Enable MCP access for workflows with other trigger types

The idea is:

Allow workflows triggered by Execute Workflow Trigger (and other sub-workflow patterns) to be MCP-enabled, so that external AI tools can access their structure and context the same way they currently can for workflows using Schedule/Webhook/Form/Chat triggers.

At the moment, MCP access can only be enabled for workflows using the following triggers:

  • Schedule Trigger

  • Webhook Trigger

  • Form Trigger

  • Chat Trigger

It would be very helpful if MCP access could also be enabled for workflows triggered by the Execute Workflow Trigger (and, more generally, for sub-workflows regardless of how they’re called).

My use case:

I’m integrating n8n with an external AI tool (Claude) via MCP. My main workflow is MCP-enabled, but it calls a sub-workflow via an Execute Workflow Trigger node. Because MCP access cannot be enabled on that sub-workflow:

  • Claude can’t “see” or directly access the sub-workflow.

  • I’m unable to provide the AI with full workflow context, since part of the logic lives in a workflow that isn’t MCP-enabled.

This limits how well the AI can reason about or modify the overall automation, as it only has partial visibility.

I think it would be beneficial to add this because:

  1. External AI tools using MCP could understand and interact with any workflow involved in a process, not just the top-level one with a supported trigger.
  2. n8n encourages splitting logic into sub-workflows; extending MCP access to these would align with that design and make complex setups much easier to work with.
  3. From a user perspective, it’s more intuitive if MCP access is about “this workflow can be exposed to MCP” rather than “only workflows with specific trigger types can be exposed.

Any resources to support this?

Are you willing to work on this?

I’m not currently able to implement this in the core codebase myself, but I’m happy to:

  • Help refine the UX / configuration options,

  • Test early versions or previews,

  • Provide feedback on how it behaves in real workflows and suggest improvements.

I tried using the MCP client and MCP server nodes, but I’m running into the same issue as with other trigger nodes, such as the Google Drive Trigger (for example, when a file is added to a specific folder).

Is there any solution to this issue in n8n? Also, is there any publicly available API that takes only a workflow ID as input and executes that workflow directly?