Report · marked 10 Oct 2026

n8n-io/n8n

Solid foundations, held back in a few specific places.

TypeScript · 206,889 stars · 30,698 files · branch master

83 /100 A-

Instructions 25/27Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing. Losing marks on instruction quality.Setup 20/20Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human. Full marks.Verification loop 24/25Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy. Losing marks on static type checking.Context economy 9/20Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it. Losing marks on file sizes fit in context and repository weight.Navigability 7/10How quickly anything new can orient itself. Losing marks on license.

Higher is better. Accent marks what is costing you most.

Fix these first

File sizes fit in context

A single file that fills the context window forces an agent to work from fragments, and it will confidently edit code it never saw. Splitting the worst offenders pays for itself immediately.

Repository weight

Large binaries and vendored trees slow every operation an agent performs. Git LFS or a separate assets repo keeps the working tree navigable.

License

Without a license nobody can safely reuse this, and some tools will refuse to work with it at all.

The full marking

Every deduction below names the file or setting it came from.

Instructions 25/27 A+

Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing.

✓Agent instruction file 12/12

AGENTS.md is present, which is the format the most tools read.

Also found: CLAUDE.md

✗Instruction quality 10/12

Specific enough that an agent can act on it.

Worth fixing: it's 22k characters, which burns context on every single turn.

names the actual commands to run

uses headings, so an agent can skim it

includes copyable code blocks

✓README as an entry point 3/3

README has a clear getting-started section.

Setup 20/20 A+

Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human.

✓Deterministic install 6/6

pnpm-lock.yaml pins the dependency tree.

Found pnpm-lock.yaml

✓Discoverable commands 6/6

Commands are declared where an agent will look for them.

package.json scripts (prepare, preinstall, build, build:unchecked, build:n8n, build:deploy…)

scripts/ directory

✓Environment config 4/4

.env.local.example documents what the app needs to run.

✓Pinned runtime version 2/2

The language runtime version is pinned.

package.json engines.node >=24.0.0

✓Reproducible environment 2/2

.devcontainer/devcontainer.json gives a known-good environment.

Verification loop 24/25 A+

Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy.

✓Tests exist 8/8

11520 test files against 23767 source files.

e.g. .devcontainer/codespaces/agent-worker.test.mjs, .devcontainer/codespaces/cloud-session.test.mjs, .devcontainer/codespaces/opencode-client.test.mjs

✓Test command is discoverable 7/7

An agent can find and run `npm run test`.

✓Continuous integration 4/4

111 GitHub Actions workflows define what "passing" means.

✓Lint and format rules 3/3

biome.jsonc encodes the house style.

✗Static type checking 2/3

Type checking is configured, but not in strict mode.

Turn on `"strict": true`. Type errors are the fastest feedback an agent gets, and non-strict mode silently discards most of them.

Context economy 9/20 C

Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it.

✓No committed build output 6/6

No generated directories committed.

✓.gitignore hygiene 3/3

.gitignore covers 97 patterns.

✗File sizes fit in context 0/6

59 source files are over 100KB.

A single file that fills the context window forces an agent to work from fragments, and it will confidently edit code it never saw. Splitting the worst offenders pays for itself immediately.

packages/@n8n/agents/src/runtime/__tests__/agent-runtime.test.ts — 389KB

packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/app/composables/useCanvasOperations.test.ts — 315KB

packages/cli/src/modules/instance-ai/__tests__/instance-ai.adapter.service.test.ts — 286KB

✗Repository weight 0/5

About 684MB checked out. Large enough that cloning and searching are both slow.

Large binaries and vendored trees slow every operation an agent performs. Git LFS or a separate assets repo keeps the working tree navigable.

Here is your AGENTS.md

Drafted from what is actually in this repository: the install command from your lockfile, the commands you already declare, your real directory layout. Anything marked TODO needs a person. Save it at the root as AGENTS.md.

AGENTS.md — drafted for n8n-io/n8n

# AGENTS.md

Fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom code, self-host or cloud, 400+ integrations.

## Setup

```
pnpm install
```

## Commands

```
pnpm dev         # run locally
pnpm start       # run the app
pnpm build       # produce a build
pnpm test        # run the test suite, must pass before any commit
pnpm typecheck   # type check without emitting
pnpm lint        # lint
pnpm format      # format
pnpm prepare
```

## Layout

- `packages/` 23567 source files
- `scripts/`  79 source files
- `docker/`   3 source files

## Conventions

- Tests live alongside the code they cover, following `.devcontainer/codespaces/agent-worker.test.mjs`.
- TypeScript is not in strict mode. Turning it on catches a whole class of mistakes before they run.
- CI defines what passing means. See `.github/workflows/backport.yml`, and keep it green.
- TODO: add the two or three conventions a newcomer always gets wrong here.

## Gotchas

- `packages/@n8n/agents/src/runtime/__tests__/agent-runtime.test.ts` is 389KB. It will not fit comfortably in context, so read it in parts.

---

Drafted by agentreadme.com from what is in this repository. Everything marked TODO
needs a human. Check it in as AGENTS.md at the root.

Open the raw markdown or curl -o AGENTS.md agentreadme.com/draft/n8n-io/n8n.md

A draft gets the commands right and stops at the things only a maintainer knows. What a good TypeScript AGENTS.md looks like covers what to add by hand, and what AGENTS.md is explains the format itself.

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[![agent ready](https://agentreadme.com/badge/n8n-io/n8n.svg)](https://agentreadme.com/n8n-io/n8n)

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All TypeScript repositories

Think this mark is wrong?

Every deduction above names the file it came from, so this can be settled by looking. If a check missed something, that is a rule worth fixing.

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