n8n-claw — Self-Hosted AI Agent

A fully self-hosted AI agent built on n8n + PostgreSQL + Claude. Talks to you via Telegram or HTTP API (Slack, Teams, custom apps), builds its own MCP tools, manages reminders and memory — all running on your own infrastructure.

Short Introduction

n8n-claw__Self-Hosted_OpenClaw_Alternative.mp4

What it does
Architecture
Installation
Services & URLs
Connect Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Lovable & Cursor
Webhook API & External Integrations
MCP Skills Library
Google Services (OAuth2)
Expert Agents
OpenClaw Integration
Building custom MCP Skills
Memory
Knowledge Graph
Project Memory
Task Management
Reminders & Scheduled Actions
Media Support
Heartbeat & Scheduled Actions
Customization
Alternative LLM Providers
Switching from Telegram to WhatsApp
HTTPS Setup
Updating
Troubleshooting
WorkflowBuilder with Claude Code
Stack

What it does

Talk to your agent in natural language — it manages tasks, remembers context across conversations, builds API integrations, and proactively keeps you on track.

Telegram chat — talk to your AI agent directly via Telegram
Webhook API — call the agent from any external system via HTTP (Slack, Teams, Paperclip, custom apps)
Enriched long-term memory — hybrid search (semantic + full-text + entity match, fused via RRF) with time decay, tags, entity tracking, source attribution, and category-based auto-expiry. Finds people by name, survives embedding API outages, naturally prefers recent context.
Knowledge graph — automatically tracks people, companies, products, and events; multi-hop graph traversal reveals how everything connects
Task management — create, track, and complete tasks with priorities and due dates
Proactive heartbeat — automatically reminds you of overdue/urgent tasks
Recurring actions — repeating tasks on any schedule ("check my emails every 15 minutes", "daily briefing at 8am")
Smart background checks — monitoring tasks only notify you when something new is found
Failure awareness — workflow errors are logged to memory and pushed to Telegram. Just ask "did anything fail today?" or "what was the error in the last background check?" and the agent explains in plain language — no more digging through n8n execution logs
Expert agents — delegate complex tasks to specialized sub-agents (3 included, 100+ available from agent catalog across 12 categories)
MCP Skills — install pre-built skills or build new API integrations on demand
Smart reminders — timed Telegram reminders ("remind me in 2 hours to...")
Scheduled actions — the agent executes instructions at a set time ("search HN for AI news at 9am")
Web search — searches the web via built-in SearXNG instance (no API key needed)
Web reader — reads webpages as clean markdown via Crawl4AI (JS rendering, no boilerplate)
File passthrough — stores documents and photos from Telegram so Skills can use the originals (upload to Lexware, save to Nextcloud, etc.). Can also download files from the internet or cloud services and send them back to the chat.
Project memory — persistent markdown documents for tracking ongoing work across conversations
OpenClaw integration — delegate coding tasks to an autonomous AI agent that can build websites, apps, and run shell commands
Extensible — add new skills and capabilities through natural language or from the skill catalog

Architecture

Telegram  ───────────────────────────────────┐
Webhook API (POST /webhook/agent)  ───────┐
  │                                     │
  └─────────────────▼─────────────────────┘
n8n-claw Agent (Claude Sonnet)
  ├── Task Manager        — create, track, complete tasks
  ├── Project Manager     — persistent project notes (markdown)
  ├── Memory              — save, search, update, delete long-term memories
  ├── Knowledge Graph     — track entities and relationships automatically
  ├── MCP Client          → calls tools on MCP skill servers
  ├── Library Manager     → install/remove skills from catalog
  ├── MCP Builder          → builds custom skills from scratch
  ├── Reminder            — timed reminders + scheduled actions
  ├── Expert Agent        → delegates to specialized sub-agents
  ├── Agent Library       → install/remove expert agents from catalog
  ├── Telegram Status     — sends progress updates during long tasks
  ├── HTTP Tool           — simple web requests
  ├── Web Search          — search the web (SearXNG)
  ├── Web Reader          — read webpages as markdown (Crawl4AI)
  └── Self Modify         — inspect/list n8n workflows
  │
  ├── Webhook caller? → JSON response to HTTP caller
  └── Telegram?      → Telegram Reply

Webhook Adapter (optional, connects external systems):
  💬 Slack Trigger     ──┐
  💬 Teams Trigger     ──┤
  🌐 Generic Webhook   ──┼── Map Input → POST /webhook/agent → Route Response
  🛠️ Custom Webhook    ──┘   (Set node — easy to customize, no code)

Background Workflows (automated):
  💓 Heartbeat              — every 5 min: recurring actions + proactive reminders + file cleanup
  🔍 Background Checker     — silent checks: only notifies when something new is found
  🧠 Memory Consolidation   — daily at 3am: summarizes conversations → long-term memory
  ⏰ Reminder Runner         — every 1 min: sends due reminders + triggers one-time actions
  🚨 Error Notification     — catches workflow failures: Telegram alert + logs to memory_long

Internal Services:
  📁 File Bridge            — temporary binary storage (documents, photos) for tool passthrough
  📧 Email Bridge           — IMAP/SMTP REST API for email integration

Installation

Want to run locally instead of on a VPS? See the Local Setup Guide for Docker + ngrok instructions (contributed by @salvodmt, tested on Debian 13).

What you need

A Linux VPS (Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 recommended, also tested with Debian 13, 4GB RAM and 15GB Disk minimum)
A Telegram Bot Token — open @BotFather in Telegram, send /newbot, follow the prompts, and copy the token it gives you
Your Telegram Chat ID — send any message to @userinfobot and it replies with your numeric ID
An LLM API Key — setup lets you choose your provider:
- Anthropic (default) · OpenAI · OpenRouter · DeepSeek · Google Gemini · Mistral · Ollama (local, no key needed) · any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
A domain name (required for Telegram HTTPS webhooks). No domain? You can use sslip.io — it turns your IP into a domain automatically (e.g. your server has IP 123.45.67.89, type 123-45-67-89.sslip.io), no DNS setup needed

Step 1 — Clone & run

git clone https://github.com/freddy-schuetz/n8n-claw.git && cd n8n-claw && ./setup.sh

The script installs everything automatically. It will ask you for:

n8n API Key — generated in the n8n UI that opens during setup (Settings → API)
Telegram Bot Token + Chat ID
LLM API Key — choose your provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Gemini, Mistral, Ollama, or OpenAI-compatible)
Domain name (enables HTTPS via Let's Encrypt. Use sslip.io if you don't have one)
Agent personality — name, language, communication style, custom persona

After that, setup handles everything else: Docker, database, credentials, workflows, activation.

