n8n Integrations

How n8n Integrations Work

n8n has two integration approaches:

Native nodes: Pre-built integrations for specific services. Navigate to any node in the n8n UI, select the app, authenticate with your credentials, and configure the action. Native nodes handle the API complexity — you just fill in fields.

HTTP Request node: A universal integration that can call any REST API. You configure the URL, method, headers, and body manually. More setup work, but works for any service with an HTTP API.

The HTTP Request node means n8n can integrate with essentially any service — if they have an API, n8n can call it. The 400+ native integrations cover the most common services; the HTTP Request node covers everything else.

Core Business Integrations

CRM:

• HubSpot — Full CRUD on contacts, deals, companies, tasks; webhook trigger support
• Salesforce — Contacts, leads, opportunities, custom objects; SOQL queries
• Pipedrive — Contacts, deals, activities

Communication:

• Gmail — Send/receive emails, label, search
• Slack — Post messages, create channels, respond to events
• Microsoft Teams — Messages, meetings, file sharing
• Twilio — SMS, voice calls via HTTP node

Productivity:

• Google Sheets — Read/write spreadsheet data
• Google Docs — Create and edit documents
• Notion — Database records, pages, blocks
• Airtable — Records, fields, views

AI:

• Anthropic — Claude models for AI processing
• OpenAI — GPT-4o, Whisper, DALL-E
• Google AI — Gemini models

E-commerce:

• Shopify — Orders, customers, products, webhooks
• Stripe — Payments, customers, subscriptions, webhooks
• WooCommerce — Orders, products, customers

Marketing:

• Mailchimp — Contacts, campaigns, automations
• Klaviyo — Profiles, events, flows
• LinkedIn — Basic API access

Support:

• Zendesk — Tickets, users, organisations
• Freshdesk — Tickets, contacts, agents
• Intercom — Conversations, contacts, companies

Data:

• PostgreSQL — Full SQL query support
• MySQL — Full SQL query support
• MongoDB — Document operations
• Supabase — PostgreSQL with REST API

Authentication Types

n8n handles multiple authentication patterns:

API Key: Most common. Store the key in n8n's credential manager; it's used automatically in all requests from that credential.

OAuth2: For services like Google, Salesforce, HubSpot that use OAuth. n8n handles the OAuth flow — click "Connect" in the credential setup, authorise in the service's interface, and the token is stored securely.

Basic Auth: Username and password. Stored in n8n credentials and used automatically.

Header Auth: Custom header with secret value. Used by services like Shopify (X-Shopify-Access-Token).

All credentials are stored encrypted in n8n's database and never exposed in workflow exports.

Building Custom Integrations

For services without native nodes, the HTTP Request node covers any REST API:

1. Add an HTTP Request node to your workflow
2. Set the Method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
3. Set the URL (e.g., https://api.apollo.io/v1/people/search)
4. Add Headers (API key, content type)
5. Set the Body (for POST/PUT requests, usually JSON)
6. Test the request and see the response
7. Map response fields to subsequent nodes

For complex APIs that need repeated calls with different configurations, consider building a custom n8n community node (using TypeScript) and publishing it to the n8n community registry.

Recommended Tools

• n8n — Platform with all integrations
• Claude API — Primary AI integration
• HubSpot — Most important CRM integration for most businesses
• Airtable — Flexible data layer integration
• Twilio — SMS and voice communication
• Stripe — Payment event automation