N8N Prompt Assistant

VSCode and Cursor extension that helps write prompts for AI agents in the n8n service.

Features

File Support: .prompt.xml, .n8n
Snippets: Ready-made templates for creating prompts and agents
Autocompletion: Tag and attribute hints while typing
Syntax Highlighting: Improved readability of XML structure
Formatting: Automatic XML document formatting

Usage

Creating a New File

Create a new file with extension .prompt.xml or .n8n
Start typing tags or use snippets

Snippets

Available snippets:

Basic Templates

agent - Basic agent template
agentfull - Full agent template
xml - XML declaration (optional)
database - Database schema template
example - Interaction example template

Agent Sections

agentinstructions - Root element for agent instructions
role - Agent role section
name - Agent name
description - Agent description
currentdate - Current date with n8n variable
goal - Agent goals section
primary - Primary goal
secondary - Secondary goal
instructions - Instructions section
instruction - Individual instruction
tools - Tools section
tool - Individual tool
constraints - Constraints section
constraint - Individual constraint

Database Schema

database - Root element for database configuration
table - Table description
columns - Table columns section
column - Individual column description
type - Column data type
constraints - Column constraints
primarykey - Primary key configuration
foreignkey - Foreign key configuration
index - Index configuration
relations - Table relations section
relation - Individual relation description

Examples

examples - Section with interaction examples
example - Individual interaction example
userinput - User input in the example
agentoutput - Agent response in the example
context - Additional context for the example
notes - Notes about the example

Execution Context

executioncontext - Agent execution context
environment - Execution environment (production/staging/development)
timezone - Timezone for task execution
language - Language for task processing

Error Handling

errorhandling - Error handling settings
retrystrategy - Retry strategy (exponential/linear/fixed)
maxretries - Maximum number of retries
fallbackaction - Action when retries are exhausted

Validation

validation - Data validation rules
requiredfields - List of required fields
field - Individual required field
formatrules - Field formatting rules
rule - Formatting rule for field

Logging

logging - Logging settings
loglevel - Logging level (debug/info/warn/error)
includecontext - Include context in logs
sensitivefields - List of sensitive fields

Security

security - Security settings
authentication - Authentication settings
authtype - Authentication type (jwt/basic/oauth)
expiration - Token lifetime in seconds
ratelimit - Request rate limits
requests - Maximum number of requests
period - Limit period in seconds

Integrations

integrations - External service integration settings
service - External service configuration
provider - Service provider
config - Service configuration
host - Service host
port - Service port

Metrics

metrics - Metrics and monitoring settings
track - List of tracked metrics
metric - Individual metric to track
thresholds - Metric thresholds
threshold - Threshold for metric

Versioning

versioning - Versioning information
currentversion - Current version
deprecated - Deprecation flag
migrationguide - Link to migration guide

Autocompletion

When typing <, available tags will be suggested, grouped by categories:

Basic agent tags
Database schema
Examples
Execution context
Error handling
Validation
Logging
Security
Integrations
Metrics
Versioning

Each tag has a detailed description in English.

Formatting

Use the "Format Document" command (Shift+Alt+F) to format the document.

Usage Example

Basic Agent Template

<Agentinstructions>
    <Role>
        <Name>Data Processing Assistant</Name>
        <Description>Assistant that helps analyze and process data</Description>
        <currentDate>{{$now}}</currentDate>
    </Role>
    <Goal>
        <Primary>Analyze data and provide useful insights</Primary>
    </Goal>
    <Instructions>
        <Instruction>Carefully analyze data and find patterns</Instruction>
    </Instructions>
</Agentinstructions>

Database Schema Example

<Database>
    <Table>
        <Name>users</Name>
        <Description>User accounts and profiles</Description>
        <Columns>
            <Column>
                <Name>id</Name>
                <Type>INTEGER</Type>
                <Constraints>
                    <PrimaryKey>true</PrimaryKey>
                </Constraints>
            </Column>
            <Column>
                <Name>email</Name>
                <Type>VARCHAR(255)</Type>
                <Constraints>
                    <Index>true</Index>
                </Constraints>
            </Column>
        </Columns>
        <Relations>
            <Relation>
                <Type>hasMany</Type>
                <Target>orders</Target>
            </Relation>
        </Relations>
    </Table>
</Database>

Interaction Example

<Examples>
    <Example>
        <Context>User needs help with data analysis</Context>
        <UserInput>How can I analyze sales data from the last quarter?</UserInput>
        <AgentOutput>I'll help you analyze the sales data. First, let's load the data using pandas...</AgentOutput>
        <Notes>This example demonstrates basic data analysis workflow</Notes>
    </Example>
</Examples>

Extended Agent Template with Additional Sections

<Agentinstructions>
    <Role>
        <Name>Data Processing Assistant</Name>
        <Description>Assistant that helps analyze and process data</Description>
        <currentDate>{{$now}}</currentDate>
    </Role>
    <Goal>
        <Primary>Analyze data and provide useful insights</Primary>
        <Secondary>Visualize data in a clear format</Secondary>
    </Goal>
    <Instructions>
        <Instruction>Carefully analyze data and find patterns</Instruction>
        <Instruction>Provide insights in a structured format</Instruction>
    </Instructions>
    <ExecutionContext>
        <Environment>production</Environment>
        <Timezone>UTC</Timezone>
        <Language>en</Language>
    </ExecutionContext>
    <ErrorHandling>
        <RetryStrategy>exponential</RetryStrategy>
        <MaxRetries>3</MaxRetries>
        <FallbackAction>notify_admin</FallbackAction>
    </ErrorHandling>
    <Validation>
        <RequiredFields>
            <Field>data_source</Field>
            <Field>analysis_type</Field>
        </RequiredFields>
        <FormatRules>
            <Rule field="data_source">^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$</Rule>
        </FormatRules>
    </Validation>
    <Logging>
        <Level>info</Level>
        <IncludeContext>true</IncludeContext>
        <SensitiveFields>
            <Field>api_key</Field>
        </SensitiveFields>
    </Logging>
    <Security>
        <Authentication>
            <Type>jwt</Type>
            <Expiration>3600</Expiration>
        </Authentication>
        <RateLimit>
            <Requests>100</Requests>
            <Period>60</Period>
        </RateLimit>
    </Security>
    <Integrations>
        <Service name="database">
            <Provider>postgres</Provider>
            <Config>
                <Host>localhost</Host>
                <Port>5432</Port>
            </Config>
        </Service>
    </Integrations>
    <Metrics>
        <Track>
            <Metric>response_time</Metric>
            <Metric>error_rate</Metric>
        </Track>
        <Thresholds>
            <Threshold metric="response_time">5000</Threshold>
        </Thresholds>
    </Metrics>
    <Versioning>
        <Current>1.0.0</Current>
        <Deprecated>false</Deprecated>
        <MigrationGuide>https://example.com/migration-guide</MigrationGuide>
    </Versioning>
</Agentinstructions>

License

MIT

Support

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvement, please create an issue in the project repository.

n8n Prompt Assistant

Roman Shaulinski