Description
n8n-nodes-2kw
n8n community node for the 2kw.ai platform (engineering name: Backbone).
Use 2kw.ai inside n8n workflows: extract structured data with schemas, fetch and compile prompts, convert documents to markdown, transcribe audio, and append items to datasets.
Installation
The package is published on npm as n8n-nodes-2kw.
In n8n (recommended). Open Settings → Community Nodes → Install, enter n8n-nodes-2kw, accept the community-node risk prompt, and confirm. n8n installs it from npm and the 2kw node appears in the node picker.
Manually into ~/.n8n/custom. npm install n8n-nodes-2kw inside ~/.n8n/custom/ and restart n8n. The node loader picks it up by the n8n field in package.json.
From source. cd n8n && npm install && npm run build && npm pack produces a tarball you can point the same install dialog at. Useful for testing an unreleased change.
Releases are cut from the backbone monorepo, so the package version tracks the platform version rather than counting up on its own — see “Versioning” below.
Configure credentials
In n8n, open Credentials → New → 2kw API and provide:
- Base URL:
https://api.2kw.ai(or your self-hosted Backbone URL) - API Key: a personal access token created in the 2kw.ai dashboard under Settings → API Keys
n8n’s credential test calls GET /v1/models against your base URL — if it succeeds, the key is valid.
Usage
Drop the 2kw node into a workflow. Pick a Resource and Operation.
Schema, Prompt, Schema Version, and Prompt Label fields are searchable dropdowns populated from the 2kw API on demand. Switch the field to By ID if you want to paste a UUID or use an n8n expression instead.
| Resource | Operation | Notes |
| — | — | — |
| Schema | Get | Searchable picker. Returns schema metadata + active version. |
| Prompt | Get | Searchable picker. Returns prompt metadata. |
| Prompt | Compile | Compiles a prompt with a Variables JSON map. Optional Version ID (string) or Label (picker, depends on prompt). |
| Prompt | Resolve | Returns the active prompt content (no variable interpolation). Optional Label (picker, depends on prompt). |
| Extraction | Run | Sync or async-with-polling (toggle Wait For Completion, default on). Schema and Schema Version are searchable pickers. |
| Extraction | Get | Look up a previous extraction by ID. |
| Extraction | Estimate | Estimate token usage + recommended strategy without running. |
| Document | Convert | Multipart upload from a binary property. Output Formats selects which representations to include. Returns one item per converted document. |
| Document | Convert From Source | URL or base64 (no binary upload). Same Output Formats + per-document item split as Convert. Pipeline option: fast / ocr / vlm. |
| Transcription | Transcribe | Multipart audio upload. Required: Model. Optional: Language, Prompt, Response Format, Temperature. |
Chat completions (via n8n’s OpenAI node)
The 2kw API exposes an OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions endpoint. To use chat models, embeddings, vision, tool calling, or n8n’s AI Agent against 2kw, use n8n’s built-in OpenAI node rather than this package — that gives you the full OpenAI surface for free.
Setup (one-time):
1. In n8n, Credentials → New → OpenAI.
2. Base URL: https://api.2kw.ai/v1
3. API Key: your 2kw PAT (the same key your 2kw API credential uses).
4. Save.
After that, any n8n node that consumes an OpenAI credential — Chat Model, Embeddings, AI Agent, Tools — works against 2kw with no further setup. Use 2kw’s provider/model format in the model field (e.g. openai/gpt-4o-mini).
Local development with Docker Compose
The repository’s compose.yaml includes an off-by-default n8n service under the n8n profile. It bind-mounts ./n8n/dist and ./n8n/package.json into the container’s custom-node folder so a npm run build is all that’s needed to pick up code changes.
cd n8n && npm install && npm run build # build the package once
docker compose --profile n8n up -d n8n # start n8n on http://localhost:5678
iterate:
cd n8n && npm run build # after edits
docker compose --profile n8n restart n8n # reload the bind-mounted dist
n8n’s first launch asks you to create an owner account in the UI. After that, Credentials → New → 2kw API and the 2kw node are immediately available.
Smoke test (required before each release)
1. Build the package: cd n8n && npm install && npm run build.
2. Either install a locally packed tarball into your existing n8n, or start the local Docker n8n: docker compose --profile n8n up -d n8n.
3. Configure a 2kw API credential pointing at dev backbone with your API key.
4. Build a 2-node workflow: a manual trigger → 2kw (Schema → Get) using a known schema ID. Run it. Confirm the output JSON contains the schema definition.
5. Repeat with Extraction → Run against a small schema and a one-line inputText. Confirm the output contains a result object.
Versioning
The published version is the backbone platform version, stamped by release CI — the same scheme @2kw/ai (CLI) and @2kw/ai-mcp-server already use. The version field committed here is a placeholder and is never what ships.
The first npm release therefore jumps from the internal 0.3.0 to the platform’s current major. There were no 1.x–4.x releases of this node; the numbers are shared with the platform, not skipped.
Prereleases publish under the dev dist-tag (npm install n8n-nodes-2kw@dev), stable releases under latest.
Changelog
Entries below 1.0.0 predate npm publication and use the node’s own numbering.
0.3.0
Output Formats multi-select (MD, TEXT, JSON, HTML); response split into one n8n item per converted document.Dataset.AppendItem will fail to load. Replace with a generic HTTP Request node hitting POST /v1/datasets/{id}/versions/{versionId}/items.0.2.0
Wait For Completion toggle (default on) — submits to async + polls.0.1.0
Roadmap
Development
Source of truth is the n8n/ directory of the backbone monorepo. github.com/2kw-ai/n8n-nodes-2kw is a one-way mirror written only by release CI — pull requests and direct commits there are overwritten by the next release. Report issues there; send patches against the monorepo.
cd n8n
npm install
npm run sync-types # copy OpenAPI types from mcp/
npm run dev # tsc --watch
npm test # vitest
npm run lint # tsc --noEmit + n8n community-package scan
npm run scan # the scan on its own
npm run build # tsc + gulp icons
npm run scan runs n8n’s own @n8n/scan-community-package rule set against this
working tree. Passing it is a requirement of n8n’s verified-node programme, and
the published npx @n8n/scan-community-package n8n-nodes-2kw form of it only
accepts an already-published package — so this is the pre-merge equivalent, run
on the source the scanner would otherwise fetch from the mirror. Two consequences
worth knowing:
test/, not next to the code. The scanner lints {nodes,credentials}/** with inline configuration disabled, so a fixture like
{ name: 'prod (v9)', value: 'v-9' } under nodes/ is read as a node
parameter and fails a naming rule that cannot be suppressed.
sleep from n8n-workflow rather than setTimeout; n8n Cloud restricts them for community nodes.
Type drift check fails the build if generated/openapi.d.ts no longer matches mcp/src/generated/openapi.d.ts. Run npm run sync-types after any MCP regeneration. In a standalone checkout of the mirror there is no mcp/ to compare against, so the check accepts the committed copy and the drift guard runs in the monorepo pipeline only.
License
MIT — see LICENSE. Note that this applies to the n8n node package only; the rest of the 2kw.ai platform is proprietary.
