DynCo Node

Dynamic Configuration Node

Overview

The DynCo Node is a custom n8n node designed to dynamically fetch configuration data from an internal service based on user-specified environment and configuration names. It performs an HTTP GET request to retrieve a JSON configuration file for the specified environment and configuration, making it useful for workflows that need to adapt their behavior according to dynamic or environment-specific settings.

Common scenarios:

  • Loading environment-specific settings (e.g., dev, staging, prod) into your workflow.
  • Dynamically adjusting workflow logic based on external configuration files.
  • Centralizing configuration management for multiple workflows.

Practical example:
A workflow could use this node at the start to load API keys, feature flags, or other settings from a central configuration service, ensuring all subsequent steps use up-to-date values.

Properties

Name Type Meaning
Environment String Configuration environment (e.g., dev, staging, prod). Determines which environment's configuration to fetch.
Configuration String The name of the configuration to retrieve. Specifies which configuration file to load for the given environment.

Output

The node outputs an array of items, each with the following structure:

{
  "json": {
    "values": { /* contents of the fetched configuration JSON */ }
  }
}
  • The values field contains the parsed JSON object retrieved from the configuration service.

If an error occurs and "Continue On Fail" is enabled, the output may include:

{
  "json": { /* original input item */ },
  "error": { /* error details */ },
  "pairedItem": <item index>
}

Dependencies

  • External Service: Requires access to the internal service at http://n8n-config-upstream.ops.svc.cluster.local/data/n8n/configurations/.
  • No API Key required (based on static analysis).
  • n8n Configuration: No special environment variables are needed unless network access to the above URL requires additional setup.

Troubleshooting

Common issues:

  • Network errors: If the node cannot reach the configuration service, ensure network connectivity and DNS resolution within your n8n environment.
  • Invalid environment or configuration: Supplying non-existent environment or configuration names will result in HTTP errors (e.g., 404 Not Found).
  • Malformed JSON: If the configuration file is not valid JSON, parsing will fail.

Error messages:

  • "Request failed with status code 404": The specified configuration does not exist. Check the environment and configuration names.
  • "Cannot read property 'values' of undefined": The response did not contain the expected structure. Verify the upstream service's response format.
  • NodeOperationError: General wrapper for unexpected errors; check the error message for more details.

Links and References

Discussion