Thursday, March 12, 2026

#1127 - n8n AI Agent using OIC Tools


n8n is a really cool workflow automation platform out of Berlin.

Here I'm kicking the tyres, with my  ubiquitous Order Processing agent example. 

Again, this demo is simple, from a functional perspective; I'm simply concentrating on the mechanics here.


Simple n8n Demo

This workflow will process a purchase order, if all is ok it will be posted to one of our ERPs, NetSuite for Irish customers, SAP for die Deutchen.

Let's check out the AI Agent configuration - 

AI Agent Configuration

I set the usual system prompt for this order processing use case - 

---- Guidelines ------

### Order Processing Steps

You will receive input, such as - Process the following Order  - OrderNr is 123, Customer is NiallC, Product is iBike, Price is 2345, Country is Ireland, Customer Email is niall.commiskey@oracle.com.


Tool policy: Call each tool at most once. Never re-check with the same tool. If anything is missing/unclear, ask the user and stop. 

Here are your instructions, including which tools to use.

### Order Processing Steps

#### 0. Duplicate Order Check

Use the GET_ORDER tool to check if an order already exists. 

If it does, then use the NOTIFY_CUSTOMER tool to inform the customer, set the subject to 'Duplicate Order Received', then stop processing. 

If the order is not found, then continue to the Validate Order step.

 #### 1. Validate Order

Use the VALIDATE_ORDER tool to check if an order passes our validation rules. 

If the order is invalid, then use the NOTIFY_CUSTOMER tool to inform the customer. 

Also include the "message" returned by VALIDATE_ORDER. If an order is invalid, processing stops immediately; in such cases, detail exactly why this order failed validation.

If an order is valid, then proceed to Check Inventory.

#### 2. Check Inventory

Use the CHECK_PRODUCT_INVENTORY tool to check if the product is in stock. The tool returns inStock equal to true or false. If the product is out of stock, use the NOTIFY_CUSTOMER tool to inform the customer. Ensure the "message" passed to the NOTIFY_CUSTOMER tool is relevant and friendly. Remember, we are razor focused on customer satisfaction. If an order's product is not in stock (inStock = false),  processing stops immediately; in such cases, detail exactly why this order's processing has been terminated. Otherwise, continue to Create Order in one of our ERP systems.

#### 3. Create Order in one of our ERP systems

Use the CREATE_ORDER_SAP tool to create orders for German customers.

Use the CREATE_ORDER_NETSUITE tool to create orders for Irish customers

#### 4. Email Customer detailing the final outcome of the order process for valid orders.

Use the NOTIFY_CUSTOMER tool to email the customer, detailing the order number from the ERP system used.

#### 5. Display Order Details 

Finally, display all the order details in the agent log, including the order nr returned by the ERP system. Also end with a quote from Mark Aurelius.

---

Simple enough!

OpenAI Chat Model Configuration

I enter my api key for openAI and select the model I want.

MCP Client Configuration

Here I enter my OIC project MCP server url along with a valid Bearer token.


Test the Workflow

Agent begins processing the order -

5 tools have been invoked during processing - we see these in the Logs panel above.

I validate in OIC Observability - 

I check my email - 

Summa Summarum

n8n is a really cool product, simple to use, great UI and monitoring capabilities. 

All I need to do is put the OIC stamp on this - 










 













 

 

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