McFlow

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/n8n/manager.ts:950-995 (handler)

  Core implementation of the 'start' tool: executes 'n8n start' CLI command with optional port and tunnel options, starts in background, and returns success message with URL.

  async startN8n(options: {
    port?: number;
    tunnel?: boolean;
  } = {}): Promise<any> {
    try {
      let command = 'n8n start';
      
      if (options.port) {
        command = `N8N_PORT=${options.port} ${command}`;
      }
      
      if (options.tunnel) {
        command += ' --tunnel';
      }
  
      console.error(`Starting n8n: ${command}`);
      
      // Start n8n in background
      exec(command, (error, stdout, stderr) => {
        if (error) {
          console.error(`n8n error: ${error}`);
        }
      });
  
      // Give it a moment to start
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 2000));
  
      const port = options.port || 5678;
      const url = options.tunnel ? 'Check console for tunnel URL' : `http://localhost:${port}`;
  
      return {
        content: [
          {
            type: 'text',
            text: `🚀 n8n started successfully!\n\n` +
                  `🌐 URL: ${url}\n` +
                  `🔧 Port: ${port}\n` +
                  `${options.tunnel ? '🌍 Tunnel: Enabled\n' : ''}` +
                  `\nUse Ctrl+C to stop n8n when done.`,
          },
        ],
      };
    } catch (error: any) {
      throw new Error(`Failed to start n8n: ${error.message}`);
    }
  }

• src/tools/handler.ts:185-189 (handler)

  ToolHandler.handleTool() switch case that routes 'start' tool calls to N8nManager.startN8n() with parsed arguments.

  case 'start':
    return await this.n8nManager.startN8n({
      port: args?.port as number,
      tunnel: args?.tunnel as boolean,
    });

• src/tools/registry.ts:323-339 (registration)

  Registers the 'start' MCP tool in getToolDefinitions() array with name, description, and inputSchema.

  {
    name: 'start',
    description: 'Start n8n server - replaces "n8n start" command',
    inputSchema: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        port: {
          type: 'number',
          description: 'Port to run n8n on (default: 5678)',
        },
        tunnel: {
          type: 'boolean',
          description: 'Enable tunnel for webhook testing',
        },
      },
    },
  },

• src/tools/registry.ts:326-337 (schema)

  Input schema definition for the 'start' tool validating port (number) and tunnel (boolean) parameters.

  inputSchema: {
    type: 'object',
    properties: {
      port: {
        type: 'number',
        description: 'Port to run n8n on (default: 5678)',
      },
      tunnel: {
        type: 'boolean',
        description: 'Enable tunnel for webhook testing',
      },
    },