n8n

Add usage tracking, cost controls, and security guardrails to your n8n workflows

n8n is a workflow automation platform that helps you connect different systems and automate tasks. While n8n delivers robust automation capabilities, Portkey adds essential enterprise controls for production deployments:

• Unified AI Gateway - Single interface for 1600+ LLMs with API key management. (not just OpenAI & Anthropic)
• Centralized AI observability: Real-time usage tracking for 40+ key metrics and logs for every request
• Governance - Real-time spend tracking, set budget limits and RBAC in your n8n setup
• Security Guardrails - PII detection, content filtering, and compliance controls

This guide will walk you through integrating Portkey with n8n and setting up essential enterprise features including usage tracking, access controls, and budget management.

If you are an enterprise looking to use n8n in your organisation, check out this section.

1. Setting up Portkey

Portkey allows you to use 1600+ LLMs with your n8n setup, with minimal configuration required. Let’s set up the core components in Portkey that you’ll need for integration.

1. Create an Integration

   Navigate to the Integrations section on Portkey’s Sidebar. This is where you’ll connect your LLM providers.

   1. Find your preferred provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)
   2. Click Connect on the provider card
   3. In the “Create New Integration” window:
      • Enter a Name for reference
      • Enter a Slug for the integration
      • Enter your API Key and other provider specific details for the provider
   4. Click Next Step

   

   In your next step you’ll see workspace provisioning options. You can select the default “Shared Team Workspace” if this is your first time OR chose your current one.

2. Configure Models

   On the model provisioning page:

   • Leave all models selected (or customize)
   • Toggle Automatically enable new models if desired

   Click Create Integration to complete the integration

   
3. Copy the Provider Slug

   Once your Integration is created:

   1. Go to Model Catalog → Models tab
   2. Find and click on you your model button (if your model is not visible, you need to edit your integration from the last step)
   3. Copy the slug (e.g., @openai-dev/gpt-4o)

   We recommend clicking the Run Test Request button on this step to verify your integration. If you see the error: You do not have enough permissions to execute this request, you’ll need to create a User API Key for this step to work properly.

   You can create one here. You should be able to see simple chat request output on this step.

   

   This is your unique identifier - you’ll need it for the next step. This slug is basically @your-provider-slug/your-model-name

4. Create Default Config

   Portkey’s config is a JSON object used to define routing rules for requests to your gateway. You can create these configs in the Portkey app and reference them in requests via the config ID. For this setup, we’ll create a simple config using your provider (OpenAI) and model (gpt-4o).

   1. Go to Configs in Portkey dashboard
   2. Create new config with:
      {
          "override_params": {
            "model": "@YOUR_SLUG-FROM-LAST_STEP" // example: @openai-test/gpt-4o-mini
          }
      }
      
   3. Save and note the Config ID & Name for the next step

   
5. Configure Portkey API Key

   Finally, create a Portkey API key:

   1. Go to API Keys in Portkey
   2. Create new API key
   3. Select the config that you create from previous step
   4. Generate and save your API key

   

   Save your API key securely - you’ll need it for n8n integration.

🎉 Voila, Setup complete! You now have everything needed to integrate Portkey with your application.

2. Integrate Portkey with n8n

Now that you have your Portkey components set up, let’s connect them to n8n. Since Portkey provides OpenAI API compatibility, integration is straightforward and requires just a few configuration steps in your n8n workflow.

You need your Portkey API Key from Step 1 before going further.

1. In your n8n workflow, add the OpenAI node where you want to use an LLM
2. Configure the OpenAI credentials with the following settings:
   • API Key: Your Portkey API key from the setup
   • Base URL: https://api.portkey.ai/v1

When saving your Portkey credentials in n8n, you may encounter an “Internal Server Error” or connection warning. This happens because n8n attempts to fetch available models from the API, but Portkey doesn’t expose a models endpoint in the same way OpenAI does. Despite this warning, your credentials are saved properly and will work in your workflows.

