Hi everyone!
I recently came across this post about the challenges new users are facing on the n8n forums. To help, I decided to make my small project public.
The documentation on building custom nodes is currently outdated, leaving many unsure how to get started.
Here’s why:
- It still uses
npm, whilepnpmis now the recommended package manager for n8n. - It relies on
npm linkto link nodes, but making it work withpnpmis undocumented. Instead, many users turn to Docker for a smoother experience.
Interestingly, n8n itself uses devcontainers to simplify contributions—so why not leverage them for custom node development too?
To address these issues, I created n8n-nodes-builder, a repository designed to help newcomers get started effortlessly.
The setup is simple, mostly automated, and follows the same methods used by the official n8n repository.
Give it a try, and if you have improvements, I’d love your input! For instance, I currently struggle with making hot reloading work, feel free to PR some changes !
Have a great day!