Agent skill · product strategy · n8n-io
intent-recognition
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 embeds_other (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, one-off questions or reports that need external systems you cannot query directly, and requests that need clarification before an anchor can be chosen. Do not load for routine edits or extensions when the conversation already targets a workflow or Agent.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured classification framework for automation requests that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 12k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 199,638 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Intent recognition Purpose 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 the conversation already targets a workflow or Agent, unless the user introduces an independent automation or the new request carries its own anchor signal. The deciding question is not a single "workflow or agent" label — it is two questions: who owns the top-level control flow, and does the other primitive show up inside that flow. If the user asked to build, route on the result: workflow-builder for workflow-anchored (a bounded LLM step is an AI node in the graph; an embedded agent is an AI Agent step inside it), an agent-oriented design for agent-anchored (a tool-use loop), ask-user for needs-clarification, or answer directly for out-of-scope. Inputs The user's request or scenario prompt. Whether the user is mid-build on an existing workflow or agent in this conversation — incremental requests default to extending that primitive. Whether the editor/canvas context the conversation opened from shows an existing agent or an existing workflow (or both). An existing agent in context that the user asks to change is an agent-anchored request — see Context continuity and Existing-agent modification. Any explicit constraints about determinism, auditability, latency, cost, compliance, reusability, or allowed tools. If the request is underspecified on an anchor-deciding axis, ask for the missing detail instead of guessing. Decisions Two orthogonal decisions per request, or per part for compound requests: 1. Anchor — which primitive owns the top-level control flow: workflow-anchored: the outer shell is a workflow graph. May include LLM steps as bounded transformers (classify, extract, summarize, score, a single decision feeding fixed branches). …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills n8n-io/intent-recognition