Reading documents in n8v

When document reading is enabled for your account, GitHub file links in chats and work items open inside n8v. The small arrow beside a link opens its original on GitHub.

Read a document

Open Docs in the sidebar and enter owner/repository, or select the Docs tab in a chat's details panel. The index puts the root README first and loads document titles in batches. Search matches headings and paths; the progress message tells you when all titles are ready. Recently opened documents appear above the list.

The reader supports Markdown tables, task lists, footnotes, highlighted code and Mermaid diagrams. Relative links and images resolve within the same repository, and images a document names by their GitHub address are read through your connection too. HTML is sanitized; scripts, forms and embedded pages are removed. Other files can be downloaded.

Know which version you are reading

The header shows the ref and the pinned commit. Latest on main opens the same file on the default branch when it exists there. Repositories with another default branch show that name instead.

A deleted branch is reported explicitly. The reader does not silently substitute another version. GitHub opens the original URL; Source shows the original file text and line numbers.

Read through an assistant or the API

The MCP tool doc_render and GET /api/v1/docs accept repo, ref, path and format (markdown or html). They use the same renderer as the app. API keys and connected assistants need files:read, and a key's repository restrictions still apply.

{
  "repo": "your-org/your-repo",
  "ref": "main",
  "path": "README.md",
  "format": "markdown"
}

See API access for authentication and connecting assistants for MCP setup.

Access and limits

n8v reads through your existing GitHub connection. Environment files, private keys and other denied paths cannot be read or downloaded here. Symlinks are excluded. If GitHub returns an incomplete tree, n8v refuses any file it cannot verify as a regular file.

Rendered documents are limited to 512 KiB; downloads to 10 MiB. Reads share an account budget of 60 units a minute: a document or a page of the index spends three, an image or a download one. Ref lookups stay fresh for one minute, and immutable file content is cached. Repository permission is revalidated before cached content is returned.

Document reading is off by default. An administrator can enable nativeDocs for an account in Admin, Feature flags.