@daytona/n8n-nodes-daytona

The official Daytona community node for n8n.

Overview

Daytona provides secure, elastic sandbox infrastructure for AI agents. Each sandbox is a complete, isolated environment that is fully programmable, spun up on demand, and built for autonomous use without human intervention.

Using n8n, you can integrate Daytona into any automated workflow: create sandboxes from snapshots or custom Docker images, manage the full sandbox lifecycle, execute code and shell commands, expose running services via preview URLs, drive a complete Git pipeline (clone, status, add, commit, push, pull, checkout), and manage the sandbox filesystem (upload, download, list, move, delete, folder creation) — all as composable steps alongside thousands of other n8n nodes.

Contents

• @daytona/n8n-nodes-daytona
  • Overview
  • Contents
  • Installation
  • Credentials
  • Operations
    • Operation behavior notes
    • AI Agent integration
  • Examples
  • Compatibility
  • Development
    • Tests
    • Lint + build
  • Resources
  • License

Installation

Once published, install from inside n8n:

1. Go to Settings → Community Nodes.
2. Click Install a community node.
3. Enter @daytona/n8n-nodes-daytona and click Install.
4. The Daytona node appears in the node search panel after refresh.

For local development against an unpublished version, see Development.

Credentials

Create an API key at app.daytona.io/dashboard/keys, then add a Daytona API credential in n8n.

| Field | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | API Key | Yes | Bearer token from the Daytona dashboard. Stored encrypted by n8n. | | Base URL | No (default https://app.daytona.io/api) | Override only when targeting a self-hosted Daytona instance. | | Organization ID | No | Required when authenticating with a JWT token. Always safe to set with an API key — Daytona accepts the header on every request. Sent as X-Daytona-Organization-ID. |

The credential is verified against GET /api-keys/current when you save — n8n reports success or failure inline.

Operations

| Resource | Operation | Description | |---|---|---| | Sandbox | Create | Create a sandbox. Set Snapshot (pre-built template ID/name) or Image (Docker image reference like python:3.11). Snapshot takes precedence if both are set; if neither is set, Daytona's organization default snapshot is used. Optional name, ephemeral flag, and advanced options (CPU/memory/disk, region, env vars, labels, network policy, auto-stop/archive/delete intervals). Optional poll-until-started. | | | Get | Fetch a single sandbox by ID. | | | Get Many | List sandboxes (paginated when Return All is checked). | | | Delete | Permanently delete a sandbox. | | | Start | Start a stopped sandbox. Optional poll-until-started. | | | Stop | Stop a running sandbox. Optional poll-until-stopped. | | | Get Preview URL | Generate a public URL for a port exposed inside a sandbox. Signed (default, browser-friendly, token in URL) or Standard (token returned separately, sent via x-daytona-preview-token header). | | Code | Run Code | Execute Python, JavaScript, or TypeScript inside a sandbox. With Use Ephemeral Sandbox checked (default), creates a temporary sandbox just for this execution and auto-deletes afterward. | | | Run Command | Execute a shell command inside a sandbox. Same ephemeral-or-existing modes as Run Code. Supports working directory and environment variables. | | File | Upload | Upload an n8n binary field to a sandbox path. Multipart with content-type preservation. | | | Download | Read a file from a sandbox path and emit it as binary output for downstream nodes. | | | List | List entries in a directory. Returns structured metadata (name, isDir, size, mode, modTime, owner, group, permissions) plus a count summary. | | | Create Folder | Create a directory with Unix-style octal permissions (e.g. 0755). | | | Move | Move or rename a file/directory. Atomic — handles both renames and cross-directory moves. | | | Delete | Delete a file or directory. Set Recursive to remove non-empty folders. | | Git | Clone | Clone a Git repository into a sandbox path. Supports branch, commit ID pinning, and HTTPS basic auth for private repositories. | | | Status | Return working tree status: current branch, ahead/behind counts vs the tracked remote, and per-file staging/worktree changes. | | | Add | Stage one or more files for the next commit. | | | Commit | Commit staged changes with required author/email/message. Optional Allow Empty Commit for re-triggering CI when nothing changed. | | | Push | Push local commits to the remote. Optional HTTPS basic auth for private remotes. | | | Pull | Fetch and merge updates from the remote tracking branch. Optional HTTPS basic auth for private remotes. | | | Checkout | Check out a branch (existing local or remote-tracking) or a specific commit SHA. | | Snapshot | Create | Create a snapshot from a Docker image with optional resource specs (CPU/memory/disk) and entrypoint. | | | Get | Fetch a single snapshot by ID or name. | | | Get Many | List snapshots with optional name filter, sort (by createdAt, lastUsedAt, name, state), and order. | | | Delete | Permanently delete a snapshot. | | | Activate | Mark a snapshot as active so it becomes usable for sandbox creation. | | | Deactivate | Mark a snapshot as inactive. | | Volume | Create | Create a persistent volume that can be mounted into sandboxes. | | | Get | Fetch a single volume by ID or name. | | | Get Many | List volumes; optionally include soft-deleted ones. | | | Delete | Delete a volume. |

