Tauseef FayyazA to Z
Glossary
Every concept in this sheet, plus the smaller terms it uses. Select a concept to open its card.
A
- Action
- A step that does something after the trigger: create a CRM contact, send a message, add a row, call an API.
- API key
- A long secret string that identifies the caller to an API, usually sent in a header.
C
- Code node
- A node that runs your own JavaScript or Python.
- Credentials
- Stored API keys, OAuth connections and passwords that nodes reference by name. n8n encrypts them in its database with an encryption key.
D
- Data mapping
- Choosing which output of an earlier step fills each input of a later step, often with a small transformation such as trimming, lowercasing or a fallback value.
E
- Executions
- One execution is one full run of a workflow, however many nodes or items it has. n8n Cloud plans are priced by executions per month.
- Expressions
- JavaScript snippets inside double curly braces that fill a node field.
H
- HTTP request
- A call to an API with a method (GET reads, POST creates, PUT or PATCH updates, DELETE removes), a URL, headers and often a JSON body.
I
- Items
- Data flows between n8n nodes as a list of items, each holding a json object.
J
- JSON
- The text format apps use to exchange data: objects in curly braces with named fields, arrays in square brackets, and values that are strings, numbers, booleans or null.
O
- OAuth 2.0
- A flow where the account owner approves limited permissions, called scopes, and the tool receives a token that can be refreshed or revoked without sharing a password.
R
- Rate limit
- A cap on how many requests an API accepts in a time window, such as 100 per minute.
- REST API
- An API that exposes data as resources at URLs, such as /contacts/123, and uses HTTP methods to act on them.
S
- Self-hosting and n8n Cloud
- n8n Cloud is hosted by n8n on a paid plan.
- Sustainable Use License
- The fair-code licence n8n is published under: free to use, modify and self-host for internal business and personal use, with commercial limits set by n8n.
T
- Trigger
- The event that starts a workflow: a form submitted, an email received, a record created or a schedule reached.
W
- Webhook
- An HTTP request an app sends to your URL when an event happens, carrying the event data as JSON.
- Workflow and nodes
- An n8n workflow is a canvas of nodes: one trigger node starts it and each following node does one job.