Bunch of questions related to projects and n8n API

[Toto8400]

Hello,

I am using the VSCode extension + Claude Code and i have a n8n cloud instance v2.15. With another user we are both on the starter n8n plan and we have a shared project, we are both project admin on this project. I noticed a few strange behaviors but I'm not sure which ones are normal or if I'm doing something wrong, so I have some questions:

1. Surprisingly, in the n8n-as-code VSC extension configuration, after having inputed the host URL and the API key of our instance, when loading projects, I can see our shared project (expected) and the 2 personal projects. Is that intended ?

2. Another issue I have is that even though I configured the project to sync to be our shared project, when I use CC to create a new workflow, it is always pushed to my personal workflows and not inside our shared project, is there a way to fix that ?

3. Is there a way to ask CC to save the workflow in a specific folder under a specific project ? I wasn't able to achieve that.

4. Other question: I would like to limit as much as possible the API key scope used for the n8n-as-code, which ones are strictly necessary vs. nice-to-have vs. completely unnecessary to give ?

5. Another behavior I noticed is that when using Claude Code, it often wants to get the n8n API keys

Thanks a lot for your help, highest prio for me is question 2 and 3.

[itxashancode]

Answer:

• Q1: Yes, extension lists all projects you have access to, including personal ones, because it uses same API key; expected.

• Q2: To make CC create workflows in shared project, you need to set the default project in the extension settings (n8n-as-code.defaultProjectId) or use the CLI flag --project when pushing; otherwise it falls back to user's personal space.

• Q3: You can specify folder via the workflow's metadata: set "folderId" in the workflow JSON before pushing, or use the extension command "n8n-as-code: Move Workflow to Folder" after creation; CC can be prompted to include that field.

• Q4: Minimal scopes: workflow.read, workflow.write, project.read, project.write (if you need to create/delete), credential.read (if you use credentials). Avoid admin, execution, etc.

[Toto8400]

Thanks!

[itxashancode]

Glad it helped! If the issue is resolved, could you close the discussion and mark my comment as the answer?
I’m working toward my Galaxy Brain badge
also, a follow would be appreciated!

[EtienneLescot]

Hi @Toto8400,

@itxashancode thanks for answering. some precisions thought :

Q1: ✅ Yes, this is expected behavior. The extension uses the same API key which grants access to all projects the user has permission to see, including personal ones and shared team projects.

Q2 & Q3: 🔍 Confirmed feature gap. When workflows are created via the API, the projectId is currently stripped from the payload before pushing which removes projectId, projectName, homeProject, isArchived). This means new workflows are created without explicit project assignment, and n8n defaults them to the creating user's personal space.

Fix coming: We'll look into this and open a PR to auto-inject the configured projectId from the extension settings into new workflow files before push. The CLI should respect the configured default project.

Q4: ✅ The scopes mentioned by @itxashancode are reasonable. but I would add write to credentials. The minimal required scopes are:
workflow:read, workflow:write - core workflow operations
project:read - listing/loading projects
Add credential:write if you want to create credentials in workflows
Avoid execution:admin, user:admin, etc. as they're not needed.

Q5: ❌ This is not expected behavior. Since the API key is already configured in the extension settings, Claude Code should not be asking for it. This suggests the Agent might not be properly reading the n8n configuration from the workspace. We'll investigate why it's bypassing the configured credentials and asking for them again.

[itxashancode]

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, really helpful.

[Toto8400]

Merci Etienne ! Your contributions are fantastic!!