Setup also asks about two optional features (you can skip both):

Embeddings — enables semantic memory search (find memories by meaning, not just keywords). Supports OpenAI, Voyage AI, or Ollama. Without it, memory still works via keyword search.
Voice messages — requires an OpenAI API key for Whisper transcription. If you already chose OpenAI for embeddings, the same key is reused. Without it, voice messages won't work — but photos, documents, and locations work fine.

Step 2 — Start chatting

All credentials are created and connected automatically by setup. Send a message to your Telegram bot — it's ready!

Webhook API — you can also interact with the agent via HTTP (for Slack, Teams, or custom apps):

curl -X POST https://YOUR-DOMAIN/webhook/agent \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_WEBHOOK_SECRET" \
  -d '{"message": "Hello!", "user_id": "test-user"}'

The WEBHOOK_SECRET is shown at the end of setup output (also in .env).

Optional: extra workflows

The core agent and all background workflows are activated automatically. These optional workflows can be activated in the n8n UI if you need them:

Workflow	Purpose
MCP Builder	Builds custom MCP skills on demand
MCP: Weather	Example skill — weather via Open-Meteo (no API key needed)
WorkflowBuilder	Builds general n8n automations (requires extra setup)

Secure your Telegram bot

By default, your Telegram bot accepts messages from anyone who finds it. To restrict it to your chat only:

Open the n8n-claw Agent workflow in n8n
Click the Telegram Trigger node
Under Additional Fields, add Allowed Chat IDs
Enter your Telegram Chat ID (the one from setup)
Save the workflow

This ensures only you can talk to your agent. Without this, anyone on Telegram could message your bot and access the agent's capabilities.

Services & URLs

After setup, these services run:

Service	URL	Purpose
n8n	`http://YOUR-IP:5678`	Workflow editor
Supabase Studio	`http://localhost:3001` (via SSH tunnel)	Database admin UI
Webhook API	`https://YOUR-DOMAIN/webhook/agent`	Agent HTTP endpoint (POST, requires X-API-Key header)
Webhook Adapter	`https://YOUR-DOMAIN/webhook/adapter`	Multi-system adapter endpoint (POST)
Custom Webhook	`https://YOUR-DOMAIN/webhook/custom`	Easy-to-customize adapter (Set node, no code)
SearXNG	`http://localhost:8888` (Docker-internal)	Self-hosted web search engine
Crawl4AI	Docker-internal only	Web reader — JS rendering to clean markdown
Email Bridge	`http://localhost:3100` (Docker-internal)	IMAP/SMTP email REST API (for Email skill)
File Bridge	`http://localhost:3200` (Docker-internal)	Temporary file storage for binary passthrough between tools
PostgREST API	`http://kong:8000` (Docker-internal only)	REST API for PostgreSQL

Accessing Supabase Studio

Supabase Studio is bound to localhost only (not publicly exposed). To access it from your browser, open an SSH tunnel:

ssh -L 3001:localhost:3001 user@YOUR-VPS-IP

Then open http://localhost:3001 in your browser. The tunnel stays open as long as the SSH session runs.

Connect Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Lovable & Cursor

n8n-claw can be used directly from Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Lovable, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible tools — using n8n's built-in Instance-Level MCP Server. No extra workflows or code needed.

Once connected, your MCP client can chat with the agent (with full access to memory, web search, skills, reminders, and Telegram), trigger other workflows, and even create new ones.

Setup

1. Enable Instance-Level MCP in n8n

Navigate to Settings (gear icon) > Instance-level MCP and toggle Enable MCP access.

2. Expose the agent workflow

Click Enable workflows, select the n8n-claw Agent workflow, then click Enable. Add a good description to help MCP clients understand what the workflow does.

3. Connect your MCP client

Claude Desktop (easiest — OAuth, no token needed)

On the Instance-level MCP page, click Connection details and copy the OAuth URL
In Claude Desktop, go to File > Settings > Connectors > Add custom connector
Enter a name (e.g. your agent's name) and paste the OAuth URL, then click Add
In the connectors overview, click Connect and authorize in the browser window that opens

That's it — Claude Desktop can now discover and use your agent.

ChatGPT (OAuth)

In ChatGPT, go to Settings > Apps > Advanced settings and enable Developer mode
Go back and click Create new app
Enter a name (e.g. your agent's name), paste your n8n MCP URL https://<your-n8n-domain>/mcp-server/http, select OAuth, accept the risk warning, and click Create

Claude Code (Access Token)

On the Instance-level MCP page, click Connection details > Access Token tab. Copy your token immediately — it will be masked on future visits.

claude mcp add --transport http n8n-claw https://<your-n8n-domain>/mcp-server/http \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>"

Or add to your .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "n8n-claw": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://<your-n8n-domain>/mcp-server/http",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Lovable (OAuth)

In Lovable, go to Settings > Connectors > Personal connectors and click New MCP server
Enter a name (e.g. your agent's name), paste your n8n MCP URL https://<your-n8n-domain>/mcp-server/http, and select OAuth as authentication
Click Add & authorize and confirm in the browser

Cursor / Other MCP clients

Use the OAuth URL from Connection details if your client supports OAuth, or the Access Token with the HTTP endpoint https://<your-n8n-domain>/mcp-server/http. Refer to your client's MCP documentation for the exact configuration format.

Triggering the agent

MCP clients can discover and execute the agent workflow automatically. When triggered, the agent runs its full pipeline — personality, memory, conversation history, AI reasoning with all tools — and returns the response.

Conversations are isolated per source and session, so MCP usage won't interfere with Telegram chats.

Limitations

5-minute timeout — MCP-triggered executions have a hard 5-minute limit
Text only — binary inputs (images, files) are not supported via MCP
No client scoping — all connected MCP clients see the same exposed workflows

Requires n8n v2.2+. Workflow creation/editing requires v2.13+. See n8n MCP docs for details.

Webhook API & External Integrations

n8n-claw exposes an HTTP API so external systems can talk to the agent — no Telegram required.

Direct Webhook API

Any system that can make HTTP requests can call the agent directly:

POST {{N8N_URL}}/webhook/agent
Header: X-API-Key: {{WEBHOOK_SECRET}}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "message": "What is the weather in Berlin?",
  "user_id": "my-app-user-123",
  "session_id": "my-app:conv-456",
  "source": "my-app",
  "metadata": { "any": "data you want back" }
}

Response (200):

{
  "success": true,
  "response": "The weather in Berlin is...",
  "session_id": "my-app:conv-456",
  "source": "my-app",
  "metadata": { "any": "data you want back" }
}

Field	Required	Default	Description
`message`	yes	—	The user's message
`user_id`	yes	—	Unique user identifier
`session_id`	no	`api:{user_id}`	Conversation session ID (for history)
`source`	no	`api`	Source identifier (appears in logs)
`metadata`	no	`{}`	Arbitrary data — round-trips back in the response

The agent uses session_id and user_id (with source prefix) for conversation history and user profiles — same as Telegram, just with different prefixes.

