The FoxSchema SQL Builder for n8n is a community node that brings FoxSchema's catalog discovery and multi-dialect SQL engine directly into n8n workflows — browse tables, build queries visually, and call stored routines without leaving the canvas.
What it is
n8n-nodes-fox-schema-sql-builder is published on npm and installs like any other n8n community node. It's powered by @foxschema/core — the same catalog-discovery engine behind FoxSchema's schema comparison — so the same reliable table, view, procedure, and function introspection that drives a schema diff also drives the node's dropdowns inside n8n.
Supported dialects: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, and Oracle. This package doesn't include IBM Db2 — Db2's native driver can't install through n8n's community-node installer, so Db2 gets its own Docker-distributed package instead (more on that below).
Installing it
From n8n: Settings → Community nodes → Install, then enter the package name n8n-nodes-fox-schema-sql-builder. The package itself ships with no database drivers baked in, so install succeeds even on hosts that can't compile native addons. You then add only the driver(s) you actually need as peer dependencies on the n8n host:
- PostgreSQL —
pg - MySQL / MariaDB —
mysql2 - SQL Server —
mssql - Oracle —
oracledb(plus Oracle Instant Client on the host)
For a self-hosted instance that's typically cd ~/.n8n && npm install pg mysql2 mssql for the common three, with Oracle needing the Instant Client set up separately.
What the node does
Once a Fox Schema Database credential is set up (dialect, host, port, database, user, password, schema, SSL), the node exposes three operation groups:
- Schema browser — lists tables, views, procedures, and functions from the connected database; tables and views expose their columns, procedures and functions expose their IN/OUT/INOUT parameters, all pulled live from the catalog.
- Row operations — Get / Create / Update / Delete built visually, with SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, and LIMIT, so most CRUD steps in a workflow don't need hand-written SQL at all.
- Routine operations — Call Procedure or Call Function, with three ways to supply parameters: pick from the catalog's IN/INOUT list, map incoming JSON items by name, or pass a raw JSON object. One routine call per node; OUT parameters aren't captured back into the workflow yet, so fan out multiple calls with separate nodes or a Split in Batches step if you need several results.
- Execute Query — for anything the visual builder doesn't cover: multi-statement SQL with bindings, a preview/dry-run mode before anything runs, and optional transactions.
Security
Allow Unsafe SQL is off by default — raw SQL expressions, EXISTS subqueries, and SQL-typed bind parameters all require it to be explicitly enabled. Since n8n credentials are shared across whoever can edit a workflow, it's worth scoping the database credential to the least privilege the workflow actually needs rather than reusing an admin account.
Db2 support
If your workflow needs Db2 specifically, this npm package isn't the one — use n8n-nodes-db2-sql-builder instead, distributed as a Docker image with the Db2 driver already built in. The two packages share the same FoxSchema-powered node design; which one you install just depends on whether Db2 is in the mix.
Get started
The node and its source are on GitHub, published as n8n-nodes-fox-schema-sql-builder on npm. For the engine behind it, see the FoxSchema docs or try schema comparison yourself by self-hosting FoxSchema.
