n8n-nodes-gcloud-sa-impersonate

A custom n8n node for impersonating Google Cloud Service Accounts to generate access tokens.

Features

• 🔐 Impersonate Google Cloud Service Accounts without credentials
• 🚀 Generate access tokens with configurable lifetime
• ⚙️ Configurable GCE metadata server URL
• 🎯 Support for custom scopes and delegation chains
• 🐳 Docker-based development environment with GCE metadata server emulator

Installation

For Development

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/n8n-nodes-gcloud-sa-impersonate.git
cd n8n-nodes-gcloud-sa-impersonate

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the node:

npm run build

Using Docker Compose (Recommended for Testing)

This project includes a complete Docker Compose setup with a GCE metadata server emulator for testing.

Prerequisites

1. Google Cloud Authentication: Set up Application Default Credentials

gcloud auth application-default login

2. Service Account Permissions: Ensure your user account has the following IAM permissions on the target service account:

# Replace with your email and service account
gcloud iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding \
  YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --member="user:your-email@domain.com" \
  --role="roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator"

gcloud iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding \
  YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --member="user:your-email@domain.com" \
  --role="roles/iam.serviceAccountUser"

Setup Steps

1. Set environment variables:

# Required: Your Google Cloud Project details
export GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID=your-project-id
export GOOGLE_NUMERIC_PROJECT_ID=123456789012
export GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT=your-service-account@your-project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com

# Required: Access token for GCE metadata server emulator
# Get this value by running: gcloud auth print-access-token
export GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth print-access-token)

2. Create a .env file (optional, for docker-compose):

# Copy environment variables to .env file for docker-compose
cat << EOF > .env
GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID=${GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID}
GOOGLE_NUMERIC_PROJECT_ID=${GOOGLE_NUMERIC_PROJECT_ID}
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT=${GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT}
GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN=${GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN}
EOF

3. Generate metadata server configuration:

# This script uses the environment variables above to generate metadata-config/config.json
./bin/gen-config-json.sh

4. Copy your ADC credentials:

cp ~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json ./adc.json

Running the Stack

1. Start the services:

docker-compose up --build

2. Access n8n:

• URL: http://localhost:5678
• Username: admin
• Password: admin

3. Get fresh access token (refresh every ~1 hour):

export GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth print-access-token)
docker-compose up -d

Node Configuration

When creating a workflow in n8n, configure the "Google Cloud SA Impersonate" node with:

Example Node Output

{
  "accessToken": "ya29.c.b0Aaekm1....",
  "expireTime": "2024-08-07T06:32:18Z",
  "targetServiceAccount": "impersonate-test@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
  "scopes": ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform"],
  "lifetime": "300s"
}

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. 403 Permission Error:

   • Ensure service account impersonation permissions are granted
   • Check Organization Policies for impersonation restrictions
   • Verify IAM Credentials API is enabled

2. GCE Metadata Server Connection Failed:

   • For Docker: Use http://gce-metadata:8080
   • For GCE instances: Use https://metadata.google.internal/
   • Check container networking and port accessibility

3. Invalid Access Token:

   • Refresh the GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable
   • Ensure ADC credentials (adc.json) are up to date

Debug Commands

# Test service account impersonation directly
gcloud auth print-access-token --impersonate-service-account=YOUR_SA@PROJECT.iam.gserviceaccount.com

# Check metadata server emulator
curl -H "Metadata-Flavor: Google" http://localhost:8080/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token

# View container logs
docker-compose logs gce-metadata
docker-compose logs n8n

Development

Building the Node

npm run build

Linting and Formatting

npm run lint
npm run format

Testing

The Docker Compose setup provides an isolated testing environment with:

• n8n instance with the custom node pre-installed
• GCE metadata server emulator for testing without actual GCE instances
• Persistent data volumes for n8n workflows

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐
│   n8n Node      │───▶│ GCE Metadata    │───▶│ Google Cloud    │
│                 │    │ Server Emulator │    │ IAM API         │
└─────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘

1. n8n Node requests access token from metadata server
2. GCE Metadata Server Emulator authenticates using your ADC credentials
3. Google Cloud IAM API performs service account impersonation
4. Access token is returned through the chain

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request