Webhook Adapter (Slack, Teams, Discord, Paperclip)

For systems that need input/output mapping (different message formats, response routing), use the Webhook Adapter workflow. It translates between external formats and the agent's webhook API.

The adapter ships with these input paths:

Trigger	Endpoint	Default state	Use case
Generic Webhook	`/webhook/adapter`	Active	Paperclip, Discord bridge, API power-users (Code node with fallback chains)
Custom Webhook	`/webhook/custom`	Active	Your own apps — simple Set node, easy to customize without code
Slack Trigger	—	Disabled	Slack workspace integration
Teams Trigger	—	Disabled	Microsoft Teams integration
Discord	`/webhook/adapter` (via bot sidecar)	Opt-in	Discord servers — enabled via `setup.sh` prompt, uses the `discord-bridge` container

Each trigger has a mapper node that normalizes messages → calls /webhook/agent → routes the response back to the right system via metadata._responseChannel. Paperclip payloads are auto-detected and get a dedicated response branch that posts the agent's answer as a comment and marks the issue as done.

Enabling Slack

Create a Slack App at api.slack.com/apps
Add Bot Token Scopes under OAuth & Permissions: chat:write, channels:history, channels:read
Install to workspace and copy the Bot Token (xoxb-...)
In n8n: Create a Slack API credential (Bot Token + Signing Secret)
Enable the Slack Trigger + Slack Reply nodes in the Webhook Adapter workflow
Activate the Webhook Adapter workflow
In Slack App settings: Add the Slack Trigger's webhook URL under Event Subscriptions
Subscribe to bot events: message.channels (public channels), message.im (direct messages)
Invite the bot to your Slack channel (/invite @YourBotName)

The Slack Trigger webhook URL changes when the adapter workflow is re-created (e.g. setup.sh --force). Update the Event Subscriptions URL in your Slack App after each reinstall.

Enabling Teams

Register a Bot in Azure Portal (Bot Framework)
Create App ID + Client Secret
Set Messaging Endpoint to the Teams Trigger's webhook URL
In n8n: Create a Microsoft Teams OAuth2 credential
Enable the Teams Trigger + Teams Reply nodes in the Webhook Adapter workflow
Activate the Webhook Adapter workflow

Enabling Discord

Unlike Slack and Teams, n8n does not ship a native Discord trigger. n8n-claw solves this with a small sidecar container (discord-bridge) that connects to Discord's Gateway as a bot and forwards messages to the adapter. The container is optional — it is only built and started if you enable Discord during setup.

Create a Discord Application at discord.com/developers/applications
Add a Bot, enable Message Content Intent under Bot settings
Copy the Bot Token
Invite the Bot to your server with bot + applications.commands scopes
Run ./setup.sh (or ./setup.sh --force on an existing install) — when asked "Enable Discord as an additional chat interface?" answer y and paste the token
Activate the Webhook Adapter workflow in n8n

That's it. No Discord credential in n8n itself — the bot token lives only inside the sidecar container, set via DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN in .env. The sidecar posts incoming messages to /webhook/adapter and receives replies via an internal POST /reply endpoint, so n8n never talks to Discord's API directly.

Users who do not enable Discord never see the extra container: discord-bridge uses a docker-compose profiles: ["discord"] marker, so it is not built or started unless COMPOSE_PROFILES=discord is set in .env (which setup.sh does for you).

Enabling Paperclip

Paperclip is an open-source agent orchestration platform. n8n-claw works as a Paperclip agent out of the box — no extra configuration in n8n needed.

The adapter auto-detects Paperclip's payload format (runId + context), fetches the issue title and description via the Paperclip API, and after the agent responds:

Posts the response as a comment on the Paperclip issue
Sets the issue status to done

Setup in Paperclip:

Deploy Paperclip on the same server or network as n8n-claw
Create a Company and an Agent with http adapter type

Configure the agent's HTTP adapter:

{
  "url": "https://YOUR-DOMAIN/webhook/adapter",
  "method": "POST",
  "headers": {
    "X-API-Key": "YOUR_WEBHOOK_SECRET"
  },
  "payloadTemplate": {
    "source": "paperclip"
  }
}

Generate an Agent API Key in Paperclip (used by n8n-claw to post comments back)
Add placeholders to .env (or hardcode in the workflow):
- PAPERCLIP_INTERNAL_URL — Paperclip's internal URL (e.g. http://paperclip:3100 if on same Docker network)
- PAPERCLIP_AGENT_KEY — the agent API key from step 4
Create an issue in Paperclip and assign it to the agent — the heartbeat will trigger the workflow automatically

Docker networking: If Paperclip runs on the same server, connect it to n8n-claw's Docker network (n8n-claw_n8n-claw-net) and use the container DNS name (paperclip:3100) instead of localhost.

Adding a Custom Integration

Easiest way — use the Custom Webhook (no code):

Open the Map Custom Input Set node in the Webhook Adapter workflow
Adjust the field mappings to match your app's JSON structure:
- message → the field containing the user's text (e.g. $json.body.text)
- user_id → the sender identifier (e.g. $json.body.username)
- session_id → unique conversation ID
- source → your app's name
Send a POST to /webhook/custom with X-API-Key header

Advanced — add a new trigger (for systems with custom response routing):

Add a new Trigger node in the Webhook Adapter workflow
Add a new Map node (Code node) that outputs: { message, user_id, session_id, source, metadata: { _responseChannel: "your-system" } }
Add a matching output in the Route Response switch node
Add a Reply node for your system

The _responseChannel value in metadata tells the adapter where to route the agent's response.

MCP Skills Library

43 pre-built skills available from the skill catalog — install with a single chat command, no coding required.

"What skills are available?" "Install weather-openmeteo" "Remove weather-openmeteo"

The Library Manager fetches skill templates from GitHub, imports the workflows into n8n, and registers the new MCP server automatically.

Skills come in two flavors:

Native — n8n wraps a REST API as an MCP server (default pattern, most skills).
Bridge — registers an existing external MCP server (e.g. DeepWiki, Zapier, a self-hosted Claude Code MCP) directly into the agent by URL + optional bearer/header auth. No workflows imported, no wrapper code. Supported since v1.3.0. See the Bridge Templates guide.

