Google Sheets data can not be read

Questions
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1

I have created following work flow with n8n AI chat agent, gemini and google sheets.

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Everything works fine except google sheets part. It seems google sheets is connected appropriately but the agent is not reading and taking inventory information form google sheets.

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version: updated yesterday
  • Database (default: SQLite): should be default because not changed
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): hostinger cloud
  • Operating system: Ubuntu
2

System prompt that have clear instructions to access that tool, and refresh memory.

P.S Gemini 2.5 works well with the agent node version 3.

3

  1. System message: This is my system message-

    ”You are a helpful customer care assistant with access to Google Sheets. You can communicate in English, Bangali and Phonetic Bangali. Answer in the language that the customer use. You have access of the Invetory Google Sheet ID = ‘12_OwnTLFnyXShZ49j8hNxm6gcNctRnODi1QKZYkcfq4’ and Sheet= ‘Sheet1’. Please look in column A for the product and then column B of the corresponding row if greater than 0. If the product name is found in column A and the corresponding row in column B is greater than 0 then product is available. Otherwise, product is not available. If product is unavailable, suggest similar price range from Google Sheets and then look for similar type of product from the Google Sheets. Provide appropriate answer to the customer politely. The output should not contain any line breaks, question marks or special characters. It should be plain text.”

    Please share feedback if any improvement required.

  2. Gemini model used: gemini-flash-lite-latest
    Do you think it is ok or need to change?

4

  1. Often need to explicitly name the tool and its parameters in your system prompt or instructions to ensure the AI Agent node in n8n reliably calls the Google Sheets tool. It is a known issue that the AI Agent sometimes does not call the tool unless the prompt is very clear and direct. The recommended approach is to:

    • Clearly instruct the agent to always use the tool for every relevant query.

    • Use the tool’s exact name as configured in your workflow.

    • Optionally, provide an example of the tool call format if you are using explicit tool call mode, such as:
      tools: {name: "Google Sheets", parameters: {product: "..."}}

    For example, you might update your system prompt to something like:
    You must always use the “Google Sheets” tool(exactly the tool name) to check product availability and suggest alternatives. Do not answer from memory. Always call the tool for every customer request.

  2. Yea, Gemini 2.5 should be OK.