@benheidenreich/n8n-nodes-autocrm

This is an n8n community node. It lets you use autocrm in your n8n workflows.

autocrm is a lead management CRM for automotive dealerships by IMAGO Informationstechnologie GmbH. This node talks to the autocrm API3 (version 3.5) to create leads, search lead IDs by branch, time, vehicle or milestone, read a lead's details and history, assign leads to branches, categories and employees, and to document emails and notes in the lead history.

n8n is a fair-code licensed workflow automation platform.

Installation
Operations
Credentials
Compatibility
Usage
Resources
Version history

Installation

Package name: @benheidenreich/n8n-nodes-autocrm

From npm

Follow the installation guide in the n8n community nodes documentation: Settings → Community Nodes → Install, enter the package name, confirm the risk acknowledgement.

On a self-hosted instance this works as soon as the package is on npm — n8n's verification is a quality badge (relevant for n8n Cloud), not a prerequisite for installing. Community packages are enabled by default; to set it explicitly:

environment:
  - N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ENABLED=true

From a local package file (Docker)

Useful for testing a build before publishing. Community nodes live in the n8n data directory under ~/.n8n/nodes.

Build the tarball in the repository:

npm install
npm run build
npm pack     # → benheidenreich-n8n-nodes-autocrm-<version>.tgz

Copy it to the server, then install it as the node user — installing as root causes permission problems later:

docker cp benheidenreich-n8n-nodes-autocrm-0.3.0.tgz n8n:/tmp/
docker exec -it -u node n8n sh -c "mkdir -p /home/node/.n8n/nodes && cd /home/node/.n8n/nodes && npm install /tmp/benheidenreich-n8n-nodes-autocrm-0.3.0.tgz"
docker restart n8n

With docker compose, use docker compose cp / docker compose exec -u node / docker compose restart accordingly.

If /home/node/.n8n is a mounted volume (the usual setup), the installation survives container restarts and image updates. To update, raise the version, rebuild and repeat the install — npm replaces the previous version. To remove it:

docker exec -it -u node n8n sh -c "cd /home/node/.n8n/nodes && npm uninstall @benheidenreich/n8n-nodes-autocrm"
docker restart n8n

Verifying the installation without creating data

1. Open n8n, create a workflow and search the node panel for autocrm — the node must appear.
2. Create the credentials and press Test (see Credentials). This performs a read-only API call.
3. Run the Exists operation with any lead ID. It is read-only and creates nothing.

Only after that consider importing the example workflow — its Create branch creates a real lead.

Troubleshooting the installation

Problem	Solution
Node does not appear in the panel	Did the container actually restart? docker logs n8n 2>&1 | grep -i autocrm shows loading errors
EACCES / permission errors on npm install	Run docker exec with -u node. If root-owned files already exist: docker exec -u root n8n chown -R node:node /home/node/.n8n/nodes
"Community nodes disabled"	Set N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ENABLED=true in the environment and recreate the container (docker compose up -d)
Credential test fails with "Could not reach …"	The container needs direct outbound HTTPS access to www.autocrm.de and its sibling subdomains — the node uses native fetch and ignores n8n proxy variables. Check the firewall and DNS inside the container

Operations

All operations act on the Lead resource. Every request goes to the same endpoint; the operation selects the API function.

Create (NeueAnfrage)

Creates the lead and its contact in a single call. Throughput limit: 3 per 60 seconds — the bottleneck for bulk imports.

Required: Contact ID, Last Name, at least one of Email / Phone / Mobile, Branch ID, Category, First Contact Channel, Source, Note Title, Note Content.

Vehicle may only be filled when the category is configured as a vehicle lead in autocrm; for LMS categories the object must be omitted. If autocrm already knows the vehicle ID, the existing vehicle is linked and Description is ignored. Both vehicle fields are required together.

Valid values for Branch ID, Source and the category paths are tenant-specific — ask autocrm support.

Output:

Field	Meaning
id-anfrage	The lead ID — the key for every follow-up operation. Persist it.
id-kontakt	autocrm-internal contact ID (required by e.g. KontaktKomplettieren)
neuer-kontakt	true = a new contact was created, false = attached to an existing one. May be absent from the response — evaluate defensively
praefix-suchekontakte	Whether the Contact ID falls into a prefix range. May also be absent

Assign (AnfrageZuweisen)

Assigns a lead to a branch, category and employee or team. Despite what the API name may suggest, it does not link emails to leads.

