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n8n-workflow-lifecycle-official

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Use when starting, designing, organizing, finishing, or shipping an n8n workflow. Covers visual layout (sticky notes), descriptions that capture the *why*, node names, validation, testing, folders/projects, and publishing. Triggers on create_workflow_from_code, update_workflow, validate_workflow, publish_workflow, archive_workflow, "design", "lay out", "organize", "structure", "sticky", "describe this workflow", "ship", "deploy", "publish", "name this workflow", or any folder/project organization request.

skills/n8n-workflow-lifecycle-official/SKILL.md

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Oct 30, 2026
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Apache-2.0

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# n8n Workflow Lifecycle

## The six stages

1. **PLAN.** Gather requirements, ask clarifying questions, search for existing workflows / sub-workflows that already do this.
2. **BUILD.** Write SDK code (with skills: subworkflows, node-config, expressions, code-nodes; readability section below). Use `validate_node_config` as a side-channel for iteration, debugging, or small single-node edits: clean per-parameter errors without full-graph noise. Not a replacement for `validate_workflow` in VALIDATE.
3. **VALIDATE.** `validate_workflow` + `get_workflow_details` for connections, then have the user verify per-node credentials and create anything you couldn't (missing credentials, folders, etc).
4. **TEST.** `test_workflow` with `prepare_workflow_pin_data`; iterate until output matches intent.
5. **PUBLISH.** `publish_workflow` only after stages 3 and 4 are clean.
6. **HANDOFF.** Production handoff: how to trigger it, what it returns, what to watch, what they should know to use it well.

Skipping a stage produces workflows that look done but break in production, or solve the wrong problem entirely. Three most common skips:

- **Build before plan.** "User asked for X, I'll start coding" without confirming what X means, whether the same logic already exists as a sub-workflow, or which folder/project it belongs in. Cheaper to ask one clarifying question than to rebuild after.
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