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n8n

Count a workflow's runs or items, and get an alert when they spike, drop or stop.

In short: add one HTTP Request node to your workflow that calls your webhook URL. Each run, or each item, counts one.

The detailed steps below work for you or your coding agent. Your agent can do every step that needs no secret; anything secret, such as a webhook URL or a key, you make in the dashboard and paste yourself.

Counts what an n8n workflow does (leads created, forms submitted, rows synced) per 5 minutes and alerts when it spikes, drops or stops. One HTTP Request node at the end of the workflow calls a webhook URL. Needs a CountWatch account (the person signs up at https://staging.countwatch.com/login) and a webhook URL the person makes in the dashboard (Sources, https://staging.countwatch.com/dashboard/sources): it is a secret, so the agent never handles it.

1. The webhook URL and the watch

The person makes the webhook URL for workflow_items in the dashboard (Sources, https://staging.countwatch.com/dashboard/sources) and keeps it: it is a secret for this one metric, so the agent never sees it. The agent creates the watch as a push watch first (a 5-minute bucket without hits is zero; a watch's source is fixed when it is created): over MCP, send_counts {"source": "push", "points": [{"metric": "workflow_items", "add": 0}]}; with an API key:

curl -sX POST https://staging.countwatch.com/v1/ingest -H "Authorization: Bearer $COUNTWATCH_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"source":"push","points":[{"metric":"workflow_items","add":0}]}'

Query parameters on the link become dimensions: the watch here must have the same ones as the link's hits (each dimension combination is a watch: mind the plan's watch limit).

2. Add the node

Copy this node, paste it into the workflow canvas (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V), put the webhook URL in its URL, and connect it after the step whose outcome you count (so a failed run counts nothing):

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "parameters": {
        "method": "POST",
        "url": "<webhook url>",
        "sendQuery": true,
        "queryParameters": {
          "parameters": [
            {
              "name": "n",
              "value": "={{ $input.all().length }}"
            }
          ]
        },
        "options": {}
      },
      "name": "CountWatch ping",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest",
      "typeVersion": 4.2,
      "position": [
        0,
        0
      ],
      "executeOnce": true,
      "retryOnFail": true,
      "maxTries": 3,
      "waitBetweenTries": 2000,
      "onError": "continueRegularOutput"
    }
  ],
  "connections": {}
}

It runs once per execution (Settings → Execute Once) and sends n = the number of items that reached it, so one run with 40 new leads adds 40 in one request. It retries a failed call twice, then lets the workflow go on (Settings → On Error: continue): a refused call never fails your workflow, and the missing count shows as a drop. A run with no items does not run the node: the bucket reads as zero, which is what a push watch expects. To count runs instead of items, remove the n query parameter. Every call is one request against the plan, so keep Execute Once on.

Do not add n8n's execution id as ?id=: it restarts from 1 when n8n's database is reset, and the webhook URL would drop new runs as retries for 4 days.

3. History

n8n keeps its execution history for a short time only. Skip the import: the watch learns for about 3 weeks, with starter rules meanwhile.

Check it works

1. Data arrives. check_setup (or curl -s https://staging.countwatch.com/v1/status -H "Authorization: Bearer $COUNTWATCH_API_KEY"): the workflow_items watch shows last_request_at, and missing_buckets_24h stays 0 (explicit watches). Do what next_actions says.
2. History is in. GET /v1/imports/{import_id} shows status: done and the rules chosen for workflow_items, with the alerts they would have raised. (Skipped the import? The watch learns for about 3 weeks; starter rules apply meanwhile.)
3. An alert reaches you. The person turns on e-mail alerts in the dashboard (https://staging.countwatch.com/dashboard), or you add a webhook (manage add_destination, then verify_destination; the endpoint answers the challenge, see https://staging.countwatch.com/agent). Then manage {"action": "send_test_alert"}: every active destination receives a test alert (test: true) within a few minutes.

For agents: this page as Markdown.