Category	Examples
Analytics	Google Analytics
Communication	Gmail, Email (IMAP/SMTP), OpenClaw
Creativity	Google Media Generation (Nano Banana Pro, Veo 3.1)
Entertainment	TMDB Movies, Recipes, Trivia
Finance	KontoFlux (Open Banking), Exchange Rates, Crypto Prices
Knowledge	Wikipedia, OpenFoodFacts, OpenWebUI Knowledge
Language	DeepL Translate, Dictionary
Marketing	Google Ads
Meetings	Vexa Meetings
Network	Website Check, IP Geolocation
News	Hacker News, NewsAPI
Productivity	Todoist, Notion, GitHub, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Nextcloud Files, Seafile, CalDAV, Vikunja, NocoDB CRM
Reference	Country Info, Public Holidays, Timezone / World Clock
Transport	Deutsche Bahn, Route Planner, Wiener Linien
Utilities	PDF Tools, QR Code

See the full catalog at n8n-claw-templates.

Skills with API keys: Some skills require an API key (e.g. NewsAPI). When you install one, the agent sends you a secure one-time link via Telegram. Click it, enter your key — done. The key is stored in the database and the skill reads it at runtime. Links expire after 10 minutes and can only be used once.

"Install news-newsapi" → Agent sends a link to enter your NewsAPI key → Enter key in the form → skill works immediately

You can also regenerate a credential link later:

"Add credential for news-newsapi"

Want to create your own skills? See the template contribution guide.

Security notice — Skill credentials are stored in plain text

API keys entered via the credential form are currently stored unencrypted in the template_credentials table in PostgreSQL. This means:

Anyone with access to the database can read all stored API keys

Supabase Studio (localhost:3001, accessible via SSH tunnel) shows credentials in plain text

A compromised VPS exposes all stored API keys

What an attacker would need: Neither the database nor the API are reachable from the internet. PostgREST runs on a Docker-internal network only, and PostgreSQL (port 5432) is bound to 127.0.0.1. To read credentials, an attacker would need SSH access to your VPS — there is no remote network path.

Mitigation: Secure SSH access (key-based auth, no root password, fail2ban), and use API keys with minimal permissions where possible.

Encryption at rest for skill credentials is planned and in progress.

Google Services (OAuth2)

Google Skills (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Analytics, Google Ads) use OAuth2 for authentication — the agent handles the entire flow via Telegram, no n8n UI needed.

All Google skills share a single set of OAuth credentials (client_id / client_secret). You set them up once, and every additional Google skill reuses them automatically. If a new skill needs extra permissions, the agent generates a new consent link with the expanded scopes.

Setup

Google Cloud Console — console.cloud.google.com
- Create a project (or use an existing one)
- Enable the APIs you need: Gmail API, Google Calendar API, Google Analytics Data API, Google Ads API
- Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen:
  - User Type: External (or Internal for Google Workspace)
  - Add your email as a Test User
- Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth Client ID:
  - Type: Web application
  - Authorized redirect URI: https://YOUR-N8N-DOMAIN/webhook/oauth-callback
  - Copy the Client ID and Client Secret
Install a Google skill — ask your agent:

"Install the Gmail skill"
Enter credentials — the agent sends two secure form links (Client ID + Client Secret). Click each, paste the value, submit.
Authorize — the agent generates a Google consent link. Click it, sign in with your Google account, grant permissions. The browser shows "Authorization successful" and the agent confirms via Telegram.
Done — the skill is ready to use.

Available Google Skills

Skill	Tools	Scopes
Gmail	search, read, send, create draft, list labels	gmail.readonly, gmail.modify, gmail.send
Google Calendar	list/create/update/delete events, list calendars	calendar, calendar.readonly
Google Analytics	run reports, list properties, realtime data	analytics.readonly
Google Ads (Beta)	list campaigns, ad groups, stats, performance	adwords

Google Ads requires an additional Developer Token and Customer ID (entered via separate credential forms).

Scope Expansion

When you install a second Google skill (e.g. Calendar after Gmail), the agent checks if the existing token already covers the required scopes. If not, it generates a new consent link that requests all scopes at once (existing + new). Your previously stored refresh token is replaced with one that covers all permissions.

Important Notes

Testing mode: Google OAuth apps in "Testing" status have refresh tokens that expire after 7 days. For permanent use, publish the app as "Internal" (Google Workspace) — no verification needed.
Token refresh: Access tokens are refreshed automatically (5-minute buffer before expiry).
Shared credentials: All Google skills share the same client_id, client_secret, and tokens under the google-oauth namespace. You only authenticate once.

Expert Agents

Delegate complex tasks to specialized sub-agents. Each expert has its own AI agent with a focused persona, tools (web search, HTTP requests, web reader, MCP), and works independently — then the main agent rephrases the result in its own tone.

Three experts are included by default:

Agent	Speciality
Research Expert	Web research, fact-checking, source evaluation, structured summaries
Content Creator	Copywriting, social media posts, blog articles, marketing copy
Data Analyst	Data analysis, pattern recognition, KPI interpretation, structured reports

Using expert agents:

"Research the best hiking trails in Tyrol with sources" "Write an Instagram post about our new product launch" "Analyze these numbers and give me a summary"

The agent automatically picks the right expert based on your request — or you can ask explicitly:

"Let the research expert look into this" "Delegate this to the content creator"

Managing agents:

"What expert agents do I have?" "Install the data analyst" "Remove the content creator"

Install more experts from the agent catalog or ask the community to contribute new ones.

100+ more experts available from the agent catalog across 12 categories: Analytics, Communications, Creative, Development, Education, HR, Leisure, Marketing, Operations, Product, Research, and Sales.

Many agents pair with MCP Skills for enhanced capabilities — for example, the Data Analyst works with Google Analytics, or the Code Reviewer integrates with GitHub.

Status updates: During long-running expert tasks, the agent sends you Telegram progress updates so you know what's happening (e.g. "Starting research expert...").

OpenClaw Integration

Connect n8n-claw to an OpenClaw instance and unlock a completely new class of capabilities. OpenClaw is an autonomous AI agent with full access to a Linux system — it can write code, build websites, deploy applications, manage files, run shell commands, and work on complex multi-step software projects.

With the OpenClaw skill installed, n8n-claw can delegate tasks to OpenClaw and get the results back:

"Ask OpenClaw to build a landing page for our new product" "Let OpenClaw create a Python script that monitors our server uptime" "Send this to OpenClaw: refactor the auth module and write tests"

How it works:

n8n-claw sends messages to OpenClaw's Gateway API (OpenAI-compatible)
Conversations are persistent — OpenClaw remembers context across messages via session keys
n8n-claw identifies itself with a configurable caller ID so OpenClaw knows who's talking

Setup:

Install the OpenClaw skill: "Install openclaw"
Enter your credentials via the secure form:
- Gateway URL — http://<your-openclaw-ip>:18789. To find the port, run on the OpenClaw server:
```
grep -A2 'gateway:' ~/openclaw/config.yaml | grep port
```
- API Token — run on the OpenClaw server:
```
grep -A2 'gateway:' ~/openclaw/config.yaml | grep api_key
```
- Caller ID — a name that identifies your n8n-claw instance (e.g. "Greg (n8n-claw)")
Make sure OpenClaw's gateway is reachable from your n8n-claw server. Check the bind setting:
```
grep -A2 'gateway:' ~/openclaw/config.yaml | grep bind
```
If it says "loopback", change it to "lan" and restart OpenClaw:
```
nano ~/openclaw/config.yaml   # change bind: "loopback" → bind: "lan"
```
Start delegating tasks

This turns n8n-claw from a workflow-based agent into a bridge to a full autonomous coding agent — combining n8n-claw's strengths (memory, reminders, task management, Telegram interface, MCP skills) with OpenClaw's ability to execute arbitrary code and build software.

