Node Based Visual Canvas
n8n uses a node based visual canvas where you connect nodes (steps) with wires. Each node represents an action, trigger, or data transformation. Data flows left to right through the nodes. You can branch, merge, loop, and add conditional logic visually.
Trigger Types
Every workflow starts with a trigger:
- App event triggers: Native triggers for supported services (e.g., 'New email in Gmail,' 'New row in Google Sheets')
- Webhooks: Receive HTTP requests from any service
- Schedule/cron triggers: Time based execution (every hour, daily, custom cron)
- Chat triggers: Start workflows via conversational chat input
- Sub workflow triggers: Nest workflows, trigger one from another
- Manual triggers: For testing and debugging
Node Types
- Trigger nodes: Start a workflow
- Action nodes: Perform operations on 400+ integrated services
- Core nodes: IF, Switch, Merge, Loop, Set, Function, Code (JS/Python), HTTP Request, Webhook
- AI nodes: Agents, chains, LLMs, memory, tools, vector stores, embeddings (70+ AI nodes)
- Community nodes: 100+ user contributed integrations
Debugging and Testing
n8n's debugging is one of its strongest differentiators. You can re run individual steps without executing the entire workflow, pin mock data on nodes to avoid waiting for external systems, view logs inline next to code, and search through full execution history. This makes iterating on complex workflows significantly faster than in competing platforms where you typically need to run the entire automation from scratch.
Performance
A single n8n instance can handle up to 220 workflow executions per second. For higher throughput, the Enterprise plan supports queue mode with multiple workers and a multi main setup.