Can i run a n8n workflow from external program of my own?

Questions
1

Hi Team,

I started n8n recently and I am happy using it. The product was amazing and I am building few workflows on it.

Q1) I have build a simple workflow in n8n and saved it. Now, can I run that workflow from any external program like python script to instantiate the workflow whenever I need it? Is that possible, Can I have any examples related to the above mentioned query.

Q2) It was working when I am working with docker, But faced few issues when running it locally.
Configuration is as follows:-
OS:- Windows 64 bit
RAM:- 20GB
version:- n8n/0.135.1 win32-x64 node-v14.17.3

Issue1:- unable to run the workflow locally
Issue2:- unable to connect to local postgres DB, error msg:-(“connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:5432”)

So, Please do the needful.

Thanks & Regards,
Naga siva prasad

2

Hi @prasadkoduru9,

You can use the webhook trigger to run your workflow as needed and pass in anything you needed. There could be other options with the cli but I have not looked into that yet.

The second issue looks like your database is refusing the connection so I would double check the host and port and confirm with telnet or a db management tool that you can connect.

Hope this helps :+1:

3

Hey Jon,
Thanks for quick response.

Here my use case is not running it in the workflow UI.

Step 1:- I will build a multi node workflow and save that.
Step 2:- when ever there is a trigger happens in my DB from my another application, then I want to execute the saved Workflow
Like, Do I have an option to execute the workflow via an API call or something like that.

4

As @Jon mentioned, you can trigger the workflow from the command line (or Python, or whatever) simply by calling the webhook URL, e.g.

curl -x GET https://example.com/webhook/0ff123c4-11a3-4d45-8db4-e5b218b4ff06

Once you’ve added the webhook trigger to your workflow, it will show you the URL to use.

5

You can find more information about how to make the call in different languages here

6

Just to be complete. You can also start a workflow via CLI: