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n8n-mcp-tools-expert

Expert guide for using n8n-mcp MCP tools effectively. Use when searching for nodes, validating configurations, accessing templates, managing workflows, organizing workflows into folders, managing credentials, auditing instance security, or using any n8n-mcp tool. Provides tool selection guidance, parameter formats, and common patterns. IMPORTANT — Always consult this skill before calling any n8n-mcp tool — it prevents common mistakes like wrong nodeType formats, incorrect parameter structures, and inefficient tool usage. If the user mentions n8n, workflows, nodes, or automation and you have n8n MCP tools available, use this skill first.

Quality

88%

Does it follow best practices?

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SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No findings from the security scan

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

77%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The body delivers exceptionally actionable, tool-specific guidance with well-sequenced validation loops and safety gates on destructive operations — its strongest dimensions. It is weakened by redundancy (timing tables and summary/best-practice sections that restate earlier content) and by a progressive-disclosure structure whose referenced guide files are absent from the bundle while detailed reference material stays inlined in SKILL.md.

Suggestions

Merge the 'Quick Reference' and 'Performance Characteristics' tables (they duplicate the same response-time data) and cut or fold the 'Summary' and 'Best Practices' sections, which restate the Common Mistakes table — this alone would remove roughly 100 lines.

Ship the referenced guide files (SEARCH_GUIDE.md, VALIDATION_GUIDE.md, WORKFLOW_GUIDE.md, OPERATIONS_GUIDE.md) in the skill bundle or remove the links — as delivered, all four of the body's primary references point to files that do not exist.

Move the detailed 'Running Workflows' and 'Version History' sections into WORKFLOW_GUIDE.md (keeping only a one-line pointer plus their safety warnings in SKILL.md) so the overview stays lean and the deep detail lives one level down.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is dense with tool-specific facts Claude would not know, but the same facts are restated repeatedly: the 'Most Used Tools' and 'Performance Characteristics' tables duplicate the same response-time data, and the 'Summary' and 'Best Practices' sections largely restate the Common Mistakes table and Tool Selection patterns. This sits between anchor 2 (several padded/duplicated sections) and anchor 4 (minor trimming); the roughly 150 lines of duplication plus scattered version-specific numbers (e.g. 'httpRequest is at 4.4+', 'n8n 2.97.0') outside any deprecation section make anchor 3 the best fit.

3 / 5

Actionability

Calls are given in concrete, copy-paste-ready form with exact parameter shapes: 'search_nodes({query: "slack"})', 'get_node({nodeType: "nodes-base.slack", mode: "docs"})', WRONG/CORRECT pairs for nodeType prefixes and credential nesting, the six required parameters of n8n_explore_node_resources, and exact pinData keying ('{"Webhook": [{"json": {"id": "123"}}]}'). It matches anchor 5: executable patterns covering the common cases, with only cosmetic shorthand (JavaScript-style rather than full JSON envelopes).

5 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Multi-step processes are explicitly sequenced with validation checkpoints and feedback loops: 'validate → fix → validate', create → validate → update → validate again → activate, and per-method tables for running workflows with error-code recovery paths (STALE_CONFIG, EXECUTION_FAILED vs OFFICIAL_MCP_ERROR). Destructive and batch operations carry explicit guards ('use dryRun: true before bulk changes', 'confirm with the user before dropping a populated column', 'ask the user before passing exposeToMcp'), matching the score-5 anchor including its destructive-operation requirements.

5 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The four guide references (SEARCH_GUIDE.md, VALIDATION_GUIDE.md, WORKFLOW_GUIDE.md, OPERATIONS_GUIDE.md) are one level deep and clearly signaled, but none of these files exist in the bundle, so the disclosure structure is nominal rather than real. In addition, long reference-grade sections (Running Workflows, Version History, Agents — each ending in 'See WORKFLOW_GUIDE.md for runnable examples') are inlined in a ~480-line SKILL.md, fitting anchor 3 ('content that should be separate is inline') rather than anchor 4's 'most content appropriately placed'.

3 / 5

Total

16

/

20

Passed

Description

96%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

A strong description: it enumerates concrete capabilities across the whole tool surface, states both what it provides and when to use it with explicit trigger phrases, and scopes itself to the n8n-mcp MCP niche. Its only weakness is that generic triggers like 'workflows' and 'automation' could also fire for the sibling n8n skills.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description lists seven concrete actions ('searching for nodes, validating configurations, accessing templates, managing workflows, organizing workflows into folders, managing credentials, auditing instance security') plus 'tool selection guidance, parameter formats, and common patterns', comprehensively covering the tool domain. It matches the score-5 anchor (multiple specific concrete actions, comprehensive coverage); the only soft spot is the minor fluff of 'Expert guide... effectively', which is not enough to drop it to anchor 4's 'minor gaps in coverage'.

5 / 5

Completeness

Both questions are answered explicitly: what ('Provides tool selection guidance, parameter formats, and common patterns' following the concrete action list) and when ('Use when searching for nodes...' and 'If the user mentions n8n, workflows, nodes, or automation and you have n8n MCP tools available, use this skill first'). Concrete trigger phrases are present, matching the score-5 anchor; score 4's 'when could be more explicit' does not apply.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Natural user phrasing is comprehensively covered: 'If the user mentions n8n, workflows, nodes, or automation' plus tool-level triggers like 'searching for nodes', 'templates', 'folders', 'credentials', 'auditing instance security' and 'n8n-mcp'. These are exactly the words a user with this need would say; not score 4 because no common synonyms for this domain are obviously missing.

5 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The niche is clear (n8n-mcp MCP tool usage, gated on 'you have n8n MCP tools available'), but the broad triggers 'workflows, nodes, or automation' overlap with the closely related sibling n8n skills (n8n Workflow Patterns, n8n Node Configuration, n8n Expression Syntax) referenced in the body. This fits anchor 4 ('mostly distinct; minor overlap risk with closely related skills') better than anchor 5's 'minimal conflict risk'.

4 / 5

Total

19

/

20

Passed

Validation

93%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

relative_links

Relative link issues: 25 missing, 1 suspicious

Warning

Total

15

/

16

Passed

Repository

czlonkowski/n8n-skills

Path

skills/n8n-mcp-tools-expert/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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