends** — Simple to Redis/Postgres/MongoDB/Zep for stateful conversations.
- **Visual + code** — the canvas for structure, Code nodes for the parts that are genuinely code (now sandboxed in 2.0's task runners).
- **Self-host or cloud** — `npx n8n` / Docker for free internal self-hosting; cloud priced per **execution** (unlimited steps and users), EUR-denominated.

## In an AI-assisted workflow

```bash
docker run -it --rm -p 5678:5678 -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
# editor at localhost:5678 — drop an AI Agent node into any workflow
```

The signature pattern: **automation-first, intelligence where it pays** — a deterministic pipeline with one judgment step (classify, draft, decide) handled by an agent node, with [human approval](/glossary/human-in-the-loop) nodes guarding the consequential branches.

> [!NOTE]
> License clarity: free for internal business use (including commercial), self-hosted; *reselling* n8n — hosting it for customers, embedding in paid products — needs a license. The `.ee.` files in the repo are enterprise-licensed despite being public.

## Good to know

The October 2025 Series C ($180M, Accel-led, $2.5B valuation, NVIDIA's venture arm participating) made n8n the automation category's AI flagship; 2.0 followed with security-by-default. Cloud "AI credits" are starter allowances — you bring model keys. The head-to-head with the AI-native canvas: [n8n vs Dify](/guides/comparisons/n8n-vs-dify).

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_Source: https://agentscamp.com/tools/n8n — Tool on AgentsCamp._