Building custom MCP Skills

For APIs not covered by the skill catalog, ask your agent to build one from scratch:

"Build me an MCP server for the OpenLibrary API — look up books by ISBN"

The MCP Builder will:

Search for API documentation automatically (via SearXNG + Crawl4AI)
Generate working tool code
Deploy two new n8n workflows (MCP trigger + sub-workflow)
Register the server in the database
Update the agent so it knows about the new tool

Memory

The agent has a multi-layered memory system — it remembers things you tell it and learns from your conversations over time.

Automatic memory: The agent decides on its own what's worth remembering from your conversations (preferences, facts about you, decisions). No action needed.

Manual memory: You can also explicitly ask it to remember something:

"Remember that I prefer morning meetings before 10am" "Remember that I take my coffee black"

Memory search: When relevant, the agent searches its memory to give you contextual answers. It uses hybrid search — three independent search strategies fused via Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF):

Semantic search — finds memories by meaning using vector embeddings (requires an embedding API key, configured during setup)
Full-text search — matches exact words with accent/umlaut normalization (München matches muenchen)
Entity match — boosts memories linked to the person, company, or project you're asking about

If the embedding API is temporarily unavailable, the agent gracefully falls back to full-text + entity search — no silent failures.

Time decay gives recent memories a natural edge. Old memories aren't deleted, but newer ones rank higher when competing for the same query. Category exemptions ensure contacts, preferences, and decisions never decay.

"What do you know about my coffee preferences?" "What did we discuss about the server migration?"

Memory update & delete: The agent can correct or remove stored memories — no more contradictory entries piling up:

"Actually, I prefer tea now" — updates the existing coffee preference instead of creating a duplicate "Forget that I like early meetings" — deletes the entry completely

Tags & entity tracking: Every memory is automatically tagged with English lowercase keywords and linked to named entities (people, companies, projects, etc.). This makes filtering and cross-referencing memories much more effective.

Auto-expiry: Memories expire automatically based on their type and importance. Contact info, preferences, and decisions never expire. General memories expire after 90–180 days. This keeps the memory clean without manual maintenance.

Memory Consolidation runs automatically every night at 3am. It summarizes the day's conversations into concise long-term memories with vector embeddings, extracts tags and entity names, and cleans up expired entries. Requires an embedding API key (OpenAI, Voyage AI, or Ollama — configured during setup).

Insights — pattern extraction (v1.5.0): The same nightly run does a second pass that extracts behavior patterns, communication styles, and recurring stressors into category='insight' memories. New patterns get tagged new, reinforced, or contradicted against the last 7 days. Outdated insights are flagged metadata.outdated=true instead of being deleted — temporal validity, not destructive overwrite. The top 3 active insights are silently loaded into the system prompt on every turn so the agent's behavior shapes itself around how you actually work.

Open Loops (v1.5.0): Half-finished thoughts ("ich muss noch X prüfen", "vergiss nicht Y") are captured as category='open_loop' memories. The Heartbeat checks once every 24h for unresolved loops older than 3 days and proactively asks: "A few days ago you wanted to Y — did that happen?" Closed loops keep the original content as audit trail (only metadata.closed=true is added).

Knowledge Graph

The agent automatically builds a knowledge graph of people, companies, projects, events, and their relationships — no explicit commands needed.

Automatic entity tracking: When you mention a person, company, project, or any named entity, the agent silently creates it in the knowledge graph and links it to related entities.

"Stefan Huber is the CEO of destination.one" — creates entities for Stefan Huber (person) and destination.one (company), plus a "manages" relationship

Relationship mapping: The agent tracks how entities relate to each other — who works where, who founded what, which products belong to which company.

Graph traversal: Ask about someone's connections and the agent traverses the graph to show the full network:

"What connections does Stefan Huber have?"

The agent shows all linked entities across multiple hops — companies, co-founders, products, events.

Linked to memory: Entities in the knowledge graph are automatically linked to related memories, giving the agent richer context when answering questions.

Project Memory

Track ongoing work across multiple conversations with persistent project documents. Each project is a markdown file the agent creates, reads, and updates on demand — like a living notebook for each topic you're working on.

Creating a project:

"I'm working on a presentation about AI in tourism" "New project: server migration to Hetzner"

The agent creates a structured markdown document with goals, notes, and open items.

Checking projects:

"What projects do I have?" "What's the status of the presentation?"

Active project names are shown to the agent automatically — it always knows what you're working on.

Updating a project:

"Add to the presentation: slide 3 should show statistics" "Update the server migration: DNS is now configured"

The agent reads the current document, adds your notes, and saves the updated version.

Archiving:

"The presentation is done"

Sets the project status to completed — it disappears from the active list but stays in the database.

Task Management

The agent can manage tasks for you — just tell it what you need in natural language.

Creating tasks:

"Remind me to call the dentist tomorrow" "Create a task: prepare presentation for Friday, high priority" "I need to buy groceries by Saturday"

Checking tasks:

"What are my tasks?" "Show me overdue tasks" "Task summary"

Updating tasks:

"Mark the dentist task as done" "Cancel the groceries task" "Change the presentation priority to urgent"

Tasks support priorities (low, medium, high, urgent), due dates, and subtasks.

Reminders & Scheduled Actions

The agent supports three types of timed actions:

Reminders — sends a Telegram message at the specified time:

"Remind me in 30 minutes to check the oven" "Remind me tomorrow at 9am about the doctor's appointment" "Set a reminder for Friday at 3pm: submit the report"

Scheduled Actions — the agent actively executes instructions at the specified time and sends the result:

"Search Hacker News for AI articles at 9am and list them" "Check the weather forecast for Berlin tomorrow at 7am and send me a summary"

Recurring Actions — repeating scheduled actions on an interval, daily, or weekly schedule:

"Check my emails every 15 minutes" "Give me a daily briefing every morning at 8am" "Every Monday and Friday at 9am, summarize the latest AI news"

Recurring actions are managed via natural language — list, pause, resume, or delete them:

"Show my scheduled actions" "Pause the mail check" "Delete action 2"

One-time reminders can also be listed, edited, and deleted:

"Show my reminders" "Move the workshop reminder to Monday at 10am" "Delete the car rental reminder"

Reminders and one-time scheduled actions are delivered by the Reminder Runner (polls every minute). Recurring actions are executed by the Heartbeat (runs every 5 minutes). Missed reminders are automatically delivered on the next run.

