@videosailor/n8n-nodes-videosailor

n8n-nodes-videosailor

This is an n8n community node for processing video files using the VideoSailor API. It enables you to download, trim, cut, resize, transcribe, and subtitle videos from within your n8n workflows.

n8n is a fair-code licensed workflow automation platform.

Features

Video Processing Operations

• Download, trim, cut, and resize videos
• Get detailed video metadata
• Transcribe audio with word- and segment-level timestamps
• Burn custom styled subtitles into videos

Universal Input Support

• Direct video URLs
• Social media links — YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X, Vimeo, and 1,000+ sites

Easy Integration

• Simple credential setup (API key header auth)
• Native n8n integration — usableAsTool: true, so the node works as an AI agent tool
• Single node with operation dropdown — no per-operation node sprawl

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Operations
• Credentials
• Compatibility
• Example Workflow
• Resources
• Development

Installation

Follow the installation guide in the n8n community nodes documentation.

Operations

Video Operations

• Download — Download a video from a URL and return the file as n8n binary data
• Video Info — Get video metadata (title, duration, thumbnails) without downloading
• Trim — Trim a video to a start/end time range
• Cut — Cut a segment from a video (alias for Trim)
• Resize — Resize a video either by explicit width/height or by aspect ratio + resolution preset (HD / Full HD / 2K / 4K / 8K)
• Transcribe — Transcribe a video and return timestamped words and segments
• Subtitles — Burn custom subtitles (position, font size, color, stroke, background) into a video
• Info — Get video dimensions and aspect ratio

The node accepts any URL the VideoSailor API supports — direct media URLs and social media URLs (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.).

Credentials

This node requires API credentials for the VideoSailor API.

Getting Your API Key

1. Visit VideoSailor and sign up for an account
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys in the dashboard
3. Generate a new API key
4. Copy the API key

Refer to the API Keys Guide for detailed instructions on obtaining and managing your API keys.

Configuring Credentials in n8n

1. In n8n, create new credentials
2. Select VideoSailor API from the credential types
3. Enter your API key
4. (Optional) Override the Base URL — defaults to https://api.videosailor.com; set to http://localhost:8080 for local development
5. Save the credentials
6. Use these credentials when configuring the VideoSailor node

Compatibility

Compatible with n8n@1.60.0 or later.

Example Workflow

An example workflow is included at examples/download-and-transcribe.json. It demonstrates:

1. Download a YouTube video as binary data
2. Transcribe the same video and return timestamped segments

To use it: in n8n go to Workflows → Import from file, select the JSON, then add your VideoSailor credentials.

Resources

• n8n community nodes documentation
• VideoSailor API Documentation
• VideoSailor API Keys Guide

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js (version compatible with the typescript and n8n-workflow peer range)
• npm

Setup

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies:

   cd n8n-node
   npm install

Building

Build the node package (compiles TypeScript and copies icons via gulp):

npm run build

Watch mode for development:

npm run dev

Linking into a local n8n instance

npm link
cd ~/.n8n/custom
npm link n8n-nodes-videosailor

Then restart n8n so the custom node is picked up.

Linting & Formatting

Run ESLint:

npm run lint

Fix linting issues automatically:

npm run lintfix

Format sources with Prettier:

npm run format

Publishing

Releases are automated via release-please. Commit to main using Conventional Commits and release-please handles the rest:

Prefix	Effect	npm version bump
feat:	New operation or capability	minor
fix:	Bug fix	patch
perf:	Performance improvement	patch
deps:	Dependency update	patch
feat!: or BREAKING CHANGE: footer	Breaking API change	major
chore: / docs: / refactor:	No user-facing change	none

When commits land on main, release-please opens or updates a Release PR with a changelog and bumped version. Merging that PR creates a GitHub release, which triggers the publish workflow to push to npm with provenance automatically.