OpenAPI

Calls an API from its pasted OpenAPI/Swagger spec — pick an operation, fill the generated parameters.

Finding it in the library

Search the builder's node library for OpenAPI (it lives under Utility). A single click opens the in-editor docs panel shown here — description, ports, and every property, without leaving the canvas. Double-click (or drag) to add it to the workflow.

Library capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

Wired up in the builder

OpenAPI in a real, runnable flow — captured live from the Studio editor, exactly as it looks on your canvas. This is the same workflow used for the example input & output below.

Canvas capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

How it’s configured

The node’s Configure panel as it opens in the builder when you select the step — every setting laid out with real values. Click any field to edit it.

Config capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes. See the full property reference below.

Ports

Ports are the node’s contract with its neighbours. In the editor a port label renders bold when wired and italic when optional; ◈ ports accept attachment carriers rather than data wires.

How data flows through it

OpenAPI consumes the content of the incoming envelope — when it is fed directly by a trigger, the trigger’s wrapper is unwrapped at the node boundary so the node sees the actual data, not the metadata shell. Its output becomes the payload for the next node, while the envelope (trace ids, correlation, binary refs) rides along untouched. In the Runs view you always see the whole envelope for both sides of this node.

Expressions in the config

String-typed properties accept {{ }} expressions evaluated against the incoming item at run time — e.g. {{ $json.customer.email }}. On this node that’s baseUrl, userAgent, authUser, authPassword, authToken, authName, authValue. JSON- and code-typed fields never interpolate — they are passed through literally.

Build it with AI

Every node in this reference is reachable through Flowdrome’s AI Copilot and the MCP tools — say what you want, and the graph surgery happens server-side. Node types resolve fuzzily, so the catalog label (OpenAPI) works as well as the exact type id (utility.openapi).

In the Copilot panel (or any connected AI):

add a openapi node after the trigger

As a step in a create_chain_workflow call:

{"type":"OpenAPI","config":{}}

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:48170/mcp -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "1", "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "add_node", "arguments": { "workflowId": "<id>", "type": "OpenAPI" } } }'

Example input & output

Captured from a real test run of the workflow above — this is what you see in the run data panel after pressing Test workflow.

On this run the node emitted on ports success, output.

{
  "kind": "json",
  "contentType": "application/json",
  "payload": {
    "ping": 1
  },
  "body": {
    "ping": 1
  }
}

{
  "statusCode": 200,
  "ok": true,
  "contentType": "application/json",
  "body": {
    "ok": true,
    "sawAuth": true
  },
  "bodyText": "{\"ok\":true,\"sawAuth\":true}"
}

Property reference

Every setting, with its type and default — the same fields shown configured in the panel above.

Using it

Give it a spec — paste, or fetch from a URL

Paste an OpenAPI 3.x / Swagger 2.0 JSON document into the node, or type a spec URL into Load from URL and press Fetch spec — Flowdrome pulls it server-side (dodging browser CORS, with an SSRF guard) and loads it for you.

Pick an operation in the wizard

Fetching a spec (or pressing Choose operation) opens a wizard: every operation the API exposes is listed on the left; click one to see its description, parameters, and an example response on the right, then Use this operation. The node fills in a typed parameter form for that operation — path, query, and header parameters, plus a request-body editor for POST/PUT/PATCH. At run time the call is delegated to the proven HTTP Request engine (SSRF guard, auth, retries, JSON/binary handling).

Wire outbound nodes with no test run

When you pick an operation, the node reads that operation’s response schema and remembers a sample of the shape it returns. Downstream nodes immediately see {{ $json.body.* }} — the real field paths, with example values — in their field pickers, before you ever run the workflow. Hook up a Set, a Filter, or a Slack message and reference the response fields straight away; a real run returns exactly that shape (statusCode, ok, contentType, body, …).

Tips

• The spec must be JSON. Convert a YAML spec to JSON first (many APIs also publish a openapi.json URL alongside the YAML one).
• Base URL is optional — blank uses the spec’s own servers entry.
• Client (User-Agent): appear as a browser, phone, or crawler (or a custom string) — some APIs reject requests without a User-Agent.
• The reverse also exists: an HTTP Trigger can publish a generated OpenAPI spec of its own routes, which this node can then consume.

Related nodes

The rest of the Utility group — the same folder you’d scan in the editor’s library.

• Log Writes a runtime log entry without emitting an output branch.
• Console Prints a message to the editor's floating debug Console (timestamped, live during Test/Debug)
• Visualize Passes data through untouched; during debugging it pauses and shows the envelope to view/edit.
• Unknown An imported node with no Flowdrome equivalent yet — its original type, parameters, and ports are preserved for
• Set Variable Assigns run-scoped $vars from literals or {{ }} expressions over $envelope/$vars.
• JavaScript Runs custom JavaScript with the FULL platform SDK on `flowdrome`: emit/log/kv/memory plus flowdrome.nodes (cat
• Python Holds a Python script (imported from n8n)
• C# Runs sandboxed C# on a .NET host (Nucleus / Flowdrome host): input/vars/config + Get/Set/Remember/Recall, retu

This page is generated from the node registry by gen-node-docs.mjs on every site build — ports, properties, defaults and visibility rules cannot drift from the code. The screenshots and example data are captured from a live Flowdrome by npm run shots:nodes and npm run gen:examples. The hand-authored notes above are merged in.