• Assign To: Employee — Employee Email must match exactly one employee who is a valid assignee for the lead's branch and category, otherwise the API returns fehler_input:unbekannt:data.email. See The two email address traps.
• Assign To: Team — assigns to the responsible team for the branch and category. This is a real assignment, not "leave unchanged".
• Branch ID / Category empty — branch and category stay unchanged. The category must exist in the target branch.
• The lead may end up with a substitute employee.

Attach Email (AnfrageEmail)

Archives an already sent or received email (.eml) in the lead history. This does not send anything — send the email first, e.g. with n8n's built-in Send Email node, then attach it here.

Two input modes:

• Binary File (default) — an .eml file from a binary field, e.g. from the IMAP trigger ("Download Attachments" / RAW format) or an earlier workflow step.
• Raw EML Text — the complete RFC 822 message (headers, blank line, body) as a string; the node base64-encodes it. Useful after the Send Email node, which does not produce a finished .eml: rebuild the message from the same fields via expressions.

The specification requires at least the MIME-Version, Content-Type, From, To, Date and Subject headers. autocrm cannot read S/MIME-encrypted mail. Maximum 50 MB (base64 size); the node checks this before sending.

Add Note (AnfrageNotiz)

Adds a note, optionally with file attachments, to the lead history.

• Keep Status Unchanged — by default a new note also changes the lead status; this switch keeps it.
• Attachments — one binary field per entry. The file name comes from the binary metadata and can be overridden (path components are stripped). Image Optimization (on by default) lets autocrm recompress images.
• Size limit: 50 MB base64 per attachment and in total — the node checks both before sending. The MIME type is determined server-side.

Exists (AnfrageVorhanden)

Checks whether a lead exists and, if it was merged away, which lead its content lives in now. Read-only, 150 calls per 60 seconds — a good connectivity test.

• existiert — 1/0, within the API user's permissions.
• weitergefuehrt-in — if the lead was deleted by a merge, this holds the ID of the successor lead, which is how you find relocated leads again. Otherwise null.

Get (AnfrageDetails)

Returns everything autocrm exposes about one lead, as a single item. Read-only, 150 calls per 60 seconds.

Key	Content
anfrage	Lead data: status (offen, in Bearbeitung, bearbeitet or abgeschlossen), abschluss / subabschluss (closing reason, e.g. verkauft), abgeschlossen-seit, titel, kategorie, id-niederlassung, kuerzel-niederlassung, quelle, erstkontakt, bearbeiter, verfasser, bemerkungen, angebotspreis, the deadlines, eingang (created) and geaendert (last change)
kontakt	Contact data, including id-kontakt and x-id-kontakt
fahrzeug	The linked vehicle (x-id-fahrzeug). Absent when no vehicle is linked
meilensteine	Milestones set on the lead, each with name and gesetzt-am
verlauf	Chronological history. Each entry has typ, zeit and a data object whose fields depend on the type

History entry types:

typ	Fields in data
notiz	titel, inhalt
telefonat	titel, inhalt, richtung, beschreibung, klingeldauer and gespraechsdauer (seconds), aufzeichnung
email	header (Subject, From, To, Cc, Bcc, Date, Message-Id), richtung, kurzfassung (cleaned and shortened excerpt), groesse (bytes)
termin	titel, inhalt, beginn, ende
chat	titel and chatverlauf, the list of messages: cvtyp (text, image, audio, video, document, or unknown for WhatsApp types autocrm does not know yet), richtung (empfangen / gesendet), zeit, and depending on the type text, untertitel or dateiname. New in the specification of 2026-09-25
anfrage	A related lead: id-anfrage, titel, kategorie, bearbeiter, id-niederlassung
log	titel, inhalt

• The answer is passed through unchanged; timestamps keep autocrm's format (2023-07-20 12:42:28, German local time).
• Only text comes back. File contents — attachments of notes and emails, chat media — are not available through the API.
• autocrm extends this answer over time (chat is the latest example), so workflows should tolerate unknown history types and fields.

