Microlink.io integration for n8n — fetch metadata, screenshots, PDFs, Markdown, plain text, audio/video sources, performance insights, logo data (including logo.palette), and more from any URL.

• Installation
  • In n8n (recommended)
  • Local development
• Credentials
• Operations
  • Extract
  • Screenshot
  • PDF
  • Markdown
  • Text
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Insights
  • Logo
• Parameters Reference
  • Top-level Parameters
  • Response Mode
  • Options
  • Viewport Options
  • PDF Options
  • Screenshot Options
  • JSON Options
  • Additional Query Parameters
• Internal Utilities
  • isPlainObject
  • flattenObject
  • parseLooseValue
  • OBJECT_PARAMS
• Testing
  • Transpiling TypeScript
  • Running Tests
  • Test Architecture
  • Why These Tests
  • Coverage
• Publishing to n8n
• License

1. Open your n8n instance.
2. Go to Settings > Community Nodes.
3. Enter n8n-nodes-microlink and click Install.
4. The Microlink node will appear in the node panel.

git clone https://github.com/microlinkhq/n8n-nodes-microlink.git
cd n8n-nodes-microlink
npm install
npm run build

To link the node into a local n8n instance for testing:

# From this project's root
npm link

# From your n8n installation directory
npm link n8n-nodes-microlink

# Start n8n
npx n8n start

When developing locally, rebuild after source changes:

npm run build

Create Microlink API credentials inside n8n:

The node automatically selects the correct endpoint based on whether an API key is present. When a key is provided, every request includes an x-api-key header.

The Microlink node exposes nine operations, each targeting a different capability of the Microlink API.

Default operation. Returns metadata and structured data for any URL — title, description, author, image, logo, publisher, language, and more.

Operation: Extract
URL: https://github.com
Response Mode: Auto

Returns the full Microlink API JSON response with status and data fields.

Generates a browser-rendered screenshot of the target page. Combines with viewport options and screenshot options for resolution, full-page captures, element targeting, overlays, and format control.

Operation: Screenshot
URL: https://example.com
Options → Screenshot Full Page: true
Options → Screenshot Type: jpeg

Generates a PDF document of the target page. Combines with viewport options and PDF options for rendering size, paper format, margins, landscape mode, and page ranges.

Operation: PDF
URL: https://example.com
Options → PDF Format: A4
Options → PDF Landscape: true

Returns the page content converted to Markdown. This operation uses a specialized configuration under the hood — it sets force=true, meta=false, embed=markdown, and extracts the markdown via Microlink's data + embed pattern.

Operation: Markdown
URL: https://example.com/blog/post

Returns the Markdown string directly as { data: "# Page Title\n..." }.

Returns the page content converted to plain text. This operation mirrors Markdown behavior but uses text extraction under the hood — it sets force=true, meta=false, embed=text, and extracts text via Microlink's data + embed pattern.

Operation: Text
URL: https://example.com/blog/post

Returns the plain text string directly as { data: "Page Title ..." }.

Detects and returns playable audio sources from the target page (e.g., podcasts, music embeds, audio players).

Operation: Audio
URL: https://soundcloud.com/artist/track

Detects and returns playable video sources from the target page (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, embedded players).

Operation: Video
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Retrieves performance metrics and technology stack information for the target URL — Lighthouse scores, technology detection, and more.

Operation: Insights
URL: https://example.com

Returns logo metadata from the target page, including logo.palette.

Operation: Logo
URL: https://example.com

All options are optional. Empty strings and zero values are automatically excluded from the request. For screenshot, pdf, and insights, when nested options are present (e.g. screenshot.fullPage, pdf.width, insights.lighthouse), the node omits the top-level boolean (screenshot=true, pdf=true, insights=true) so nested values are not overridden.

These options map to Microlink's viewport.* API parameters and are compatible with screenshot and PDF rendering.

For complex structured parameters, the node provides dedicated JSON fields that are automatically flattened into dot-notation query parameters.

For any Microlink API parameter not covered by the built-in options, use Additional Query Parameters. Each entry is a key-value pair.

• Keys support dot-notation (e.g., data.author.selector).
• Values are automatically parsed: "true" / "false" become booleans, numeric strings become numbers, and JSON strings are parsed and flattened.
• Additional parameters are applied last and override any previously set options.

