Struggling to Embed n8n Chatbot in Shopify – Proxy Setup Failing with 500 Errors (Not Very Technical)

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Hi, I’m not very technical but I’m trying to embed an n8n chatbot into my Shopify store. I’ve tried several proxy setups to securely send messages to my n8n workflow, but I keep running into errors and can’t get the integration to work. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

Summary of Solutions Attempted (Embed/Proxy Issue)

Goal:
Embed an n8n-powered chatbot into my Shopify store using a secure proxy that injects an Authorization header, so my API key isn’t exposed client-side. I need to make POST requests from the Shopify frontend (iframe or AJAX) to n8n’s /chat endpoint.

Solutions Tried and Outcomes:

  1. Direct n8n API call from Shopify frontend
  • Result: Not possible, as exposing the API key to the browser is insecure and leads to CORS/auth problems.
  1. Supabase Edge Function as Proxy
  • Set up an Edge Function to forward requests and add the Authorization header using an env variable.
  • Tried both CLI and Web UI deployments.
  • Result: All deployments returned a static {"code":401,"message":"Missing authorization header"} error, no matter what code was deployed. Function code was not being updated or executed. (Suspected platform bug or cache issue, already escalated to Supabase support.)
  1. Cloudflare Pages as Proxy
  • Attempted to use Cloudflare Pages to proxy requests and inject headers.
  • Result: Not viable, since Pages only supports static sites (no serverless code execution).
  1. Cloudflare Workers as Proxy (RECOMMENDED SETUP)
  • Created a Worker to accept POST requests, add the Authorization header from a secret, and forward to n8n /chat.
  • Worker GET test worked fine (“Cloudflare Worker is running!”).
  • POST requests from curl to the Worker resulted in a 500 Internal Server Error from n8n.
  • Debugging revealed: The error is NOT from the Worker (proxy), but from n8n itself—direct POST to the n8n /chat endpoint also returns 500 Internal Server Error.
  • Conclusion: The Worker is correctly proxying requests, but n8n returns 500s for all POSTs (even with correct Authorization).
  1. Checked n8n Execution History
  • Found that some executions were successful, but current POST attempts still result in 500 errors.
  • Not sure if the issue is with request format, webhook node settings, or internal n8n logic.

Current State:

  • Proxying through Cloudflare Worker is working as intended (GET works, POST is forwarded).
  • All POST requests to n8n /chat return 500 Internal Server Error, even when called directly via curl with the correct API key and JSON.
  • Suspect the issue is either with:
    • n8n webhook node configuration (method, payload shape),
    • workflow logic error,
    • or something environmental in n8n.

What I’m Asking:

  • Has anyone successfully embedded an n8n chatbot in Shopify (or any frontend) using a secure proxy for header injection?
  • What is the best way to configure the webhook node and workflow to avoid 500 errors on POST?
  • Any known pitfalls with n8n’s handling of webhook payloads, headers, or authentication that might cause this?

Happy to provide code snippets, workflow exports, or logs if helpful!