Description

n8n-nodes-canolite

n8n community node for Canolite — the self-hosted template-to-image and video generation platform.

Design templates visually in the Canolite editor, then generate images and MP4 videos from them in your n8n workflows.

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Installation

In n8n (Community Nodes)

1. Go to Settings → Community Nodes
2. Click Install a community node
3. Enter n8n-nodes-canolite
4. Click Install

Manual Installation

cd ~/.n8n/custom
npm install n8n-nodes-canolite

Restart n8n after installation.

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Credentials

You need a Canolite API key. Create one in your Canolite dashboard under API Keys.

| Field | Description | Example |
|———–|——————————————————-|——————————|
| Base URL | The URL of your Canolite instance | http://localhost:3000 |
| API Key | Your API key (starts with sklive) | skliveabc123... |

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Supported Operations

🖼️ Image Resource

| Operation | Description |
|————————|———————————————————————|
| Generate | Generate a single image asynchronously (returns queued job UID) |
| Generate (Synchronous) | Generate a single image and wait for the result (returns image URL) |
| Batch Generate | Generate multiple images from a template in one request (up to 500) |
| Get Status | Check the status of a previously submitted render job |

🎬 Video Resource

Requires Canolite 1.8+ and a template containing a video layer.

| Operation | Description |
|——————–|——————————————————————–|
| Generate | Render a single MP4 (returns a queued job UID) |
| Batch Generate | Render up to 20 videos from one template in a single request |
| Get Status | Check a video render’s status and progress |

There is no synchronous video operation. Encoding takes far too long to hold a
request open, so every video render is queued and answered with a job UID —
enable Wait for Completion to have the node poll for you.

📄 Template Resource

| Operation | Description |
|————-|————————————-|
| Get | Retrieve a specific template |
| Get Many | Retrieve all templates |

Both return has_video, so you can branch a workflow on whether a template can
produce an MP4.

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Usage Examples

Generate an Image (Synchronous)

1. Add the Canolite node
2. Select Image → Generate (Synchronous)
3. Set Template ID to your template (e.g. tmpl_abc123)
4. Add Modifications — for each text/image object you want to change:
– Name: the object name from your template
– Text: replacement text (for text objects)
– Image URL: replacement image URL (for image objects)
5. Optionally set Format (PNG/JPEG/WebP), Quality (1-100), Scale (1-3)
6. Execute — the node waits and returns the image_url directly

Generate an Image (Async)

1. Select Image → Generate
2. Configure the same fields as above
3. Under Options, enable Wait for Completion
4. Set Poll Interval and Max Poll Attempts as needed
5. The node will automatically poll until the render completes or times out

Batch Generate Images

1. Select Image → Batch Generate
2. Set Template ID
3. Add Items — each item has its own set of modifications and optional webhook URL
4. Configure shared Format, Quality, Scale
5. Execute — returns a batch UID and individual render UIDs

Check Render Status

1. Select Image → Get Status
2. Enter the Render UID from a previous async generation
3. Execute — returns the current status (queued, processing, done, failed) and image_url when complete

Generate a Video

1. Select Video → Generate
2. Set Template ID to a template that contains a video layer
3. Add Modifications — picking a video object reveals Video URL (to swap
the clip) and a Video Settings collection for trim, timing and audio
4. Set Frame Rate (1-60) and Quality (High / Balanced / Small). Leave
Duration at 0 to derive it from the layers — the longest clip, or 5
seconds, whichever is greater
5. Under Options, enable Wait for Completion to poll until the MP4 is ready
6. Execute — the output carries videourl, posterurl, duration, fps and
frame_count

> Video renders are minutes of CPU, not milliseconds. The polling defaults are
> higher than the image ones for that reason; raise Max Poll Attempts further
> for long or high-frame-rate outputs.

Check Video Render Status

1. Select Video → Get Status
2. Enter the Render UID (video UIDs start with vid_)
3. Execute — returns status, progress (0-100) and video_url when complete

Image and video jobs are served from separate endpoints: an img_ UID is not
found by Video → Get Status, and vice versa.

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Modifications

When generating, you can modify template objects using these properties.

Entering the Template ID first populates the Name dropdown with that
template’s editable objects, each tagged with its type, and the form then shows
only the inputs that type accepts.

| Property | Type | Description |
|——————-|———|——————————————|
| name | string | Required. Object name in template |
| text | string | Replacement text (text objects) |
| image_url | string | Replacement image URL (image objects) |
| video_url | string | Replacement clip URL (video objects) |
| trim_start | number | Seconds into the clip where playback starts |
| trim_end | number | Seconds into the clip where playback stops |
| start_at | number | Seconds into the output before the layer appears |
| volume | number | Audio volume, 0-2 (1 = original level) |
| muted | boolean | Drop this layer’s audio |
| loop | boolean | Repeat the clip to fill the output |
| fontFamily | string | Override font family |
| fontSize | number | Override font size (1-1000) |
| fontWeight | string | Override font weight (e.g. “bold”) |
| fontStyle | string | Override font style (e.g. “italic”) |
| fill | string | Override fill color (e.g. “#FF0000”) |
| textAlign | string | Override text alignment |
| lineHeight | number | Override line height (0.1-10) |
| height | number | Override object height |
| charSpacing | number | Override character spacing |
| underline | boolean | Whether to set underline on the text |
| opacity | number | Override opacity (0-1) |
| backgroundColor | string | Override background color |

imageurl and videourl must be publicly reachable http(s) URLs — the API
blocks private and loopback addresses, and drops such a modification with a
warning rather than fetching it.

Every field is optional bar name: an omitted key keeps whatever the template
has. That is also why Format, Quality, Scale and Duration have
an “inherit” default (Template Default / 0) — the node omits them from the
request rather than sending a value the API would reject.

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Workflow Ideas

• Social Media Automation: Generate branded images from templates when new content is published
• Certificate Generator: Create personalized certificates on demand
• E-commerce: Generate product images with dynamic text overlays
• Report Headers: Create custom report header images with date/title info
• Event Badges: Batch generate attendee badges from a spreadsheet
• Marketing Campaigns: Batch create images with different text for A/B testing
• Video Ads: Render personalised MP4 variants from one template, swapping the

clip or the overlaid text per item

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Compatibility

• n8n: 1.0+
• Canolite: 1.0+ (API v1) — the Video resource requires Canolite 1.8+

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License

MIT