Official agent skill

Intent Recognition

by n8n-io in n8n-io/n8n

Classifies automation requests using two decisions: anchor (which primitive owns the top-level control flow — workflow-anchored, agent-anchored, needs-clarification, or out-of-scope) and embedsother…

OfficialCustom licenceAuto-check passedProductivity & Automation

Install Intent Recognition

skills CLI
$ npx skills add n8n-io/n8n --skill intent-recognition -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install n8n-io/n8n intent-recognition --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/@n8n/instance-ai/skills/intent-recognition .claude/skills/intent-recognition && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
intent-recognition
GitHub stars
207k
Token cost
~7.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
4,013 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
12
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Custom licence

At a glance

Classifies automation requests using two decisions: anchor (which primitive owns the top-level control flow — workflow-anchored, agent-anchored, needs-clarification, or out-of-scope) and embedsother…

  • Works in 10 steps: If the user is mid-build on an existing… → Explicit artifact requests. "Build me an… → If the request is not a build intent — a… → …
  • Tasks that involve Building AI agents
  • SKILL.md covers Purpose, Inputs, Decisions and Agent tool shape, plus 5 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Intent Recognition is an agent skill from n8n-io/n8n, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Classifies automation requests using two decisions: anchor (which primitive owns the top-level control flow — workflow-anchored, agent-anchored, needs-clarification, or out-of-scope) and embedsother (whether the other primitive appears embedded inside — an agent step inside a workflow, or a workflow invoked as an agent tool). Must be used whenever the current turn requires choosing or reconsidering the intent of an automation request, including compound requests, independent automations introduced mid-build…

Its SKILL.md is about 7.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Productivity & Automation, covering Building AI agents and Workflow automation. It works with n8n and Model Context Protocol. The repository describes itself as: Fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom code, self-host or cloud, 400+ integrations.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Building AI agents
  • Tasks that involve Workflow automation

Example prompts

  • “Use the intent-recognition skill to classify automation requests using two decisions: anchor (which primitive owns the top-level control flow —…”
  • “/intent-recognition”

Workflow steps

10 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. If the user is mid-build on an existing workflow or agent, apply context
  2. Explicit artifact requests. "Build me an Agent/assistant that…" selects
  3. If the request is not a build intent — a meta or product question, or a
  4. Split the request into parts only if it contains multiple independent
  5. Test the agent signals. If any one holds, classify agent-anchored.
  6. Before selecting a workflow, verify that the request supplies or clearly
  7. Otherwise, test the workflow conditions. If all of them hold, classify
  8. Decide embeds_other in both directions: does an agent step appear inside
  9. Degenerate-shell check. If a workflow-anchored design reduces to a
  10. If both anchors are genuinely defensible, apply the growth tiebreaker

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 60ad29f. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Intent Recognition loads about 7.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 214 tokens; SKILL.md has 4,013 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~214
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~7.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 4,013 words (~7,133 tokens).

“Use this skill when an automation request still needs to be classified before designing or building it, or when a new turn may require reconsidering the current artifact. Do not load it again for a routine edit or extension when…”

— opening of SKILL.md by n8n-io, Custom licence
name
intent-recognition

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in packages/@n8n/instance-ai/skills/intent-recognition of n8n-io/n8n.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 60ad29f

Compare with similar skills

Intent Recognition next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Intent Recognition compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Intent Recognition this skilln8n-io/n8n207k—~7.1kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
N8n MCP Tools Expertdavila7/claude-code-templates32k8 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
N8n Workflowsvibeeval/vibecosystem531—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Using N8n MCP Skillsczlonkowski/n8n-skills6.4k—~4.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
N8n Multi Instancesickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Using N8n MCP Skillssickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~3.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Intent Recognition

What does Intent Recognition do?

Classifies automation requests using two decisions: anchor (which primitive owns the top-level control flow — workflow-anchored, agent-anchored, needs-clarification, or out-of-scope) and embedsother…. Intent Recognition is an agent skill from n8n-io/n8n, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Classifies automation requests using two decisions: anchor (which primitive owns the top-level control flow — workflow-anchored, agent-anchored, needs-clarification, or out-of-scope) and embedsother (whether the other primitive appears embedded inside — an agent step inside a workflow, or a workflow invoked as an agent tool).

When should I use Intent Recognition?

Intent Recognition fits situations like: tasks that involve Building AI agents; tasks that involve Workflow automation.

How do I install Intent Recognition in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add n8n-io/n8n --skill intent-recognition -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/@n8n/instance-ai/skills/intent-recognition in n8n-io/n8n) into .claude/skills/intent-recognition in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Intent Recognition in Codex?

Run `npx skills add n8n-io/n8n --skill intent-recognition -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/@n8n/instance-ai/skills/intent-recognition in n8n-io/n8n) into .agents/skills/intent-recognition in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Intent Recognition in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add n8n-io/n8n --skill intent-recognition -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/intent-recognition, .gemini/skills/intent-recognition, .github/skills/intent-recognition and .opencode/skills/intent-recognition in your project.

What does Intent Recognition need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Intent Recognition is instructions for the agent only.

Does Intent Recognition access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Intent Recognition safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Intent Recognition use?

Intent Recognition has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.

How many tokens does Intent Recognition use?

About 7.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 29k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Intent Recognition?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Intent Recognition: N8n MCP Tools Expert (davila7/claude-code-templates, 32k stars), N8n Workflows (vibeeval/vibecosystem, 531 stars), Using N8n MCP Skills (czlonkowski/n8n-skills, 6.4k stars) and N8n Multi Instance (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Intent Recognition?

n8n-io (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in n8n-io/n8n, which has 206,847 GitHub stars. The repository holds 12 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: n8n-io/n8n on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.