activate-workflow

Enable an n8n workflow to run by providing its ID and client ID through the MCP server, allowing automated workflow activation.

Instructions

Activate a workflow by ID. This will enable the workflow to run. IMPORTANT: Arguments must be provided as compact, single-line JSON without whitespace or newlines.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`clientId`	Yes
`id`	Yes

Implementation Reference

src/index.ts:1067-1097 (handler)

MCP server tool handler for 'activate-workflow'. Retrieves N8nClient by clientId, calls client.activateWorkflow(id), formats and returns the workflow response or error.

case "activate-workflow": {
  const { clientId, id } = args as { clientId: string; id: string };
  const client = clients.get(clientId);
  if (!client) {
    return {
      content: [{
        type: "text",
        text: "Client not initialized. Please run init-n8n first.",
      }],
      isError: true
    };
  }

  try {
    const workflow = await client.activateWorkflow(id);
    return {
      content: [{
        type: "text",
        text: `Successfully activated workflow:\n${JSON.stringify(workflow, null, 2)}`,
      }]
    };
  } catch (error) {
    return {
      content: [{
        type: "text",
        text: error instanceof Error ? error.message : "Unknown error occurred",
      }],
      isError: true
    };
  }
}

src/index.ts:484-494 (schema)

Input schema definition for the 'activate-workflow' tool, specifying clientId and id as required string parameters.

  name: "activate-workflow",
  description: "Activate a workflow by ID. This will enable the workflow to run. IMPORTANT: Arguments must be provided as compact, single-line JSON without whitespace or newlines.",
  inputSchema: {
    type: "object",
    properties: {
      clientId: { type: "string" },
      id: { type: "string" }
    },
    required: ["clientId", "id"]
  }
},

src/index.ts:484-494 (registration)

Registration of the 'activate-workflow' tool in the server's list of tools returned by ListToolsRequestSchema handler.

  name: "activate-workflow",
  description: "Activate a workflow by ID. This will enable the workflow to run. IMPORTANT: Arguments must be provided as compact, single-line JSON without whitespace or newlines.",
  inputSchema: {
    type: "object",
    properties: {
      clientId: { type: "string" },
      id: { type: "string" }
    },
    required: ["clientId", "id"]
  }
},

src/index.ts:192-196 (helper)
N8nClient helper method that performs the actual API call to activate a workflow by sending a POST request to `/workflows/${id}/activate`.
```
async activateWorkflow(id: string): Promise<N8nWorkflow> {
  return this.makeRequest<N8nWorkflow>(`/workflows/${id}/activate`, {
    method: 'POST',
  });
}
```

n8n MCP Server