> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.n8n.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.n8n.io/connect/n8n-api/variables.md).

# Variables

Operations about variables

## Retrieve variables

> Retrieve variables from your instance.

```json
{"openapi":"3.0.0","info":{"title":"n8n Public API","version":"1.1.1"},"tags":[{"name":"Variables","description":"Operations about variables"}],"servers":[{"url":"/api/v1","description":"Current n8n instance (self-hosted built-in playground)"},{"url":"{url}/api/v1","description":"Self-hosted n8n instance","variables":{"url":{"default":"https://example.com"}}}],"security":[{"ApiKeyAuth":[]},{"BearerAuth":[]},{"CookieAuth":[]}],"components":{"securitySchemes":{"ApiKeyAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"header","name":"X-N8N-API-KEY"},"BearerAuth":{"type":"http","scheme":"bearer","bearerFormat":"JWT"},"CookieAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"cookie","name":"n8n-auth"}},"parameters":{"limit":{"name":"limit","in":"query","description":"The maximum number of items to return.","required":false,"schema":{"type":"number","default":100,"maximum":250}},"cursor":{"name":"cursor","in":"query","description":"Paginate by setting the cursor parameter to the nextCursor attribute returned by the previous request's response. Default value fetches the first \"page\" of the collection. See pagination for more detail.","required":false,"style":"form","schema":{"type":"string"}}},"responses":{"badRequest":{"description":"The request is invalid or provides malformed data."},"unauthorized":{"description":"Unauthorized"},"forbidden":{"description":"Forbidden"}}},"paths":{"/variables":{"get":{"operationId":"getVariables","tags":["Variables"],"summary":"Retrieve variables","description":"Retrieve variables from your instance.","parameters":[{"$ref":"#/components/parameters/limit"},{"$ref":"#/components/parameters/cursor"},{"schema":{"type":"string"},"required":false,"name":"projectId","in":"query"},{"schema":{"type":"string","enum":["empty"]},"required":false,"name":"state","in":"query"}],"responses":{"200":{"description":"Operation successful.","content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"type":"object","properties":{"data":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","properties":{"id":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"key":{"type":"string"},"value":{"type":"string"},"type":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"project":{"type":"object","nullable":true,"properties":{"id":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"name":{"type":"string"},"type":{"type":"string","enum":["personal","team"],"readOnly":true},"icon":{"type":"object","description":"Icon of the project, or null when the project has none","properties":{"type":{"type":"string","enum":["emoji","icon"]},"value":{"type":"string"},"color":{"type":"string"}},"required":["type","value"],"nullable":true},"description":{"type":"string","nullable":true},"customTelemetryTags":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","properties":{"key":{"type":"string"},"value":{"type":"string"}},"required":["key","value"]}},"creatorId":{"type":"string","nullable":true},"createdAt":{"type":"string","format":"date-time","readOnly":true},"updatedAt":{"type":"string","format":"date-time","readOnly":true}},"required":["id","name","type","icon","description","customTelemetryTags","creatorId","createdAt","updatedAt"]}},"required":["id","key","value","type","project"]}},"nextCursor":{"type":"string","nullable":true}},"required":["data","nextCursor"]}}}},"400":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/badRequest"},"401":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/unauthorized"},"403":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/forbidden"}}}}}}
```

## Create a variable

> Create a variable in your instance.

```json
{"openapi":"3.0.0","info":{"title":"n8n Public API","version":"1.1.1"},"tags":[{"name":"Variables","description":"Operations about variables"}],"servers":[{"url":"/api/v1","description":"Current n8n instance (self-hosted built-in playground)"},{"url":"{url}/api/v1","description":"Self-hosted n8n instance","variables":{"url":{"default":"https://example.com"}}}],"security":[{"ApiKeyAuth":[]},{"BearerAuth":[]},{"CookieAuth":[]}],"components":{"securitySchemes":{"ApiKeyAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"header","name":"X-N8N-API-KEY"},"BearerAuth":{"type":"http","scheme":"bearer","bearerFormat":"JWT"},"CookieAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"cookie","name":"n8n-auth"}},"responses":{"badRequest":{"description":"The request is invalid or provides malformed data."},"unauthorized":{"description":"Unauthorized"},"forbidden":{"description":"Forbidden"},"unsupportedMediaType":{"description":"Unsupported media type."}}},"paths":{"/variables":{"post":{"operationId":"createVariable","tags":["Variables"],"summary":"Create a variable","description":"Create a variable in your instance.","requestBody":{"required":true,"content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"type":"object","properties":{"id":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"key":{"type":"string","minLength":1,"maxLength":50,"pattern":"^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$"},"value":{"type":"string","maxLength":1000},"type":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"projectId":{"type":"string","maxLength":36}},"required":["key","value"],"additionalProperties":false}}}},"responses":{"201":{"description":"Operation successful."},"400":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/badRequest"},"401":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/unauthorized"},"403":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/forbidden"},"415":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/unsupportedMediaType"}}}}}}
```

