LIME n8n Nodes

This repository contains custom n8n nodes/credentials for LIME services (Lime CRM, Lime Forms) and Fortnox.

Local development is done via a DevContainer.

Prerequisites

• Docker (Rancher Desktop)
• VS Code + the “Dev Containers” extension

Getting Started (Dev Container)

1. Open this repo in VS Code
2. Run: “Dev Containers: Reopen in Container”

On first create, the Dev Container will:

• run npm ci
• build the package (npm run build)
• restart the n8n container so it picks up the compiled dist/ output

When the container is up, n8n is available at:

• http://localhost:5678

Development Workflow

• Build once: npm run build
• Watch TypeScript: npm run dev
• Run tests: npm test
• Lint: npm run lint

If you rebuild and need n8n to reload the updated custom nodes, restart n8n from inside the Dev Container:

docker restart n8n

Useful commands while developing:

# Follow n8n logs
docker logs -f n8n

# Stop/start n8n
docker stop n8n
docker start n8n

How the Custom Nodes Are Loaded

The Dev Container composition runs two services:

• devcontainer: your Node.js (Node 24) development environment
• n8n: an n8n instance configured to load custom extensions

The compiled output in dist/ is mounted into the n8n container and exposed to n8n via N8N_CUSTOM_EXTENSIONS.

n8n state is persisted in a named Docker volume (n8n-data) managed by the Dev Container composition.

Requirement of restart of dev env

During development you will have to restart development n8n server because of how n8n actually loads nodes:

• Custom nodes are loaded once at startup

• Node metadata (description, properties, inputs/outputs) is cached

• Executions reuse the already-loaded JS code

• So n8n must be restarted to see changes in:

  • description
  • properties
  • credentials definitions
  • icons, display options, etc.

• This is true for:

  • custom nodes in ~/.n8n/nodes and ~/.n8n/custom
  • nodes baked into a Docker image
  • community nodes

If you rebuild and need n8n to reload the updated custom nodes, restart n8n from terminal:

Troubleshooting

• If npm ci fails due to permissions on node_modules, rebuild the container (the Dev Container uses a named volume for node_modules).
• If n8n starts but the nodes don’t show up, ensure you’ve run npm run build and then docker restart n8n.

References

• n8n node authoring docs: https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/creating-nodes/

No devcontainers?

Just run docker-compose up - the rest is similar to work with devcontainer.