Search (AnfragenListeIDs)

Finds the IDs of the leads that match the filters and outputs one item per lead, as { "id-anfrage": 1234567 } — ready to feed into Exists, Assign, Attach Email or Add Note. Read-only, 4 calls per 60 seconds.

All filters are optional; each one narrows the result further:

Filter	Meaning
Branch ID	Only leads assigned to this branch. Added to the API in the specification of 2026-09-25
Created From / Created Until	Creation time window. "Until" includes that whole second
Changed From / Changed Until	Change time window. "Until" includes that whole second
Vehicle ID	Only leads linked to the vehicle with this ID from your own system
Milestone	Only leads on which the milestone with this name is set

• The answer contains lead IDs only — no contact, vehicle or history data. Use Get for those.
• There is no status filter; autocrm does not offer one. See Filtering leads by status.
• If nothing matches, the node outputs no items and that branch of the workflow stops. Enable Always Output Data in the node settings if it should continue anyway.
• Without filters the search is not restricted at all, which can mean a long list on a large tenant. Narrow it down, for example with a creation time window.

Credentials

You need an API user for the autocrm API3. Credentials (username and password for HTTP Basic Auth) are issued by autocrm support; the valid values for branch IDs, sources and categories are tenant-specific and also come from support.

1. In n8n, create new autocrm API credentials.
2. Keep the default Base URL (https://www.autocrm.de/api/api3) unless support tells you otherwise.
3. Enter the Username and Password of the API user.

The credential test performs a real, read-only API call (AnfrageVorhanden for lead ID 1). Any JSON answer from the API proves the credentials are valid — so the message Credentials are valid (server responded with "fehler_berechtigung") is a success as well; it only means the API user is not allowed to call that particular function.

Important: autocrm allows only one request at a time per API user. Use a dedicated API user for your n8n instance and do not share it with other integrations running in parallel.

Compatibility

• Requires n8n running on Node.js 18.10 or newer (the node uses native fetch). Any n8n image from roughly version 1.0 onwards satisfies this.
• Implements autocrm API3, interface version 3.5 (specification as of 2026-09-25).
• No runtime dependencies.

Usage

A typical outbound pipeline:

1. Create the lead from your web form or portal data — the output contains id-anfrage (the lead ID for all further operations) and id-kontakt.
2. Send the confirmation email to the customer with n8n's Send Email node (autocrm has no API function for sending).
3. Attach Email to document that email in the lead history (from a binary .eml field, or as raw RFC 822 text that the node base64-encodes).
4. Assign the lead to the responsible employee or team.

Filtering leads by status

autocrm's search has no status filter. Combine the operations instead:

1. Search with the filters autocrm does support, e.g. Branch ID and a Created From window — one item per lead.
2. Get for each item, with Lead ID set to {{ $json["id-anfrage"] }}.
3. n8n's Filter node on {{ $json.anfrage.status }}, e.g. is equal to offen.

Get allows 150 calls per 60 seconds. Narrow the search first; for more leads than that, put Get into Loop Over Items with a Wait node.

The two email address traps

Field	Expected address
Create → Assignee Email (bearbeiter)	The employee's autocrm login address
Assign → Employee Email (email)	The employee's external dealership address

Assigning without an employee email (Assign To: Team) assigns the lead to the responsible team of the branch and category — it does not mean "unchanged".

API field names of the ID parameters

The node's parameter descriptions stay free of the raw API field names; this is where they are documented:

Node parameter	autocrm API field
Lead ID	id-anfrage
Contact ID	x-id-kontakt
External Lead ID	x-id-anfrage
Vehicle → Vehicle ID	x-id-fahrzeug
Search → Filters → Branch ID	id-niederlassung
Search → Filters → Vehicle ID	x-id-fahrzeug

Contact upsert semantics (Create)

Contact ID (x-id-kontakt) is the ID of the contact in your system and acts as an upsert key. If autocrm already knows the ID, the lead is attached to the existing contact and all other contact fields are silently ignored (except License Plate). This happens with HTTP 200 — it is not an error.

Check neuer-kontakt in the output: false for an ID you just generated means the ID collided with an existing contact, and the lead is now attached to a different person.

