Variable API

VariableClient manages n8n environment variables.

Access

const variable = client.variables();

Methods

list(params?)

List variables with optional filters.

const { data, nextCursor } = await client.variables().list({
  limit: 50,
  projectId: 'proj-1',
  state: 'empty',
});

get(id, params?)

Get a variable by ID. The n8n API has no direct GET /variables/{id} endpoint, so this method paginates through all results to find the matching variable. On instances with many variables this is an O(n) scan across pages.

const variable = await client.variables().get('var-123', { projectId: 'proj-1' });

create(data)

Create a new variable.

await client.variables().create({
  key: 'MY_API_KEY',
  value: 'secret-value',
  projectId: 'proj-1',
});

update(id, data)

Update a variable.

await client.variables().update('var-123', {
  key: 'MY_API_KEY',
  value: 'new-value',
});

delete(id)

Delete a variable.

await client.variables().delete('var-123');

VariableResource

Use getResource() or listResources() to get a bound VariableResource instance.

const resource = await client.variables().getResource('var-123', { projectId: 'proj-1' });

Properties

Property	Type	Description
id	string	Variable ID
key	string	Variable key
value	string	Variable value

Methods

Method	Returns	Description
refresh()	this	Re-fetch the variable from the API via paginated list
update(data)	this	Update the variable — merges local snapshot
patch(data)	this	Convenience update — merges partial fields into the current variable snapshot before updating
delete()	void	Delete the variable

Snapshot management

refresh() calls replaceSnapshot() with the fresh variable data. update() and patch() call mergeSnapshot() locally since the n8n API returns no body on update.