generated: '2026-09-03'
method: searched
source: https://docs.n8n.io/connect/n8n-api.md
name: n8n API playground and test surfaces
note: >-
  n8n has no test-mode API keys or sandbox environment for the public API; the
  API is unavailable during the free Cloud trial and requires a paid plan.
  What the provider does publish: a built-in Swagger API playground on
  self-hosted instances, manual (unpublished-version) execution modes, and a
  separate per-plan test-evaluation surface.
surfaces:
  - name: Built-in API playground
    availability: self-hosted only
    docs: https://docs.n8n.io/connect/n8n-api/use-an-api-playground/
    note: Interactive Swagger UI against the instance's own API; runs real operations against live data.
  - name: Manual workflow execution mode
    availability: all plans (via MCP test_workflow / execute_workflow mode=manual)
    docs: https://docs.n8n.io/connect/connect-to-n8n-mcp-server/
    note: Runs the current unpublished version of a workflow without publishing it.
  - name: Test evaluations
    availability: per-plan parallelism (Pro 1, Business 3, Enterprise 5)
    docs: https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/use-n8n-cloud/understand-concurrency/
    note: Workflow test runs (/workflows/{id}/test-runs) don't count against production concurrency limits.
test_credentials: none published — never invented