Adapted from the spec/ docs in black-candle-technologies/patchline. Private repository. Planning stage; no implementation yet.
An iPad-first, iPhone-capable native SwiftUI app for editing n8n workflows without relying on the mobile web editor. Connects to an n8n instance via base URL + API key.
The MVP lets a user:
- Connect to an n8n instance, view workflows
- Create, duplicate, rename, and delete workflows
- Open a workflow and inspect its node graph
- Add/delete nodes, connect/disconnect nodes
- Edit high-value node types with native forms; fall back to raw workflow JSON for the rest
- Save drafts back to n8n; publish separately from save
- Recover safely from conflicts or failed saves
Explicitly not a full clone of the n8n desktop editor.
- Native first, not a cramped browser canvas imitation
- Safe by default: separate save from publish, local drafts, warnings before destructive actions
- Fast for common work: optimize the node types and flows actually used most
- Escape hatch always available via raw JSON
- Small-screen realism on iPhone
Feature-oriented modular monolith: one app target, features grouped by business capability, shared core services (networking, auth, persistence, sync, validation), protocol boundaries around services/repositories, dependency injection via an app environment container.
- Swift 6-era toolchain, SwiftUI, URLSession + async/await, Keychain for API keys, Codable models
- Local drafts in Application Support JSON files (possible later move to SwiftData/SQLite)
- XCTest + UI tests, mocked API fixtures plus a real local n8n test environment
spec/mvp.md — MVP layout and information architecturespec/product-requirements.md — full product requirementsspec/architecture.md — application architecturespec/engineering_roadmap.md — engineering plan, optimized for a solo/small team