## Update a variable

> Update a variable from your instance.

```json
{"openapi":"3.0.0","info":{"title":"n8n Public API","version":"1.1.1"},"tags":[{"name":"Variables","description":"Operations about variables"}],"servers":[{"url":"/api/v1","description":"Current n8n instance (self-hosted built-in playground)"},{"url":"{url}/api/v1","description":"Self-hosted n8n instance","variables":{"url":{"default":"https://example.com"}}}],"security":[{"ApiKeyAuth":[]},{"BearerAuth":[]},{"CookieAuth":[]}],"components":{"securitySchemes":{"ApiKeyAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"header","name":"X-N8N-API-KEY"},"BearerAuth":{"type":"http","scheme":"bearer","bearerFormat":"JWT"},"CookieAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"cookie","name":"n8n-auth"}},"responses":{"badRequest":{"description":"The request is invalid or provides malformed data."},"unauthorized":{"description":"Unauthorized"},"forbidden":{"description":"Forbidden"},"notFound":{"description":"The specified resource was not found."},"unsupportedMediaType":{"description":"Unsupported media type."}}},"paths":{"/variables/{id}":{"put":{"operationId":"updateVariable","tags":["Variables"],"summary":"Update a variable","description":"Update a variable from your instance.","parameters":[{"schema":{"type":"string"},"required":true,"description":"The ID of the variable.","name":"id","in":"path"}],"requestBody":{"required":true,"content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"type":"object","properties":{"id":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"key":{"type":"string","minLength":1,"maxLength":50,"pattern":"^[A-Za-z0-9_]+$"},"value":{"type":"string","maxLength":1000},"type":{"type":"string","readOnly":true},"projectId":{"type":"string","nullable":true,"maxLength":36}},"required":["key","value"],"additionalProperties":false}}}},"responses":{"204":{"description":"Operation successful."},"400":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/badRequest"},"401":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/unauthorized"},"403":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/forbidden"},"404":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/notFound"},"415":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/unsupportedMediaType"}}}}}}
```

## Delete a variable

> Delete a variable from your instance.

```json
{"openapi":"3.0.0","info":{"title":"n8n Public API","version":"1.1.1"},"tags":[{"name":"Variables","description":"Operations about variables"}],"servers":[{"url":"/api/v1","description":"Current n8n instance (self-hosted built-in playground)"},{"url":"{url}/api/v1","description":"Self-hosted n8n instance","variables":{"url":{"default":"https://example.com"}}}],"security":[{"ApiKeyAuth":[]},{"BearerAuth":[]},{"CookieAuth":[]}],"components":{"securitySchemes":{"ApiKeyAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"header","name":"X-N8N-API-KEY"},"BearerAuth":{"type":"http","scheme":"bearer","bearerFormat":"JWT"},"CookieAuth":{"type":"apiKey","in":"cookie","name":"n8n-auth"}},"responses":{"unauthorized":{"description":"Unauthorized"},"forbidden":{"description":"Forbidden"},"notFound":{"description":"The specified resource was not found."}}},"paths":{"/variables/{id}":{"delete":{"operationId":"deleteVariable","tags":["Variables"],"summary":"Delete a variable","description":"Delete a variable from your instance.","parameters":[{"schema":{"type":"string"},"required":true,"description":"The ID of the variable.","name":"id","in":"path"}],"responses":{"204":{"description":"Operation successful."},"401":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/unauthorized"},"403":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/forbidden"},"404":{"$ref":"#/components/responses/notFound"}}}}}}
```