3. In your workflow, configure the OpenAI node to use your preferred model
   • The model parameter in your config will override the default model in your n8n workflow

It is recommended that you define a comprehensive config in Portkey with your preferred LLM settings. This allows you to maintain all LLM settings in one place.

Make sure your virtual key has sufficient budget and rate limits for your expected usage. Also use the complete model name given by the provider.

You can monitor your requests and usage in the Portkey Dashboard.

3. Set Up Enterprise Governance for n8n

Why Enterprise Governance? If you are using n8n inside your orgnaization, you need to consider several governance aspects:

• Cost Management: Controlling and tracking AI spending across teams
• Access Control: Managing team access and workspaces
• Usage Analytics: Understanding how AI is being used across the organization
• Security & Compliance: Maintaining enterprise security standards
• Reliability: Ensuring consistent service across all users
• Model Management: Managing what models are being used in your setup

Portkey adds a comprehensive governance layer to address these enterprise

Enterprise Implementation Guide

Step 1: Implement Budget Controls & Rate Limits

Step 1: Implement Budget Controls & Rate Limits

Model Catalog enables you to have granular control over LLM access at the team/department level. This helps you:

• Set up budget limits
• Prevent unexpected usage spikes using Rate limits
• Track departmental spending

Setting Up Department-Specific Controls:

1. Navigate to Model Catalog in Portkey dashboard
2. Create new Provider for each engineering team with budget limits and rate limits
3. Configure department-specific limits

Step 2: Define Model Access Rules

Step 2: Define Model Access Rules

As your AI usage scales, controlling which teams can access specific models becomes crucial. You can simply manage AI models in your org by provisioning model at the top integration level.

Step 4: Set Routing Configuration

Portkey allows you to control your routing logic very simply with it’s Configs feature. Portkey Configs provide this control layer with things like:

• Data Protection: Implement guardrails for sensitive code and data
• Reliability Controls: Add fallbacks, load-balance, retry and smart conditional routing logic
• Caching: Implement Simple and Semantic Caching. and more…

Example Configuration:

Here’s a basic configuration to load-balance requests to OpenAI and Anthropic:

{
	"strategy": {
		"mode": "load-balance"
	},
	"targets": [
		{
			"override_params": {
				"model": "@YOUR_OPENAI_PROVIDER_SLUG/gpt-model"
			}
		},
		{
			"override_params": {
				"model": "@YOUR_ANTHROPIC_PROVIDER/claude-sonnet-model"
			}
		}
	]
}

Create your config on the Configs page in your Portkey dashboard. You’ll need the config ID for connecting to n8n’s setup.

Configs can be updated anytime to adjust controls without affecting running applications.

Step 4: Implement Access Controls

Step 3: Implement Access Controls

Create User-specific API keys that automatically:

• Track usage per developer/team with the help of metadata
• Apply appropriate configs to route requests
• Collect relevant metadata to filter logs
• Enforce access permissions

Create API keys through:

• Portkey App
• API Key Management API

Example using Python SDK:

from portkey_ai import Portkey

portkey = Portkey(api_key="YOUR_ADMIN_API_KEY")

api_key = portkey.api_keys.create(
    name="frontend-engineering",
    type="organisation",
    workspace_id="YOUR_WORKSPACE_ID",
    defaults={
        "config_id": "your-config-id",
        "metadata": {
            "environment": "development",
            "department": "engineering",
            "team": "frontend"
        }
    },
    scopes=["logs.view", "configs.read"]
)

For detailed key management instructions, see our API Keys documentation.

Step 5: Deploy & Monitor

Step 4: Deploy & Monitor

After distributing API keys to your engineering teams, your enterprise-ready n8n setup is ready to go. Each developer can now use their designated API keys with appropriate access levels and budget controls. Apply your governance setup using the integration steps from earlier sections Monitor usage in Portkey dashboard:

• Cost tracking by engineering team
• Model usage patterns for AI agent tasks
• Request volumes
• Error rates and debugging logs

Enterprise Features Now Available

n8n now has:

• Departmental budget controls
• Model access governance
• Usage tracking & attribution
• Security guardrails
• Reliability features

Portkey Features

Now that you have enterprise-grade n8n setup, let’s explore the comprehensive features Portkey provides to ensure secure, efficient, and cost-effective AI operations.

1. Comprehensive Metrics

Using Portkey you can track 40+ key metrics including cost, token usage, response time, and performance across all your LLM providers in real time. You can also filter these metrics based on custom metadata that you can set in your configs. Learn more about metadata here.

2. Advanced Logs

Portkey’s logging dashboard provides detailed logs for every request made to your LLMs. These logs include:

• Complete request and response tracking
• Metadata tags for filtering
• Cost attribution and much more…

3. Unified Access to 1600+ LLMs

You can easily switch between 1600+ LLMs. Call various LLMs such as Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral, Azure OpenAI, Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, and many more by simply changing the virtual_key in your default config object.

4. Advanced Metadata Tracking

Using Portkey, you can add custom metadata to your LLM requests for detailed tracking and analytics. Use metadata tags to filter logs, track usage, and attribute costs across departments and teams.

Custom Metadata

5. Enterprise Access Management

Budget Controls

Set and manage spending limits across teams and departments. Control costs with granular budget limits and usage tracking.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Enterprise-grade SSO integration with support for SAML 2.0, Okta, Azure AD, and custom providers for secure authentication.

Organization Management

Hierarchical organization structure with workspaces, teams, and role-based access control for enterprise-scale deployments.

Access Rules & Audit Logs

Comprehensive access control rules and detailed audit logging for security compliance and usage tracking.

6. Reliability Features

Fallbacks

Automatically switch to backup targets if the primary target fails.

Conditional Routing

Route requests to different targets based on specified conditions.

Load Balancing

Distribute requests across multiple targets based on defined weights.

Caching

Enable caching of responses to improve performance and reduce costs.

Smart Retries

Automatic retry handling with exponential backoff for failed requests

Budget Limits

Set and manage budget limits across teams and departments. Control costs with granular budget limits and usage tracking.

7. Advanced Guardrails

Protect your Project’s data and enhance reliability with real-time checks on LLM inputs and outputs. Leverage guardrails to:

• Prevent sensitive data leaks
• Enforce compliance with organizational policies
• PII detection and masking
• Content filtering
• Custom security rules
• Data compliance checks

Guardrails

Implement real-time protection for your LLM interactions with automatic detection and filtering of sensitive content, PII, and custom security rules. Enable comprehensive data protection while maintaining compliance with organizational policies.

FAQs

How do I update my Virtual Key limits after creation?

You can update your Virtual Key limits at any time from the Portkey dashboard:1. Go to Virtual Keys section2. Click on the Virtual Key you want to modify3. Update the budget or rate limits4. Save your changes

Can I use multiple LLM providers with the same API key?

Yes! You can create multiple Virtual Keys (one for each provider) and attach them to a single config. This config can then be connected to your API key, allowing you to use multiple providers through a single API key.

How do I track costs for different teams?

Portkey provides several ways to track team costs:

• Create separate Virtual Keys for each team
• Use metadata tags in your configs
• Set up team-specific API keys
• Monitor usage in the analytics dashboard

What happens if a team exceeds their budget limit?

When a team reaches their budget limit:

1. Further requests will be blocked
2. Team admins receive notifications
3. Usage statistics remain available in dashboard
4. Limits can be adjusted if needed

How do I control which models are available in n8n workflows?

You can control model access by:

1. Setting specific models in your Portkey configs
2. Creating different Virtual Keys with different provider access
3. Using model-specific configs attached to different API keys
4. Implementing conditional routing based on workflow metadata

Next Steps

Join our Community

• Discord Community
• GitHub Repository

For enterprise support and custom features, contact our enterprise team.