n8n smart home integration, free and open source
Your n8n workflows in Gladys: start them from a scene, react when one fails.
Published by guim31
- Devices
- Version 1.0.0
- Requires Gladys >=5.1.0
- ★ 0
n8n is a workflow automation tool you can host yourself: nodes linked together fetch data, call services, send messages. This integration brings your n8n workflows into Gladys: each workflow becomes a device with its state (active or not, last execution succeeded or failed, failures in the last 24 hours), scenes can start a workflow through its Webhook node and use its answer, react when any execution fails or when n8n stops answering, and a dashboard widget lists the failing workflows first.
Tested against a real self-hosted n8n 2.43 (Docker); not on n8n Cloud (same API, untested): feedback welcome on the issues.
What you need
- Gladys Assistant 5.1.0 or later.
- n8n 1.x or 2.x, self-hosted, reachable from the Gladys machine (n8n Cloud should work too: same API).
- An n8n API key (Settings → n8n API). The public API must not be disabled
(
N8N_PUBLIC_API_DISABLED).
At each refresh (one minute by default) the integration sends four requests to the API of n8n, and a few more the first time. n8n sets no rate limit on its API; on n8n Cloud, check the limits of your plan.
Getting started
1. Create an API key
In n8n, open Settings → n8n API, click Create an API key, give it a
label (Gladys) and no expiration, and copy the key: n8n shows it once. If
your n8n lets you choose the scopes of the key, tick workflow:list,
workflow:activate, workflow:deactivate, execution:list and
execution:read. The key sees the workflows of its owner.
2. Configure the integration
In Gladys, open the configuration of the n8n integration:
- n8n address: the address you open n8n with, for example
http://192.168.1.2:5678. An IP address alone gets port 5678. A URL copied from the browser works too. - API key: the key of step 1.
- Refresh interval: 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
- Allow switching workflows from Gladys: off by default, see below.
- Language of the names: language of the feature names, of the states and of the scene results.
Click Test the connection: it shows the workflows, the active ones and the failures of the last 24 hours.
3. Add the workflows
Open the Discover tab of the integration and add the workflows to follow, and the n8n device if you want the figures of the whole instance. Nothing is added on your behalf. The scene triggers work for every workflow, added or not.
The devices
Each workflow (archived ones left out) gives a device:
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Active | the workflow is active (published) or not |
| Last execution | Succeeded, Failed, Crashed, Canceled, Waiting, Running… |
| Working | No when the last execution failed, Yes otherwise (green / red) |
| Failures in 24 h | failed executions over the last 24 hours |
| Last run | start of the last execution, day/month hours:minutes |
| Last run duration | of the last execution, in seconds |
The Active switch only shows the state by default. With Allow switching workflows from Gladys on, it activates and deactivates the workflow: click Update on the devices in the Discover tab after changing the option.
The n8n device gives the Active workflows, the Failures in 24 h and the Workflows in total.
Dashboard
The n8n workflows widget shows three tiles (active workflows, failures in 24 hours, executions running), then one row per workflow: the failing ones first, then the running ones, then the others, with the state of the last execution, when it started and the failures of the day. By default it lists the active workflows; choose others in its settings (devices added to Gladys). The Refresh button reads n8n again.
Scenes
Triggers
- A workflow execution fails: an execution of a workflow ends in error (or crashes). Filter: the workflows (empty: any). Information passed on: workflow name, error message, failing node, execution number, link to the execution in n8n.
- n8n is unreachable: two reads in a row failed. Information passed on: the reason.
- n8n answers again: after being unreachable, with the outage length in minutes.
The first reading only notes what already happened: nothing is announced for the past. A failure that happens while Gladys or the integration restarts is announced once, at the next reading.
Actions
- Start an n8n workflow: the n8n API cannot run a workflow, its Webhook
node can. In n8n, add a Webhook trigger node, set its HTTP Method to
POST, give it a Path (gladys-hello) and activate the workflow. In the scene, enter that path (or the whole Production URL of the node) and a body: JSON such as{"room": "living room"}, or a text sent as{"text": "…"}; scene values can be inserted. Results: answered successfully, HTTP status (0 when no answer came within 25 seconds), message answered (themessageortextfield of the answer), full answer. To get an answer, set Respond to "When Last Node Finishes" or use a "Respond to Webhook" node; a workflow longer than 25 seconds should respond immediately. - State of a workflow: active or not, last execution failed or not, state, failures in 24 h, last run, duration, last error and a ready-made sentence, for the next actions (a message, a condition).
- Activate a workflow / Deactivate a workflow: for example a workflow that should only run during the holidays. These actions work whatever the option of the switch.
Scene ideas
- A workflow execution fails → send a message: "n8n: {workflow} failed in {node}: {error}" with the link to the execution.
- A button on the dashboard or "I am leaving" → Start an n8n workflow
gladys-leavingwith{"user": "…"}, then send the Message answered by the workflow. - n8n is unreachable → send a message, and turn on a light in the office.
- Every morning → State of a workflow "Nightly backup" → only continue if "Last execution failed" is true → send the Sentence.
Troubleshooting
- API key refused: the key was deleted, expired, or copied incompletely. Create a new one.
- Refused by n8n: the API key lacks a scope: give the key the scopes of step 1, or use a key of the owner of the workflow.
- No n8n API at this address: check the address (port 5678 by default) and that the public API is enabled. Behind a reverse proxy with a sub-path, put the sub-path in the address.
- The address redirects: enter the
https://address. - Certificate refused: a self-signed certificate is not accepted; use the
http://address on the local network. - The webhook answers 404 "not registered": the workflow is not active, the
path is wrong, or the Webhook node does not accept
POST. A test URL (/webhook-test/) only works while the editor listens. - No failure is seen: n8n must save the failed executions
(
EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_ERROR, on by default). Successful executions not saved (EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_SUCCESS=none) leave "Last execution" on the last failure. - Logs: in Gladys, the integration page shows the logs of its container;
LOG_LEVEL=debuggives every reading.
Limits
- One n8n instance per configuration; the key sees the workflows of its owner.
- Workflows are not created or edited from Gladys.
- The first reading counts 500 failed executions of the last 24 hours at most, and at most 10 failures are announced per reading.
- The webhook body is JSON only; webhooks protected by header or basic authentication are not supported (use a hard-to-guess path).
- n8n Cloud is untested.
Configuration settings
These are the settings n8n asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your n8n | section | No | In n8n, open Settings → n8n API, create an API key and paste it below with the address of n8n. Then add the workflows to follow from the Discover tab. |
| n8n address | string | No | The address you open n8n with. Port 5678 is added to a bare IP address. |
| API key | secret | No | Created in Settings → n8n API. It sees the workflows of its owner. |
| Options | section | No | |
| Refresh interval | select | No | How often n8n is read: four API requests or more each time. |
| Allow switching workflows from Gladys | boolean | No | Off: the Active switch only shows the state. On: it activates and deactivates the workflow (then click Update in the Discover tab). |
| Language of the names | select | No | Language of the feature names (set when a device is added), of the states and of the scene results. |
How to install n8n in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: n8n appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-n8n:1.0.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-n8n.
n8n requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
n8n is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation