n8n Workflows

n8n is a self-hosted workflow automation platform. PrintStudio ships with 10 pre-built workflow JSON files in n8n/workflows/ that you can import directly.

Starting n8n

n8n is included in the ecosystem Docker Compose:

./scripts/start-ecosystem.sh -d
# n8n starts at http://localhost:5678

Default credentials: admin / printstudio (change via N8N_USER / N8N_PASSWORD in .env).

Importing Workflows

Open n8n at http://localhost:5678
Go to Workflows → Import from file
Select any JSON file from n8n/workflows/
Activate the workflow

Or use the n8n CLI:

# Import all PrintStudio workflows
for f in n8n/workflows/*.json; do
  curl -X POST http://localhost:5678/api/v1/workflows \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-N8N-API-KEY: $N8N_API_KEY" \
    -d @"$f"
done

Included Workflows

Workflow	Trigger	Action
Order Confirmation	`order.paid` webhook	Send customer confirmation email
Print Started	`order.printing` webhook	Notify customer via email
Order Shipped	`order.shipped` webhook	Send tracking number email + SMS
Low Inventory Alert	`inventory.low` webhook	Email operator + create Slack message
Print Failure Escalation	`job.failed` (3rd retry)	Page operator via OpenClaw
Daily Production Report	Daily cron (8am)	Slack/email summary of previous day
Weekly Revenue Report	Weekly cron (Monday 9am)	Email revenue + SLA summary
New Customer Welcome	`customer.created` webhook	Welcome email + onboarding sequence
Reorder Request	`inventory.low` webhook	Create purchase request in InvenTree
SLA Breach Alert	Every 15 min	Check overdue jobs, alert operator

Configuration

After importing, update credential nodes with your specific values:

PrintStudio API — base URL and API key for the HTTP Request nodes
Email (SMTP or Resend) — your mail provider credentials
Slack — webhook URL or bot token (optional)

Generate a PrintStudio API key for n8n under Dashboard → Settings → API Keys. Use the operator role.

N8N_URL=http://localhost:5678
N8N_API_KEY=your-n8n-api-key    # generate in n8n Settings → API

Webhook Configuration

PrintStudio sends events to n8n via webhook triggers. Register the n8n webhook URL in PrintStudio:

# The n8n webhook URL follows this pattern:
# http://localhost:5678/webhook/{workflow-id}

# Register it as a PrintStudio webhook endpoint
curl -X POST http://localhost:8787/api/webhooks/endpoints \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -d '{
    "url": "http://localhost:5678/webhook/order-events",
    "events": ["order.created", "order.paid", "order.shipped"],
    "secret": "your-shared-secret"
  }'

Creating Custom Workflows

n8n’s visual editor makes it straightforward to add new automations. Common patterns:

HTTP Request → PrintStudio API — use the HTTP Request node with base URL http://print-ops-api:8787 (Docker internal hostname) and X-API-Key header.

Webhook trigger — add a Webhook node as the trigger, then register its URL in PrintStudio’s webhook endpoints.

Error handling — add an Error Trigger workflow to catch failures and notify via Slack or email.

Persistence

n8n data is stored in the n8n-data Docker volume. Workflows, credentials, and execution history persist across container restarts.

To back up your workflows:

docker exec printstudio-n8n n8n export:workflow --all --output=/data/workflows-backup.json
docker cp printstudio-n8n:/data/workflows-backup.json ./n8n/backup/