n8n dryAPI node

This guide explains how to integrate dryAPI with a self-hosted n8n instance using the official dryAPI community node. The community node provides a simpler, no-code experience compared to the HTTP Request-based approach.

Why Use the Community Node?

The n8n-nodes-dryapi community node offers several advantages over manually configuring HTTP Request nodes:

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• A self-hosted n8n instance accessible via HTTPS (required for webhook callbacks)
• A dryAPI API key from the dryAPI Dashboard
• A Webhook Secret from dryAPI Webhook Settings

WARNING

The dryAPI node uses webhooks to receive job completion notifications. Your n8n instance must be accessible via HTTPS for generation operations to work.

Installation

Option 1: GUI Installation (Recommended)

1. In your n8n instance, go to Settings > Community Nodes
2. Click Install a community node
3. Enter n8n-nodes-dryapi and click Install
4. Restart n8n if prompted

Option 2: Manual Installation (docker)

If you're running n8n via docker:

docker exec -it <n8n-docker> sh
mkdir ~/.n8n/nodes
cd ~/.n8n/nodes
npm i n8n-nodes-dryapi

Then restart your n8n instance.

Credential Configuration

After installation, configure your dryAPI credentials:

1. In n8n, go to Credentials > Add Credential
2. Search for dryAPI API and select it
3. Fill in the required fields:

4. Click Save to store the credentials

NOTE

The Webhook Secret is used to verify that incoming webhook notifications are genuinely from dryAPI. Keep it secure and never share it publicly.

Available Operations

The dryAPI node provides two node types:

dryAPI Node (Regular Operations)

Use this node to perform AI operations within your workflow.

Image Operations

Image input operations (Remove Background, Upscale) accept JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and WebP files up to 10 MB.

Video Operations

Video file transcription accepts MP4, MPEG, MOV, AVI, WMV, and OGG files up to 10 MB.

Audio Operations

Audio transcription accepts AAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WebM, and FLAC files up to 10 MB.

Prompt Operations

dryAPITrigger Node (Webhook Trigger)

Use this node to start workflows when dryAPI sends job status updates. This is useful for:

• Building event-driven workflows
• Processing results from jobs submitted outside n8n
• Monitoring job progress across multiple systems

How the Webhook-Based Waiting Works

Generation operations (image, video, transcription) use an efficient webhook-based pattern instead of polling:

1. Execute Phase

   +-----------+     POST /txt2img      +-----------+
   |  dryAPI   | ---------------------> |  dryAPI   |
   |   Node    |   (includes webhook)   |   Server  |
   +-----------+                        +-----------+
        |
        v
   Workflow pauses
   (frees memory)

2. Processing Phase (no n8n resources used)

   +-----------+                        +-----------+
   |    n8n    |  <-- job.processing    |   dryAPI   |
   | (waiting) |     (acknowledged)     | (working) |
   +-----------+                        +-----------+

3. Resume Phase

   +-----------+                        +-----------+
   |    n8n    |  <-- job.completed     |   dryAPI   |
   | (resumes) |   (with result_url)    |  (done)   |
   +-----------+                        +-----------+
        |
        v
   Workflow continues
   with generated content

Key benefits:

• No polling loop consuming API calls
• Workflow pauses and frees memory during processing
• Results include binary data ready for downstream nodes

Example Workflow: Text-to-Image Generation

This example demonstrates a simple image generation workflow.

Workflow Overview

+------------------+      +-------------------+
|  Manual Trigger  | ---> |   dryAPI Node     |
|                  |      | (Image: Generate) |
+------------------+      +-------------------+
                                   |
                                   v
                          Generated image as
                          binary data output

Step 1: Add a Trigger

Add a Manual Trigger (or Schedule, Webhook, etc.) to start your workflow.

Step 2: Add the dryAPI Node

1. Add a dryAPI node to your workflow
2. Select your dryAPI API credentials
3. Configure the operation:

4. Optionally configure:
   • Negative Prompt — Elements to exclude from the image
   • Resolution — Select image dimensions other than the default ones, depending on your needs
   • Seed — For reproducible results (use -1 for random)
   • Steps — Number of inference steps (higher = more detail)

Step 3: Run the Workflow

1. Click Test Workflow or Execute Workflow
2. The node will:
   • Submit the generation request to dryAPI
   • Pause the workflow while waiting
   • Resume automatically when the image is ready
3. The output contains the generated image as binary data

Using the Generated Image

The image is available in the data binary field. Connect downstream nodes to:

• Write Binary File — Save to disk
• Send Email — Attach to an email
• HTTP Request — Upload to cloud storage
• Slack/Discord — Share in a channel

Using the dryAPITrigger Node

The dryAPITrigger node listens for webhook events from dryAPI, enabling event-driven workflows.

Setup

1. Add a dryAPITrigger node to a new workflow
2. Select your dryAPI API credentials
3. Configure event filtering:

4. Activate the workflow to make the webhook URL live
5. Copy the Webhook URL displayed in the node
6. Add this URL to your dryAPI Webhook Settings

Event Types

Comparison: Community Node vs HTTP Request

Troubleshooting

HTTPS Required

Generation operations require your n8n instance to be accessible via HTTPS for webhook callbacks.

Solutions:

• Use a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Traefik) with SSL termination
• Use a tunnel service (ngrok, Cloudflare Tunnel) for development
• Ensure your SSL certificate is valid and not self-signed

Webhook Verification Failures

If you see webhook signature verification errors:

1. Verify your Webhook Secret matches the one in dryAPI Webhook Settings
2. Ensure your n8n server clock is synchronized (signature includes timestamp)
3. Check that no proxy is modifying the request body

Timeout Errors

Operations have a configurable Wait Timeout with defaults that vary by type:

For long-running operations:

1. Select the dryAPI node
2. Expand Options
3. Increase Wait Timeout to allow more time

Rate Limiting

If you see "upgrade your plan" errors, you've hit dryAPI's rate limits. Consider upgrading your dryAPI plan for higher limits.

Example Workflow Download

An example n8n workflow demonstrating all available operations is available in the GitHub repository.

1. Download dryAPI_guide.json
2. In n8n, go to Workflows > Import from File
3. Select the downloaded file
4. Configure your dryAPI credentials
5. Explore the example nodes and sticky notes

Resources

• n8n Community Nodes Documentation
• n8n Integration (HTTP Request approach)
• dryAPI API Reference
• Execution Modes & HTTP Queue
• Model Selection Guide
• GitHub Repository
• NPM Package