I built an n8n MCP Server so Claude can list, run, and monitor my workflows in plain English

Penumbra Ghost Posted on May 31 I built an n8n MCP Server so Claude can list, run, and monitor my workflows in plain English # ai I got tired of opening the n8n dashboard every time I needed to check on a workflow. You know the drill: open browser → navigate to executions → find the right workflow → check status → close. Five clicks for something that should be instant. So I built a 9-node n8n workflow that exposes my entire n8n instance to Claude Desktop via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) . Now I just type: "Did my backup automation run successfully last night?" And Claude calls my real n8n API and responds with the execution status. No browser. No clicking. What is MCP? MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard from Anthropic that lets AI assistants connect to external tools and data sources. Instead of just answering questions from training data, Claude can call real APIs, read live data, and take actions. n8n already has an MCP Server Trigger node (available in 1.70+). I used it to expose 4 tools to Claude: Tool What it does list_workflows Returns all active workflows with IDs and names run_workflow Triggers any workflow by ID get_executions Pulls recent execution history with status search_workflows Keyword filter across all workflow names How it works The architecture is simple: Claude Desktop → mcp-remote → n8n MCP Server Trigger → Code nodes → n8n REST API Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Each of the 4 tools is a Code node that calls the n8n REST API internally using X-N8N-API-KEY authentication. The workflow: MCP Server Trigger — SSE endpoint that Claude connects to list_workflows — GET /api/v1/workflows?active=true run_workflow — POST /api/v1/workflows/{id}/run get_executions — GET /api/v1/executions?workflowId={id}&limit=N search_workflows — keyword filter on workflow names Credentials are stored in n8n Variables ( $vars.N8N_BASE_URL and $vars.N8N_API_KEY ) — never hardcoded. The Claude Desktop config { "mcpServers" : { "n8n" : { "c