Media Support

The agent understands more than just text — send voice messages, photos, documents, or locations directly in Telegram.

Media type	What happens	Requires
Voice messages	Transcribed via OpenAI Whisper, then processed as text	OpenAI API Key
Photos	Analyzed via OpenAI Vision (GPT-4o-mini), description passed to agent. Original stored in File Bridge for later use.	OpenAI API Key
Documents (PDF)	Text extracted via n8n's built-in PDF parser, passed to agent. Original stored in File Bridge for later use.	— (built-in)
Location	Converted to coordinates text, agent responds with context	— (built-in)

Voice and photo analysis require an OpenAI API key (configured during setup). Without it, voice messages and photos won't work — but documents and locations function without any extra API keys.

File Storage (Binary Passthrough)

When you send a document or photo, the agent extracts text/description for the conversation and stores the original binary in the File Bridge service. This means the agent can later pass the file to MCP Skills — for example, uploading a receipt to Lexware or saving a photo to Nextcloud.

Files are stored temporarily (24 hours) and automatically cleaned up
The agent references stored files via file_ref IDs — the LLM never sees binary data
Skills that support file uploads accept both file_ref (stored files) and file_url (external URLs)
The agent can send files back to the Telegram chat — from public URLs, cloud services (Google Drive, Nextcloud), or any skill that produces a file
Cloud service skills with download_file handle authentication automatically — the agent downloads the file, stores it in the File Bridge, and delivers it to Telegram

[send a voice message] — automatically transcribed and answered [send a photo] — "What do you see?" — analyzed by GPT-4o-mini Vision, original stored for tool use [send a PDF] — text extracted and analyzed, original stored for tool use [share location] — agent responds with location context

Heartbeat & Scheduled Actions

The Heartbeat is a background workflow that runs every 5 minutes. It executes recurring scheduled actions and delivers proactive reminders.

Recurring Actions

When you create a recurring action, the agent decides how it should notify you:

always — always sends the result (e.g. morning briefings, reports). The main agent executes the task with full personality, conversation history, and all tools.
on_change — only notifies when something new is found (e.g. email monitoring, price tracking). A lightweight Background Checker executes the task silently and only sends a Telegram message when there's actually something to report.

The agent picks the right mode automatically based on your request:

"Give me a daily briefing at 8am" → always (you always want the briefing) "Check my emails every 15 minutes" → on_change (only notify on new emails)

How it works

Heartbeat (every 5 min)
  → Load due actions from DB
  → For each action, check notify_mode:

    'always' (e.g. briefing):
      → Main Agent executes task → always sends Telegram

    'on_change' (e.g. mail check):
      → Background Checker executes task
      → Something new? → sends Telegram
      → Nothing new?   → stays silent

The Background Checker is a lightweight sub-workflow with Claude + tools (MCP skills, web search, HTTP requests, web reader) but without personality or conversation history — fast and cost-efficient.

Proactive Reminders

The Heartbeat also checks for overdue or urgent tasks and sends you a short Telegram reminder — without you having to ask.

"Enable the heartbeat" / "Disable proactive messages"

Rate-limited to one message every 2 hours (configurable) — no spam.

Customization

Edit the soul and agents tables directly in Supabase Studio (http://localhost:3001 via SSH tunnel) to change your agent's personality, tools, and behavior — no code changes needed.

Table	Contents
`soul`	Agent personality (name, persona, vibe, boundaries) — loaded into system prompt
`agents`	Tool instructions, MCP config, memory behavior — loaded into system prompt
`user_profiles`	User name, timezone, preferences (language, morning briefing)
`tasks`	Task management (title, status, priority, due date, subtasks)
`projects`	Project documents (name, status, markdown content)
`reminders`	Scheduled reminders + one-time tasks (message, time, type, delivery status)
`scheduled_actions`	Recurring actions (schedule, instruction, notify_mode, next_run)
`heartbeat_config`	Heartbeat + morning briefing settings (enabled, last_run, intervals)
`tools_config`	LLM provider config, embedding provider — used by Heartbeat + Memory Consolidation
`mcp_registry`	Available MCP servers (name, URL, tools)
`template_credentials`	API keys for MCP templates (entered via credential form)
`credential_tokens`	One-time tokens for secure credential entry (10 min TTL)
`conversations`	Full chat history (session-based)
`memory_long`	Long-term memory with vector embeddings (semantic search)
`memory_daily`	Daily interaction log (used by Memory Consolidation)

Supported LLM Providers

n8n-claw is fully model-agnostic. During setup, you choose your LLM provider and all workflows are automatically configured — no manual node swapping needed.

Available providers

Provider	Default Model	Credential Name	Notes
Anthropic (default)	`claude-sonnet-4-6`	`Anthropic API`
OpenAI	`gpt-5.4`	`OpenAI API`
OpenRouter	`anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6`	`OpenRouter API`	Access any model via unified API
DeepSeek	`deepseek-chat`	`DeepSeek API`
Google Gemini	`gemini-3-flash-preview`	`Google Gemini API`
Mistral	`mistral-large-latest`	`Mistral API`
Ollama	`glm-4.7-flash`	`Ollama`	Local, no API key needed
OpenAI-compatible	(your choice)	`LLM API`	Any endpoint with OpenAI-compatible API

How it works

setup.sh automatically patches all LLM nodes in every workflow to match your chosen provider before importing them into n8n. This includes:

n8n-claw Agent — main LLM node
MCP Builder — code generation LLM nodes
Sub-Agent Runner — expert agent LLM node
Background Checker — monitoring LLM node

Heartbeat and Memory Consolidation read the LLM provider config from the tools_config database table at runtime — these also work with any provider.

Switching providers

Re-run ./setup.sh --force and choose a different provider when prompted. All workflows will be re-imported with the new LLM nodes and credentials.

Known considerations

MCP Builder uses your chosen model for code generation. Stronger models (Claude Opus, GPT-5.4) produce better results than smaller ones.
Some local models may prefix tool call JSON with extra text. This was fixed in #13 — make sure you're on the latest version.

Community-tested providers

Provider	Status	Notes
llama.cpp (qwen-coder-next)	Working	Reported by community (Discussion #6) — text + MCP weather confirmed
Ollama	Expected to work	OpenAI-compatible endpoint at `localhost:11434/v1`

Tested a different provider? Let us know in Discussions!