Operation behavior notes

• Run Code / Run Command output: result contains stdout and stderr combined. artifacts carries any extra metadata Daytona returns (e.g. matplotlib charts for Python). Branch on $json.exitCode for success/failure — non-zero exit codes are returned as data, not thrown as errors.
• Ephemeral mode creates a sandbox with autoDeleteInterval: 0 so it auto-deletes as soon as it stops. Cleanup also runs in a try/finally so the sandbox is deleted even if the operation throws.
• Preview URL Signed flavor embeds the auth token directly in the URL — no need for downstream nodes to add headers. The Standard flavor returns { url, token } separately for callers that prefer header-based auth.
• Toolbox URL caching — Daytona returns a per-sandbox toolboxProxyUrl from GET /sandbox/{id} that all toolbox operations (code/command/file/git) use to route requests. Within a single node execution this URL is fetched once per sandbox and reused for subsequent toolbox operations. The cache is invalidated on Start, Stop, and Delete so that subsequent calls re-fetch the URL and reflect any state change.

Snapshot picker on Sandbox.Create

The Snapshot field on Sandbox.Create is a dropdown populated dynamically from your Daytona organization. Pick from the list, leave at (Use Daytona Default), or switch to expression mode to pass a dynamic value.

AI Agent integration

This node is marked usableAsTool: true and appears in n8n's AI Agent tool picker. Each operation's description and action strings are exposed to the agent's LLM as tool metadata.

Examples

Three importable example workflows live in docs/examples/:

1. run-python-ephemeral.json — AI agent runs ad-hoc Python in a one-shot ephemeral sandbox. The simplest possible code-execution workflow.
2. clone-build-download.json — Persistent sandbox: clone a Git repo, run a build command, download the build artifact back to n8n as binary. Good template for CI-style flows.
3. web-app-with-preview.json — Spin up a long-lived sandbox, upload a server script, run it on port 3000, return a signed preview URL. Demonstrates web-service exposure for sharing demos.

To use them: in n8n, click Workflows → Import from File and select the JSON. You'll need to configure the Daytona credential after import.

Compatibility

• n8n version: 1.x and later. Tested against the latest stable n8n at the time of release.
• Node.js: 20.x and later (matches n8n's runtime requirements).
• Daytona API: v1 (current stable as of 2026-05). Self-hosted Daytona instances supported via the Base URL credential field.

Development

git clone https://github.com/daytona/n8n-nodes-daytona.git
cd n8n-nodes-daytona
npm install
npm run dev          # boots n8n on http://localhost:5678 with hot reload

The dev server symlinks the node into ~/.n8n-node-cli/.n8n/custom/. First run downloads n8n and takes 1–2 minutes; subsequent runs are fast.

Tests

DAYTONA_API_KEY=… npm test

Or set values in .env.local (gitignored). Set DAYTONA_TEST_INCLUDE_EPHEMERAL=1 to also run ephemeral-mode tests (creates extra real sandboxes).

The integration suite covers the core operations across all six resources end-to-end against the real Daytona API in ~20–30 seconds.

Lint + build

npm run lint
npm run build

The lint config is locked by n8n.strict: true for n8n Cloud compatibility — don't modify eslint.config.mjs.

Resources

• Daytona documentation
• Daytona API reference
• n8n community nodes documentation
• n8n verified community node submission
• Source code
• Issues

License

MIT © Daytona Platforms Inc.