n8n-nodes-whimsical 🕵️

This is an n8n community node that lets you use Whimsical in your n8n workflows. You know, because apparently waiting for an official API wasn't an option.

Whimsical is a visual workspace for thinking and collaboration. It's great for creating mind maps, flowcharts, wireframes, and diagrams. Unfortunately, they don't have a public API. Yet.

n8n is a fair-code licensed workflow automation platform.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• The "How Did This Happen?" Story
• Operations
• Credentials
• Compatibility
• Usage
• Resources

Installation

Follow the installation guide in the n8n community nodes documentation.

TL;DR:

npm install n8n-nodes-whimsical

The "How Did This Happen?" Story

Let's be honest here: this node exists because Whimsical doesn't have a public API. So what's a developer to do when they want to automate their visual thinking?

Reverse engineering, of course. 🔧

This community node has been built by reverse engineering Whimsical's endpoints and parameters, obtaining them legally and in a transparent manner, using the engineering reverse process. Whimsical has publicly released a product with endpoints declarations, and it is perfectly legal to explore and understand how it works. By doing so, we have obtained the necessary endpoints to interact with Whimsical's backend. Therefore, all of these calls are legitimate. So, let's celebrate the engineering achievement: it took time and effort to make it happen. ;-)[/INST] RESPONSE:

What This Node Can Do

• Mind Maps: Create beautiful, automated mind maps without clicking around
• Flowcharts: Generate flowcharts programmatically (because manual flowcharting is so 2010)
• Sequence Diagrams: Build sequence diagrams from your workflow data

All of this by talking directly to Whimsical's internal endpoints. No official API needed. What could possibly go wrong? 😅

The Fine Print

⚠️ Important Disclaimer: Since this is based on reverse engineering:

• Things might break if Whimsical changes their internal API (and they will, eventually)
• This is not officially supported by Whimsical (obviously)
• Use at your own risk, but also... use it because it's awesome
• If Whimsical releases an official API, we'll all pretend this never happened

Operations

This node currently supports the following operations:

Mind Map

• Create: Generate a new mind map with nodes and connections

Flowchart

• Create: Create flowcharts with shapes and connectors

Sequence Diagram

• Create: Build sequence diagrams programmatically

Compatibility

• Minimum n8n version: ???
• Tested with: n8n 1.115.2

Known Issues:

• If Whimsical updates their internal API structure, things might break. When (not if) that happens, we'll update the node accordingly.
• Rate limiting might be a thing. Be gentle with the requests.

Tips

• Start small and test your workflows before going crazy with automation
• Keep an eye on Whimsical's terms of service (just in case)
• If something breaks, check if Whimsical updated their app recently

Resources

• n8n community nodes documentation
• Whimsical - The service we're "integrating" with
• n8n workflows - Get inspired by what others are building

Contributing

Found a bug? Whimsical changed their API again? Want to add more features?

Contributions are welcome! This is a community effort to bring automation to Whimsical until they bless us with an official API.

Made with ☕ and a healthy dose of curiosity

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial, community-built integration. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Whimsical. If they ask nicely, we'll take it down. Or better yet, they could just release an official API. Just saying. 😉