Integrating SAP CAP with n8n using OData: Local Installations

 

Introduction

Here we look at integrating SAP Cloud Application Programming (CAP) with n8n and interact with your CAP services. In this guide, we’ll set up a local CAP project and connect it to n8n using the SAP OData connector. Original article here.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js and npm

  • n8n installed

  • Basic OData and REST knowledge

  • Git

Setting Up Local CAP Project

Install the CAP development toolkit globally using the following:

npm add -g @sap/cds-dk

This provides the cds command-line tools needed to develop and run CAP applications.

We’ll use SAP’s official bookshop example project which you can clone as follows:

git clone https://github.com/capire/bookshop
cd bookshop

Install the dependencies:

npm install

Deploy the SQLite database:

cds deploy

Finally we can run the server as follows:

cds watch

The server will start on

http://localhost:4004

with hot-reloading enabled. You can verify that the service is running by querying the Books:

curl http://localhost:4004/browse/Books

You should receive a JSON response with a list of books from the sample data.

You can also open

http://localhost:4004

in your browser to see the CAP service index page with all available endpoints.

Installing SAP OData Node for n8n

The n8n-nodes-sap-odata package provides OData connectivity from within n8n and is specifically designed for SAP systems.

Install it in your n8n custom nodes directory as follows:

cd ~/.n8n/nodes
npm install github:sseegebarth/n8n-nodes-sap-odata

Alternatively you can install it globally:

npm install -g n8n-nodes-sap-odata

Next, we need to configure n8n for Local Connections because n8n blocks connections to private IP addresses by default. Enable local connections with an environment variable:

export ALLOW_PRIVATE_IPS=true

You can now Restart n8n. You can now search for the new node:

New node installed

If you do not find it it might help to refresh the browser.

Creating the Integration Workflow

Webhook Trigger

First, create a webhook trigger and configure as follows:

  • HTTP Method: GET

  • Path: saptest

  • Response Mode: When Last Node Finishes

This creates an endpoint at http://localhost:5678/webhook/saptest, which we will call later.

Next, add the ATW SAP Connect OData node to your workflow and configure.

Connection Settings:

  • Service URL: http://localhost:4004/browse

  • Authentication: None (for local development)

  • Allow Insecure SSL: Enabled (for local testing)

Query Configuration:

  • Entity Set: Books

  • Operation: Read (GET)

  • Select Fields: Leave empty to retrieve all fields, or specify the fields you want (comma seperated)

  • Filter: Optional, e.g., stock gt 100 to filter books with stock > 100

  • Top: Optional, e.g., 10 to limit results

SAP Node Configuration

You can also experiment with the advanced Options:

  • Format: JSON

  • Expand: Leave empty unless you need related entities

Next, you can click the Active toggle in the top-right corner to activate your workflow and then trigger your workflow by calling the webhook as follows:

curl http://localhost:5678/webhook/saptest

You should receive a JSON response containing books from your CAP service.

Example response:

Example Response

Resources

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