Switching from Telegram to WhatsApp

n8n-claw uses Telegram by default, but you can switch to WhatsApp by replacing the Telegram nodes in the n8n UI. This requires changes in 3 workflows across 8 nodes — no code outside of n8n needed.

Requirements

A Meta Business account with WhatsApp Business API access — Meta Business Suite
A verified business on Meta (review can take 1–5 business days)
A phone number registered with WhatsApp Business API (not your personal WhatsApp number)
WhatsApp Business Cloud credentials configured in n8n — see n8n WhatsApp credentials docs

Field mapping: Telegram → WhatsApp

The two platforms use different JSON structures. Here's how the fields map:

Data	Telegram path	WhatsApp path
Message text	`$json.message.text`	`$json.messages[0].text.body`
Sender ID	`$json.message.from.id`	`$json.contacts[0].wa_id`
Chat/Session ID	`$json.message.chat.id`	`$json.contacts[0].wa_id` (phone number)
Voice message	`$json.message.voice.file_id`	WhatsApp audio media ID
Photo	`$json.message.photo.pop().file_id`	WhatsApp image media ID
Document	`$json.message.document.file_id`	WhatsApp document media ID
Caption	`$json.message.caption`	`$json.messages[0].image.caption` (or `.document.caption`)
Location	`$json.message.location.latitude/longitude`	`$json.messages[0].location.latitude/longitude`
Send to	`chatId` (numeric)	Recipient phone number (e.g. `49151...`)
DB session prefix	`telegram:{chatId}`	`whatsapp:{phoneNumber}`
DB user prefix	`telegram:{userId}`	`whatsapp:{phoneNumber}`

Nodes to replace

n8n-claw Agent (6 nodes)

Current node	Purpose	Replace with
Telegram Trigger	Receives incoming messages	WhatsApp Trigger — update the "Route Media Type" switch conditions to match WhatsApp's message structure
Telegram Reply	Sends agent response	WhatsApp → Send Message — set recipient to sender's phone number instead of `chatId`
Telegram Status	Progress updates during long tasks (AI tool)	WhatsApp → Send Message (configured as tool node)
Get Voice File	Downloads voice messages for transcription	HTTP Request node calling WhatsApp's media download endpoint with the media ID
Get Photo File	Downloads photos for vision analysis	HTTP Request node calling WhatsApp's media download endpoint
Get Doc File	Downloads documents for text extraction	HTTP Request node calling WhatsApp's media download endpoint

Heartbeat (1 node)

Current node	Purpose	Replace with
Send Telegram	Sends proactive reminders + morning briefing	WhatsApp → Send Message — update `chatId` parameter to use phone number

Reminder Runner (1 node)

Current node	Purpose	Replace with
Send Reminder	Delivers timed reminders	WhatsApp → Send Message — the `chat_id` column in the `reminders` table must contain the phone number instead of Telegram chat ID

Code nodes to update

The "Normalize Message" code node in the main agent extracts message data from the Telegram Trigger output. Update these references:

// BEFORE (Telegram)
const msg = $('Telegram Trigger').first().json.message;
const chatId = String(msg.chat.id);
const userId = String(msg.from.id);
const source = 'telegram';

// AFTER (WhatsApp)
const wa = $('WhatsApp Trigger').first().json;
const chatId = String(wa.contacts[0].wa_id);
const userId = String(wa.contacts[0].wa_id);
const source = 'whatsapp';

Also update the "Format Location" code node and any other nodes that reference $('Telegram Trigger').

Database changes

Update these values to use phone numbers instead of Telegram chat IDs:

Table	Field	Change
`user_profiles`	`user_id`	`whatsapp:{phone}` instead of `telegram:{chatId}`
`conversations`	`session_id`	`whatsapp:{phone}` instead of `telegram:{chatId}`
`reminders`	`chat_id`	Phone number instead of Telegram chat ID
`heartbeat_config`	—	Update `{{TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID}}` in Heartbeat workflow to phone number

Message length limits

Telegram allows 4096 characters per message. The agent splits long messages at 4000 characters. WhatsApp allows up to 4096 characters for text messages as well, so the existing split logic works without changes.

Media handling differences

WhatsApp media downloads work differently from Telegram. Instead of a built-in "Get File" node, you need to:

Get the media URL: GET https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/{media-id} (with auth header)
Download the file from the returned URL

The existing voice transcription (Whisper) and photo analysis (GPT-4o Vision) nodes work the same once you have the file — only the download step changes.

This is an advanced customization. If you run into issues, ask in Discussions.

HTTPS Setup

If you provided a domain during setup, HTTPS is configured automatically via Let's Encrypt + nginx. This is the default and works for most people. If not, you can add it later:

DOMAIN=n8n.yourdomain.com ./setup.sh

Point your domain's DNS A record to the VPS IP before running this. If you don't have a domain, you can use sslip.io — just use n8n.<YOUR-IP>.sslip.io as the domain (e.g. n8n.123.45.67.89.sslip.io). No DNS configuration required.

Already have a reverse proxy?

If you're running your own reverse proxy (Caddy, Traefik, nginx on another host, etc.), setup will ask whether to skip the built-in nginx + Let's Encrypt installation. Answer yes to skip — n8n will still be configured with the correct HTTPS webhook URLs, but TLS termination is left to your existing proxy.

You can also set this in .env before running setup:

SKIP_REVERSE_PROXY=true

Your reverse proxy should forward traffic to localhost:5678 (n8n) with WebSocket support enabled.

Known issue: When you enter a domain and skip nginx, setup sets N8N_URL=https://your-domain in .env. It then tries to reach the n8n API via that HTTPS URL — but if your reverse proxy isn't forwarding traffic to n8n yet, the "Waiting for n8n API..." step will fail and the script exits.

Workaround:

Open .env and delete the N8N_URL line

Re-run ./setup.sh — it will use http://localhost:5678 instead and complete successfully

After setup is done, add N8N_URL=https://your-domain back to .env

Restart n8n: docker compose up -d

Make sure your reverse proxy forwards HTTPS traffic to localhost:5678 before using the agent.

Security note: Without a domain, n8n runs over plain HTTP with no TLS and no rate limiting. This is fine for local installs (home server, LAN, testing). For a public VPS, always use a domain with HTTPS — otherwise credentials are transmitted unencrypted and the instance is exposed to the internet.

Updating

Normal update — pulls code + Docker images, restarts services. Your personality, credentials, and data are preserved:

cd n8n-claw && ./setup.sh

Full reconfigure — re-runs the setup wizard (personality, language, timezone, proactive/reactive, embedding key). Your existing data and credentials are kept, but you can change all settings:

./setup.sh --force

Use --force when you want to change your agent's name, language, communication style, or switch between proactive/reactive mode.

