---
title: Connecting the CRM to n8n
description: Receive CRM events in n8n, call the API with the HTTP Request node and put the “incoming email to draft record” template into service.
url: "https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-n8n-workflows/"
updated: "2026-11-08"
category: CRM
---

# Connecting the CRM to n8n

n8n connects to the CRM through two standard nodes: **Webhook** to receive CRM events, **HTTP Request** to read and write through API v1. Illizeo also provides a workflow template ready to import, which turns an incoming email into a follow-up task or a new contact. This article is intended for the people who build n8n workflows.

## Before you start

- The CRM module must be enabled. To receive events, your Illizeo subscription must include webhooks, and your n8n instance must be reachable over https on the public internet.
- To download the template: “CRM settings — View”. To create the event subscription: “CRM settings — Create” (see [CRM webhooks](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-outgoing-webhooks/)).
- An API token, created in **Settings › Manage Illizeo › API Tokens** (see [Creating and managing API tokens](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/api-managing-tokens/)). For the template: **Read** and **Write** for “CRM — contacts”, **Write** for “CRM — activities”. To receive events: read access to the objects concerned.
- The token acts with the permissions and scope of the person who created it: for the template, “CRM contacts — View” and “Create”, “CRM activities — Create”.
- In n8n, create a credential of type **Header Auth**: name `Authorization`, value `Bearer`, a space, then your token.

## Receiving CRM events

1. In n8n, add a **Webhook** node, method `POST`, and copy its production URL (https).
2. In Illizeo, open **Settings › CRM › Webhooks and integrations**, click **New webhook** and create a subscription to that URL, with your token and the events you want. Copy the signing secret.
3. Activate the workflow in n8n: its production URL only listens while it is active.
4. Before processing a call, verify its signature: recompute the HMAC-SHA256 of `<t>.<raw body>` with the secret and compare it with the `v1` value of the `Illizeo-Signature` header. To do so, keep the raw body in the Webhook node, and do the calculation in a Crypto or Code node.
5. Answer quickly with a 2xx code (immediate response from the Webhook node), then process. Ignore an `id` already processed: a retry carries the same one.

The content received, the events and the retry rules are described in [CRM webhooks](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-outgoing-webhooks/). The **Send a test** button on the subscription’s page sends a `ping` event to check the connection.

![The New webhook window filled in for n8n: the Webhook node’s https production URL, the API token and the CRM events.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-n8n-workflows-01.en_.png?resize=672%2C594&quality=80&ssl=1)
A subscription to the production URL of the n8n Webhook node.

## Reading and writing through the API

An **HTTP Request** node calls the CRM’s API v1: choose authentication by generic credential, of type **Header Auth**, and the credential created above. The paths are those of the API (`/v1/crm/accounts`, `/v1/crm/contacts`, `/v1/crm/opportunities`, `/v1/crm/activities`), with the `q` search, `modified_since` and cursor pagination: see [Importing, exporting and using the API](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-import-export-and-api/). A list answers in `data.items`.

## The “incoming email to draft record” template

The template receives an email (sender, name, subject, text) and looks for its sender in the CRM: if known, it creates a follow-up task on their account; if unknown, it creates the contact. It has six nodes:

| Node | Role |
| --- | --- |
| Webhook — e-mail reçu | Receives the email as a `POST`: `from` (the address), `from_name` (the name), `subject`, `text`. |
| HTTP Request — chercher le contact | Looks for a contact whose record contains the address (`GET /v1/crm/contacts?q=…`). |
| Contact connu ? | Routes according to whether the search found a record. |
| Rattaché à un compte ? | Continues if the contact found has a main account the token can read: a task always sits on an account. Otherwise, the workflow stops without writing anything. |
| HTTP Request — tâche de suivi | Creates on that account a task “Répondre : ” followed by the subject, due the next day, linked to the contact, with the email’s text as its report. |
| HTTP Request — brouillon de contact | Creates the contact, with the sender’s name and their address as main work email. |

The node names, and the “Répondre : ” prefix of the task, are in French in the template: rename them if you wish.

![n8n template diagram: the Webhook node receives the email, the HTTP Request node looks for the contact by address; if known and attached to an account, a follow-up task due the next day is created on that account; if known with no account, the workflow stops; if unknown, a contact is created with the sender’s name and address.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-n8n-workflows-flux-01-v2.en_.png?resize=800%2C520&quality=80&ssl=1)
The template as supplied: the task sits on the account of the contact found.

1. In Illizeo, open **Settings › CRM › Webhooks and integrations**. In the **Integrations** card, under **n8n**, click **Download the template**: you get `illizeo-crm-n8n-email-vers-fiche.json`, with no secret and no token.
2. In n8n, open a new workflow and import the file (workflow menu, **Import from File**).
3. Attach your Header Auth credential to the three HTTP Request nodes.
4. Adapt the template to your rules (for example the task’s due date, or a next step for contacts with no account), then activate it.
5. Send the emails to process to the Webhook node, from your email tool or another workflow, with the `from`, `from_name`, `subject` and `text` fields.

![The Integrations card of the CRM settings: n8n and its Download the template button, next to Power Automate.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-n8n-workflows-02.en_.png?resize=800%2C152&quality=80&ssl=1)
The n8n workflow template is downloaded from the CRM settings.

## Good to know

- The “draft” is a real contact record, owned by the person who created the token: complete it afterwards in the CRM (account, job title, legal basis).
- The last name is required: without a sender name, the template uses the address as the name, to be corrected afterwards in the CRM. Creating the contact returns `409 DUPLICATES_FOUND` if the record resembles an existing contact, until the body sends `confirmer_doublon` set to true. The address of a contact under objection gives a contact under objection.
- A contact with no main account, or whose account the token’s creator cannot read, does not receive a task: the “Rattaché à un compte ?” node stops the workflow. Attach the contact to an account in the CRM, or connect another step to the “false” output.
- The template builds its bodies with `JSON.stringify`: a double quote or a line break in the email’s subject or text goes through without making the body invalid. Build the fields you add in the same way.
- If your organisation submits a write to human approval, the API returns `202` without writing anything (see [Getting records and sendings approved](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-approvals/)).
- To prepare a record from an email without a third-party tool, the CRM also has its forwarding address (see [The CRM forwarding address](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-forwarding-address/)).

## FAQ

### The “tâche de suivi” node returns a 422 or 403 error.

The body fails the API’s checks, which name the key concerned: a task requires an account (`compte_id`) and a due date (`echeance_le`, in YYYY-MM-DD format). The template sends both; if you changed the body, check that they are still there. A 403 error comes from permissions: the token must carry **Write** for “CRM — activities”, and its creator must have “CRM activities — Create”.

### The workflow does not receive CRM events.

Check that the workflow is active, that the subscription points to the Webhook node’s production URL, and open the subscription’s page in Illizeo: its delivery log shows what n8n answered.

### *Similaire*