An assigned x-id-kontakt cannot be changed, and there is no API function to search for contacts — duplicate detection is entirely on your side. Clarify the rules for assigning contact IDs (permitted prefix ranges and the behaviour on violation) with autocrm support before going live.

Rate limits and serialization

autocrm enforces throughput limits per function and allows only one request at a time per API user:

Operation	Limit
Create	3 / 60 s
Search	4 / 60 s
Assign, Attach Email, Add Note	5 / 60 s each
Exists, Get	150 / 60 s each

The node serializes its requests per credential within one n8n process and automatically retries temporary errors (HTTP 429/503, fehler_parallel, fehler_mengengeruest, fehler_tmp) up to two times, honoring the Retry-After header (capped at 30 s per wait). For bulk imports, slow the workflow down (e.g. Loop Over Items with a Wait node) — the Create limit of 3 per 60 seconds is the bottleneck.

Note that the serialization is per process: with n8n in queue mode across several workers, or several n8n instances sharing one API user, the retries are what catch fehler_parallel. Use one API user per n8n installation.

Error statuses

A call counts as successful only when it returns HTTP 2xx and status: "OK" — the node checks both.

Status error	Meaning
fehler_parallel	Another request of the same API user was already running — the node has already retried automatically
fehler_mengengeruest	Throughput limit exceeded → slow the workflow down
fehler_tmp	Temporary condition, e.g. a phone call is in progress on the lead → retry later
fehler_input:<detail>:<field>	Input error, e.g. id_unbekannt:data.id-anfrage (unknown lead ID) or unbekannt:data.email (no unique external employee address for that branch and category)
fehler_berechtigung	The API user is not allowed to call this function → contact autocrm support
fehler_wartungsarbeiten	Maintenance window → retry later
HTTP 401	Wrong credentials. The server answers with HTML instead of JSON here; the node detects that and reports it properly.

Transport notes

• The autocrm API normally answers with an HTTP 308 redirect to another subdomain. The node follows redirects manually so that method, body and the Authorization header survive, and remembers the redirect target for subsequent requests.
• The node performs its HTTP requests with native fetch and therefore does not use n8n's proxy settings (HTTP_PROXY). The n8n host needs direct outbound HTTPS access to www.autocrm.de and its sibling subdomains (e.g. www2.autocrm.de).
• Timestamps (Process From/By, Close By, the Search time filters) are converted to German local time (Europe/Berlin) in the format autocrm expects. Phone numbers must be in international format (+496301708123456); common separators are stripped automatically.

Use as an AI Agent tool

The node is marked as usableAsTool — it can be attached to an n8n AI Agent as a tool, with parameter values filled from the model via $fromAI.

Example workflow

An importable example workflow is included in examples/example-workflow.json: Manual Trigger → Create → Assign, plus detached Attach Email and Exists nodes with sample values.

Careful: executing it against real credentials creates a real lead in your autocrm tenant. Replace the placeholders (BRANCH_ID, CATEGORY, SOURCE_NAME, the email addresses) with your tenant's values first — autocrm support will tell you the valid ones.

Resources

• n8n community nodes documentation
• autocrm by IMAGO Informationstechnologie GmbH — the API3 specification (PDF) is available from autocrm support

Version history

• 0.3.0 — New Get operation (AnfrageDetails): lead data including status and closing reason, contact, vehicle, milestones and the full history, including the chat history type added in the API3 specification of 2026-09-25. Together with Search this allows filtering leads by status.
• 0.2.0 — New Search operation (AnfragenListeIDs): lead IDs filtered by branch, creation and change time, vehicle and milestone, one output item per lead. The branch filter is new in the API3 specification of 2026-09-25.
• 0.1.1 — Compliance with n8n's community node verification scan: credential icon and title-cased credential display name, NodeConnectionTypes.Main instead of the "main" literal, all errors surfaced as NodeApiError/NodeOperationError, sleep from n8n-workflow instead of setTimeout. The API field names moved from the parameter descriptions into this README.
• 0.1.0 — Initial release: Lead Create, Assign, Attach Email, Add Note and Exists; manual 308 redirect handling with credential preservation; per-user request serialization; automatic retries with Retry-After; programmatic credential test.