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Connecting an LLM CLI to N8N On a Private Network Using n8n-mcp

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The “n8n-mcp” MCP by default restricts access to a local, private network. This is an example of a config template that allows for it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "n8n-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["n8n-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_MODE": "stdio",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "error",
        "DISABLE_CONSOLE_OUTPUT": "true",
        "N8N_API_URL": "http://192.168.10.5:55678",
        "N8N_API_KEY": "<API key>",
        "WEBHOOK_SECURITY_MODE": "permissive"
      }
    }
  }
}

We have an SSH connection from the remote N8N system (in another part of the world) to a local server (managed by autossh), with :55678 bound to 0.0.0.0 on our local server and forwarded back to :5678 on the remote one. The MCP on our local system talks to :55678 on our local server.