PDF Ingest

The workflow JSON

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{
  "name": "pdf-ingest",
  "settings": {
    "executionOrder": "v1",
    "saveExecutionProgress": true,
    "saveDataErrorExecution": "all",
    "saveDataSuccessExecution": "all"
  },
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "manual",
      "name": "Manual run",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.manualTrigger",
      "typeVersion": 1,
      "position": [
        240,
        220
      ],
      "parameters": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "schedule",
      "name": "Every minute",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger",
      "typeVersion": 1.2,
      "position": [
        240,
        420
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "rule": {
          "interval": [
            {
              "field": "minutes",
              "minutesInterval": 1
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "list",
      "name": "List incoming PDFs",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "position": [
        480,
        320
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "language": "javaScript",
        "jsCode": "// Walk /data/pdfs/incoming/<assignment>/*.pdf\n// Each immediate subfolder = one Open WebUI Knowledge collection.\nconst fs = require('fs');\nconst path = require('path');\nconst root = '/data/pdfs/incoming';\nconst out = [];\nlet entries = [];\ntry { entries = fs.readdirSync(root, { withFileTypes: true }); } catch (e) { return out; }\nfor (const e of entries) {\n  if (!e.isDirectory()) continue;\n  const assignment = e.name;\n  const sub = path.join(root, assignment);\n  let files = [];\n  try { files = fs.readdirSync(sub); } catch (_) { continue; }\n  for (const f of files) {\n    if (!f.toLowerCase().endsWith('.pdf')) continue;\n    out.push({ json: { assignment, filename: f, path: path.join(sub, f) } });\n  }\n}\nreturn out;\n"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "upload",
      "name": "Upload to Open WebUI",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "position": [
        720,
        320
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "language": "javaScript",
        "jsCode": "/**\n * Upload one PDF to Open WebUI:\n *   1. ensure Knowledge collection named <assignment> exists\n *   2. POST file to /api/v1/files/\n *   3. attach file to knowledge via /api/v1/knowledge/{kid}/file/add\n *   4. move source PDF to processed/<assignment>/  (or failed/<assignment>/)\n *\n * Open WebUI handles Tika extraction, chunking, bge-m3 embedding, and Qdrant upsert.\n */\nconst fs = require('fs');\nconst path = require('path');\nconst crypto = require('crypto');\nconst http = require('http');\nconst https = require('https');\nconst { URL } = require('url');\n\nconst OWUI_URL = ($env.OPENWEBUI_URL || 'http://openwebui:8080').replace(/\\/$/, '');\nconst OWUI_KEY = $env.OPENWEBUI_API_KEY || '';\nif (!OWUI_KEY) throw new Error('OPENWEBUI_API_KEY env var is missing on the n8n container');\n\nfunction httpJson(method, urlStr, body, extraHeaders) {\n  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {\n    const u = new URL(urlStr);\n    const lib = u.protocol === 'https:' ? https : http;\n    const headers = Object.assign(\n      { 'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + OWUI_KEY, 'Accept': 'application/json' },\n      extraHeaders || {},\n    );\n    let payload = null;\n    if (body != null && !Buffer.isBuffer(body)) {\n      payload = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(body));\n      headers['Content-Type'] = headers['Content-Type'] || 'application/json';\n    } else if (Buffer.isBuffer(body)) {\n      payload = body;\n    }\n    if (payload) headers['Content-Length'] = payload.length;\n    const req = lib.request({\n      method,\n      hostname: u.hostname,\n      port: u.port || (u.protocol === 'https:' ? 443 : 80),\n      path: u.pathname + u.search,\n      headers,\n    }, (res) => {\n      const chunks = [];\n      res.on('data', (c) => chunks.push(c));\n      res.on('end', () => {\n        const text = Buffer.concat(chunks).toString('utf8');\n        if (res.statusCode >= 200 && res.statusCode < 300) {\n          try { resolve(JSON.parse(text)); } catch (_) { resolve(text); }\n        } else {\n          reject(new Error(`${method} ${urlStr} -> ${res.statusCode}: ${text.slice(0, 400)}`));\n        }\n      });\n    });\n    req.on('error', reject);\n    if (payload) req.write(payload);\n    req.end();\n  });\n}\n\nfunction multipartBody(filePath, filename) {\n  const boundary = '----n8nboxai' + crypto.randomBytes(12).toString('hex');\n  const fileBuf = fs.readFileSync(filePath);\n  const head = Buffer.from(\n    '--' + boundary + '\\r\\n' +\n    'Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"' + filename.replace(/\"/g, '') + '\"\\r\\n' +\n    'Content-Type: application/pdf\\r\\n\\r\\n',\n    'utf8',\n  );\n  const tail = Buffer.from('\\r\\n--' + boundary + '--\\r\\n', 'utf8');\n  return { boundary, body: Buffer.concat([head, fileBuf, tail]) };\n}\n\nasync function ensureKnowledge(name) {\n  const list = await httpJson('GET', `${OWUI_URL}/api/v1/knowledge/`);\n  const arr = Array.isArray(list) ? list : (list && list.data) || [];\n  const found = arr.find(k => k && k.name === name);\n  if (found) return found.id;\n  const created = await httpJson('POST', `${OWUI_URL}/api/v1/knowledge/create`, {\n    name,\n    description: `boxai assignment '${name}' \u2014 PDFs auto-ingested from data/pdfs/incoming/${name}/.`,\n  });\n  return created.id;\n}\n\nasync function uploadFile(filePath, filename) {\n  const { boundary, body } = multipartBody(filePath, filename);\n  return httpJson('POST', `${OWUI_URL}/api/v1/files/`, body, {\n    'Content-Type': 'multipart/form-data; boundary=' + boundary,\n  });\n}\n\nasync function attachFileToKnowledge(kid, fileId) {\n  return httpJson('POST', `${OWUI_URL}/api/v1/knowledge/${kid}/file/add`, { file_id: fileId });\n}\n\nfunction safeMove(src, destDir) {\n  fs.mkdirSync(destDir, { recursive: true });\n  const dest = path.join(destDir, path.basename(src));\n  try { fs.renameSync(src, dest); }\n  catch (_) {\n    fs.copyFileSync(src, dest);\n    fs.unlinkSync(src);\n  }\n  return dest;\n}\n\nconst assignment = $json.assignment;\nconst filename   = $json.filename;\nconst pdfPath    = $json.path;\n\ntry {\n  const kid = await ensureKnowledge(assignment);\n  const file = await uploadFile(pdfPath, filename);\n  await attachFileToKnowledge(kid, file.id);\n  const dest = safeMove(pdfPath, `/data/pdfs/processed/${assignment}`);\n  return [{ json: {\n    status: 'ok',\n    assignment,\n    knowledge_id: kid,\n    file_id: file.id,\n    filename,\n    moved_to: dest,\n  } }];\n} catch (err) {\n  let dest = null;\n  try { dest = safeMove(pdfPath, `/data/pdfs/failed/${assignment}`); } catch (_) {}\n  return [{ json: {\n    status: 'error',\n    assignment,\n    filename,\n    error: String(err && err.message || err),\n    moved_to: dest,\n  } }];\n}\n"
      }
    }
  ],
  "connections": {
    "Manual run": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "List incoming PDFs",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Every minute": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "List incoming PDFs",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "List incoming PDFs": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Upload to Open WebUI",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    }
  }
}

About this workflow

pdf-ingest. Event-driven trigger; 4 nodes.

Source: https://github.com/emilcardell/contained-ai-toolbox/blob/07463c7bbec946996b8b3ca08f7e24054c8209f6/flows/pdf-ingest.json — original creator credit. Request a take-down →

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