n8n-nodes-synology-filestation

n8n community nodes for Synology DSM — manage the files of your NAS natively from your n8n workflows (browse, upload, download, copy, move, rename, delete, share links, search, archives, checksums, thumbnails), trigger workflows when files change, and monitor or control Cloud Sync.

Works with DSM 6 and DSM 7: the node discovers the API versions and paths of your NAS through SYNO.API.Info at runtime, exactly as the official API guide prescribes.

n8n is a fair-code licensed workflow automation platform.

Installation

Follow the installation guide in the n8n community nodes documentation:

1. Go to Settings → Community Nodes.
2. Select Install.
3. Enter n8n-nodes-synology-filestation and confirm.

Or manually on a self-hosted instance, inside n8n's user folder:

cd ~/.n8n/nodes
npm install n8n-nodes-synology-filestation

Then restart n8n.

Compatibility

• n8n: requires a version with community-nodes support; developed and tested against recent n8n 1.x/2.x releases. Using the node as an AI Agent tool requires n8n ≥ 1.79.
• Synology DSM: DSM 6.0 and DSM 7.x — API versions and paths are discovered at runtime through SYNO.API.Info.

Credentials

Create a Synology API credential with:

Recommendations:

• Create a dedicated DSM account for n8n and give it access only to the shared folders you need (DSM → Control Panel → User & Group).
• 2-factor authentication is not supported by the DSM Web API login used here — the dedicated account must not have 2FA enabled.
• The node logs in at the start of each execution (SYNO.API.Auth, session FileStation, format=sid) and logs out at the end.

Reaching a NAS from a remote n8n

n8n Cloud or a VPS-hosted n8n usually has no direct route to a NAS sitting on a LAN. 📖 Remote access guide walks through the options step by step:

• Tailscale / WireGuard VPN (self-hosted n8n) — zero open ports;
• Cloudflare Tunnel + Access (works with n8n Cloud) — full walkthrough including the service-token headers to put in Custom Headers;
• Synology DDNS + port forwarding with Let's Encrypt and DSM-firewall hardening;
• n8n on the NAS itself (Container Manager) — zero exposure.

QuickConnect cannot be used — it is a relay, not a direct HTTP endpoint.

Operations

All paths start with a shared folder as shown in DSM, e.g. /photo/vacation/img_001.jpg — use Folder → List Shares to discover the available roots. Mount paths from your computer (macOS /Volumes/…, Windows \\NAS\…) and internal volume paths (/volume1/…) are not File Station paths; the node rejects or flags them with an explicit message. Wrapping quotes and a missing leading slash are fixed automatically.

File

Folder

Share Link

Search

Archive

Utility

Favorite

Background Task

Trigger

The Synology File Station Trigger node starts a workflow when files change on the NAS:

• Events: File Created, File Updated, File Created or Updated.
• Watches a folder (subfolders optional), with pattern, extension and file-type filters.
• Polling-based — the File Station API has no webhooks. On each poll the node runs server-side searches (SYNO.FileStation.Search) filtered by creation/modification time. The cursor uses NAS-side timestamps (with the NAS's own clock as reference), re-scans a 5-minute overlap window to absorb slow recursive scans and clock drift, and deduplicates per path — so events are neither missed nor fired twice. "Created or updated" combines a crtime and an mtime search, catching files copied in with a preserved (old) modification time. Configure the frequency with the standard Poll Times parameter.
• On the first poll after activation nothing is emitted — the node starts watching from that moment.
• The trigger emits file metadata; chain File → Download to fetch the content.

Synology Cloud Sync node

The Synology Cloud Sync node monitors and controls the Cloud Sync package (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, S3 and 20+ other providers) with the same credential:

Typical automations: pause Cloud Sync before a big local file operation and resume it after, alert when a connection reports errors or piles up unfinished files, or log the sync history elsewhere.

Heads-up: Synology does not publish official documentation for the Cloud Sync API. This node uses the same reverse-engineered SYNO.CloudSync endpoints as the DSM web UI (version-pinned through SYNO.API.Info), which may change in future Cloud Sync releases. Creating connections or sync tasks (OAuth flows) is out of scope. Most operations require an account allowed to use the Cloud Sync application; if the package is not installed the node fails with an explicit message.

Use with AI agents

The Synology File Station and Synology Cloud Sync nodes are exposed as tools for n8n AI Agents (usableAsTool): an agent can browse folders, search files, read metadata, create share links, upload or download on its own, with each operation and parameter described for the LLM.

On self-hosted n8n, allow community packages as tools first:

N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true

Then add "Synology File Station" as a tool of your AI Agent node. Parameters can be filled by the model automatically ($fromAI). Tip: use a dedicated DSM account with read-only permissions if the agent should not modify anything.

Long-running operations

Copy, Move, Delete, Compress and Extract are non-blocking on the NAS (start/status/stop pattern). By default the node polls until the task finishes (option Max Wait Time, 300 s by default, the task is stopped on timeout). Disable Wait for Completion to get the taskid back immediately and track it with Background Task → Get Many.

Usage examples

• Watch a folder — Synology File Station Trigger (File Created) on /photo/uploads → File: Download → process each new file.
• Back up generated reports — previous node outputs binary → File: Upload to /backup/reports with Create Parent Folders.
• Share a file with a client — File: Upload → Share Link: Create with password + expiration → send the returned url by e-mail.
• Clean up old archives — Search: Find in /download with Modified Before + extension zip → File: Delete.
• Verify integrity after transfer — Utility: Get MD5 and compare with your local checksum.

Known limitations

• 2FA accounts are not supported (DSM Web API limitation for scripted logins) — use a dedicated account without 2FA.
• QuickConnect is not supported — the node needs a direct HTTP(S) connection to DSM (local network, VPN, or DDNS + port forwarding).
• Downloads are streamed to n8n's binary data storage, but uploads are buffered in memory; very large uploads (several GB) depend on your n8n instance's memory.
• Video thumbnails only exist for files in the photo shared folder or user home folders (DSM indexing rule).

Resources

• Synology File Station Official API guide (PDF)
• DSM Login Web API guide
• n8n community nodes documentation

Development

git clone https://github.com/BenNotix/n8n-nodes-synology-filestation.git
cd n8n-nodes-synology-filestation
npm ci
npm run build && npm run lint
npm run test:smoke   # 53 end-to-end assertions against a mock DSM server

Version history

See CHANGELOG.md for the release history.

License

MIT