Troubleshooting

Agent not responding to Telegram messages? → Check all workflows are activated in n8n UI

"Credential does not exist" error? → Setup creates all credentials automatically, but if it showed a ⚠️ warning for any credential, add it manually in n8n UI → Credentials → New:

Credential	Type	Key fields
`Supabase Postgres`	Postgres	Host: `db`, Port: `5432`, DB: `postgres`, User: `postgres`, Password: (from setup output), SSL: `disable`
`Telegram Bot`	Telegram	Bot Token: (from setup)
LLM Provider	depends on choice	API Key: (from setup) — credential name must match exactly (see Supported LLM Providers)
`Webhook Auth`	Header Auth	Name: `X-API-Key`, Value: (WEBHOOK_SECRET from .env)

MCP Builder fails? → Make sure the LLM node in MCP Builder has your LLM provider credential selected

Agent shows wrong time? → Re-run ./setup.sh --force and set the correct timezone, or update it directly in user_profiles table via Supabase Studio

Heartbeat not sending messages? → Check that heartbeat_config has enabled = true for heartbeat (proactive) or morning_briefing. You can enable it via chat: "Enable the heartbeat"

Memory search returns nothing / vectorized: false? → Check your embedding API key in the tools_config table (tool_name: embedding). Without a valid key, memory still works but falls back to keyword search.

DB empty / Load Soul returns nothing? → Re-run seed: ./setup.sh (skips already-set config)

MCP Skills fail with ECONNREFUSED 127.0.1.1:443? → Many cloud providers (Hostinger, etc.) map the server hostname to 127.0.1.1 in /etc/hosts. When n8n tries to call its own webhook URL, it resolves to that address instead of the real IP. Fix:

# Find your real IP
curl -4 ifconfig.me

# Fix /etc/hosts — replace 127.0.1.1 with your real IP
sed -i 's/^127\.0\.1\.1\(.*\)/YOUR_REAL_IP\1/' /etc/hosts

# If your server uses cloud-init, also fix the template for persistence across reboots:
sed -i 's/^127\.0\.1\.1\(.*\)/YOUR_REAL_IP\1/' /etc/cloud/templates/hosts.debian.tmpl

# Restart n8n
docker restart n8n-claw

Logs:

docker logs n8n-claw        # n8n
docker logs n8n-claw-db     # PostgreSQL
docker logs n8n-claw-rest   # PostgREST

Optional: WorkflowBuilder with Claude Code

The WorkflowBuilder tool lets your agent build complex n8n workflows using Claude Code CLI. Since n8n runs inside Docker, the Claude Code node connects to the host machine via SSH where the CLI is installed.

1. Install the community node

In n8n UI → Settings → Community Nodes → Install:

n8n-nodes-claude-code-cli

2. Install Claude Code on your VPS host

Important: Install this on the VPS itself (the host machine), not inside the Docker container.

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Set your Anthropic API key in the host's shell environment (e.g. /root/.bashrc):

echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

3. Generate an SSH key pair

The Claude Code node runs inside Docker and connects to the host via SSH. Most VPS providers disable password authentication by default, so key-based auth is recommended.

# Generate a dedicated key pair (no passphrase)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/n8n-claude-code -C "n8n-claude-code" -N ""

# Authorize it
cat ~/.ssh/n8n-claude-code.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

4. Create the SSH credential in n8n

In n8n UI → Credentials → Add Credential
Search for Claude Code SSH (comes with the community node)
Configure:
- Host: 172.17.0.1 (this is how Docker containers reach the host machine)
- Port: 22
- Username: root (or whichever user has Claude Code installed)
- Authentication: SSH Private Key
- Private Key: paste the contents of ~/.ssh/n8n-claude-code
Save with the name Claude Code Runner SSH (must match exactly)

5. Activate the workflow

Open the WorkflowBuilder workflow in n8n
Click Activate (toggle in the top right)

Without this setup, the WorkflowBuilder tool won't function — but all other agent capabilities work fine without it.

Stack

n8n — workflow automation engine
PostgreSQL — database
PostgREST — auto-generated REST API
Supabase Studio — database admin UI
Kong — API gateway
Claude (Anthropic) — LLM powering the agent
Telegram — messaging interface
SearXNG — self-hosted meta search engine (no API key needed)
Crawl4AI — self-hosted web crawler, returns clean markdown (JS rendering)
Email Bridge — lightweight IMAP/SMTP REST API for email integration
File Bridge — temporary file storage for binary passthrough between agent tools
Open-Meteo — free weather API (example MCP, no key needed)

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 489 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
discord-bridge		discord-bridge
docs		docs
email-bridge		email-bridge
file-bridge		file-bridge
hosting		hosting
searxng		searxng
supabase		supabase
workflows		workflows
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.local.example.md		CLAUDE.local.example.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
LOCAL_SETUP.md		LOCAL_SETUP.md
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
logo-with-text-white.png		logo-with-text-white.png
logo-with-text.png		logo-with-text.png
logo-with-text.svg		logo-with-text.svg
logo.png		logo.png
logo.svg		logo.svg
setup.sh		setup.sh
social-preview.png		social-preview.png

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n8n-claw — Self-Hosted AI Agent

Contents

What it does

Architecture

Installation

What you need

Step 1 — Clone & run

Step 2 — Start chatting

Optional: extra workflows

Secure your Telegram bot

Services & URLs

Accessing Supabase Studio

Connect Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Lovable & Cursor

Setup

Triggering the agent

Limitations

Webhook API & External Integrations

Direct Webhook API

Webhook Adapter (Slack, Teams, Discord, Paperclip)

Enabling Slack

Enabling Teams

Enabling Discord

Enabling Paperclip

Adding a Custom Integration

MCP Skills Library

Google Services (OAuth2)

Setup

Available Google Skills

Scope Expansion

Important Notes

Expert Agents

OpenClaw Integration

Building custom MCP Skills

Memory

Knowledge Graph

Project Memory

Task Management

Reminders & Scheduled Actions

Media Support

File Storage (Binary Passthrough)

Heartbeat & Scheduled Actions

Recurring Actions

How it works

Proactive Reminders

Customization

Supported LLM Providers

Available providers

How it works

Switching providers

Known considerations

Community-tested providers

Switching from Telegram to WhatsApp

Requirements

Field mapping: Telegram → WhatsApp

Nodes to replace

n8n-claw Agent (6 nodes)

Heartbeat (1 node)

Reminder Runner (1 node)

Code nodes to update

Database changes

Message length limits

Media handling differences

HTTPS Setup

Already have a reverse proxy?

Updating

Troubleshooting

Optional: WorkflowBuilder with Claude Code

1. Install the community node

2. Install Claude Code on your VPS host

3. Generate an SSH key pair

4. Create the SSH credential in n8n

5. Activate the workflow

Stack

License

About

Topics

Packages