This is also how to pass fields that support boolean or object payloads:

Key:   screenshot
Value: true

Key:   screenshot
Value: {"fullPage":true}

Key:   data.price.selector
Value: .product-price

Key:   force
Value: true

The node exports four internal utilities used to build query strings from the nested options structure. These are also available for import if you need to use them in other contexts.

isPlainObject(value) → boolean

Returns true if value is a non-null, non-array object. Used throughout the node to decide whether a value should be recursively flattened or passed as-is.

flattenObject(prefix, obj, target) → void

Recursively flattens a nested object into dot-notation key-value pairs on the target object. Arrays are serialized to JSON strings.

This is essential for the Microlink API, which accepts nested parameters as flat dot-notation query string keys.

parseLooseValue(value) → boolean | number | object | array | string

Coerces string values from Additional Query Parameters into their natural JavaScript types:

Non-string inputs are returned unchanged. Invalid JSON-like strings (e.g., "{ invalid }") are kept as strings.

OBJECT_PARAMS = new Set(['data', 'meta', 'headers', 'viewport', 'insights'])

The set of parameter keys that, when their value is a plain object, should be flattened into dot-notation query parameters rather than passed directly. All other keys are passed as scalar values.

This project is authored in TypeScript and compiled to dist/ for n8n runtime usage.

# Compile source into dist/
npm run build

Generated artifacts:

dist/
  credentials/MicrolinkApi.credentials.js
  nodes/Microlink/Microlink.node.js
  nodes/Microlink/microlink.svg

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
npm test -- --watch

# Run with coverage report
npm run test:coverage

# Run a specific test file
npx jest nodes/Microlink/Microlink.node.test.js
npx jest credentials/MicrolinkApi.credentials.test.js

Tests are colocated next to the source files they cover, following n8n's own convention:

credentials/
  MicrolinkApi.credentials.ts          # source
  MicrolinkApi.credentials.test.js     # 12 tests
nodes/Microlink/
  Microlink.node.ts                    # source
  Microlink.node.test.js               # 240 tests

The n8n-workflow peer dependency is fully mocked — tests run without installing n8n itself. The mock provides NodeConnectionTypes.Main and a lightweight NodeOperationError class. The node's execute() method is tested by constructing a mock execution context that replicates n8n's runtime interface (getInputData, getNodeParameter, getCredentials, helpers.httpRequest, etc.) and calling execute.call(mockContext).

The test suite is organized into focused layers, each with a distinct purpose:

------------------------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|
File                          | % Stmts | % Branch | % Funcs | % Lines |
------------------------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|
All files                     |   99.24 |    96.09 |     100 |     100 |
 MicrolinkApi.credentials.ts  |     100 |      100 |     100 |     100 |
 Microlink.node.ts            |   99.21 |    96.09 |     100 |     100 |
------------------------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|

254 tests across 2 test suites. 100% line and function coverage.

This package is published to npm by GitHub Actions with a provenance statement. Since 2026-05-01, n8n verified community nodes must be published from CI with provenance — nodes published from a local machine are rejected for verification. (A plain local npm publish still works for an unverified npm/community install, but it will not pass verification.)

The release pipeline lives in .github/workflows/publish.yml: on every published GitHub Release it runs lint, tests, and build, then npm publish --provenance --access public.

• A npm account with publish rights to the package.
• The package.json name field must start with n8n-nodes- (already set to n8n-nodes-microlink).
• The n8n field in package.json must list all credential and node files (already configured).
• The keywords array must include "n8n-community-node-package" (already present).

1. Create an npm Automation (or Granular) access token with publish rights.
2. In the GitHub repo, open Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret.
3. Name it NPM_TOKEN and paste the token.

CI re-runs these, but check them first to avoid a failed release:

npm run lint
npm test
npm run build

npm version patch   # 0.1.0 → 0.1.1 (bug fixes); use minor / major as appropriate
git push --follow-tags

Then create a GitHub Release for the new tag (Releases → Draft a new release → choose the tag → Publish release). Publishing the release triggers publish.yml, which publishes to npm with provenance.

• Watch the Actions tab for the "Publish to npm" run to finish green.
• Visit https://www.npmjs.com/package/n8n-nodes-microlink and confirm the Provenance badge appears on the new version.

Once published, any n8n user can install it:

1. Open Settings > Community Nodes in their n8n instance.
2. Search for n8n-nodes-microlink.
3. Click Install.

The node appears in the editor immediately — no restart required on n8n Cloud. Self-hosted instances may need a restart.

Repeat steps 3–5: bump the version, push the tag, and publish a GitHub Release. n8n Cloud picks up new versions automatically; self-hosted users update via Settings > Community Nodes > Update.

MIT © Microlink