- AI-first – commands return JSON by default; errors are structured JSON on stderr, with no CLI prompts.
- Composable – pipe workflow and execution data through
jqor other tools. - Secrets handled deliberately – macOS Keychain support; environment variables on other platforms. No secrets in config files.
- Automation-friendly – inspect workflows, executions, credentials and more from scripts or coding agents.
8cli requires Node.js 22.22+ and an n8n instance with API access. macOS can store API keys in Keychain; Windows and Linux currently use environment variables.
npm install -g @qodeca/8cliThe package is also available on npm. For a step-by-step first run, see Getting started. To work on 8cli itself, see CONTRIBUTING.md.
Create an API key in your n8n instance. In your terminal, paste it after running this command and press Enter. The hidden input keeps it out of shell history:
read -rs N8N_API_KEYThen export it and point 8cli at your instance:
export N8N_API_KEY
export N8N_URL=https://your-n8n.example.com
8cli auth verify
8cli wf list
8cli wf list | jq '.[] | {id, name, active}'wf list returns a JSON array, including [] when no workflows exist. Install jq for the last command.
Optionally, save the key from the environment into Keychain, then remove it from the environment:
printf '%s' "$N8N_API_KEY" | 8cli auth set-api-key --value -
unset N8N_API_KEYThe key is stored per instance URL, so 8cli finds it only while N8N_URL, --url or url in 8cli.json names that same instance. See Configuration for the full lookup order and its ERR_CONFIG_SOURCE_MISMATCH refusal when config-file URLs are paired with environment or flag credentials.
| Command (alias) | Use it for | Reference |
|---|---|---|
auth |
Set credentials and verify access | Auth |
config |
Inspect resolved configuration | Config |
workflow (wf) |
List, inspect and manage workflows | Workflow |
execution (exec) |
Inspect and delete executions | Execution |
credential (cred) |
List and manage credentials | Credential |
tag |
Manage tags | Tag |
variable (var) |
Manage variables | Variable |
project (proj) |
Manage projects | Project |
user |
Inspect users | User |
folder |
Manage folders | Folder |
datatable (dt) |
Manage data tables and rows | Data table |
audit |
Run instance audits | Audit |
source-control (sc) |
Inspect and pull source control state | Source control |
Run 8cli <command> --help for flags and subcommands. Some groups require n8n Enterprise features or additional credentials; see Community vs. Enterprise. sc push returns ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED because n8n's public API has no push endpoint.
For output formats and error codes, see Output and errors. For guides, recipes and the full reference, start at the documentation index.
8cli is an independent, third-party tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by n8n GmbH. "n8n" is a trademark of n8n GmbH, used here only to describe compatibility.
"Claude" and "Claude Code" are trademarks of Anthropic; 8cli is not affiliated with or
endorsed by Anthropic – it is simply designed to be usable by terminal coding agents. See
TRADEMARKS.md for the full trademark policy, including Qodeca's own marks.
See SUPPORT.md for where to get help: usage questions go to
GitHub Discussions, bugs and feature requests to
issues. Report security issues privately (see
Security).
Contributions are welcome – see CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and the
quality gates, and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md for community standards.
Contributions are accepted under GPL-3.0-only and require agreeing to the project
Contributor License Agreement – by opening a pull request you agree to its
terms (your Git author identity is your record).
8cli stores secrets in the macOS Keychain or reads them from environment variables – never from
config files – and refuses plaintext-HTTP URLs by default. Report security vulnerabilities privately via
GitHub's private advisory reporting –
see SECURITY.md. Please do not open a public issue for an unfixed vulnerability.
8cli is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only – see
LICENSE for the full text. The corresponding source is available at
https://github.com/qodeca/8cli. Bundled third-party dependencies and their notices are
listed in THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md; development-only
dependencies are not distributed.
This project was extracted from an internal Qodeca monorepo; prior commit history is not preserved in this repository.
8cli is built by Qodeca – a Warsaw-based software team building software since 2014 for the fitness, sport, and healthcare industries, where HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS are the baseline, not the exception. We build a lot of our tooling in the open.
Related projects: erfana (agent-native Markdown workspace) · erfana-skills (Claude Code plugin).