Public Holiday Lookup via External API and Webhook - n8n Workflow

Developers needing a micro-service to check holiday dates quickly.
System Integrators building custom scheduling or payroll solutions.
Users looking for practical n8n workflow templates demonstrating API proxying.
Anyone needing to deploy a public-facing API endpoint using n8n.

This elegant and efficient n8n workflow solves the problem of needing quick, programmatic access to worldwide public holiday data without managing complex API keys or infrastructure. By utilizing an n8n trigger webhook, you can define a custom endpoint that accepts required parameters (year and countryCode). The n8n node then dynamically constructs the request URL for the Nager.Date API. This powerful n8n workflow demonstrates how to build lightweight API proxies, allowing external applications to leverage third-party data services via your own secure n8n instance. This specific n8n workflow template is invaluable for scheduling, resource planning, or regional reporting systems.

This automation begins with the Receive Holiday Request Webhook, which serves as the starting n8n trigger. This n8n trigger is configured to listen for incoming POST requests at the /public-holidays path.

1. Receiving Input: The webhook expects a JSON payload containing the year (e.g., 2024) and countryCode (e.g., US, DE).


2. Making the API Call: Once the n8n trigger receives the data, the flow passes to the Get Public Holidays n8n node (an HTTP Request node). This node uses expressions to pull the received year and countryCode variables and inserts them directly into the Nager.Date API endpoint URL.


3. Data Retrieval: The Get Public Holidays n8n node executes the GET request and retrieves the list of public holidays in JSON format.


4. Responding to Caller: Finally, the Respond with Holiday Data n8n node instantly sends the full JSON response received from the Nager.Date API back to the original source that called the initial n8n trigger webhook. This completes the entire n8n workflow cycle, acting as a seamless data proxy.

To utilize this n8n workflow template, follow these steps:

1. Import: Copy the entire JSON code and import it into your self-hosted or cloud n8n instance.


2. Activate: Ensure the workflow is set to 'Active'.


3. Get Webhook URL: The primary n8n trigger node (Receive Holiday Request Webhook) automatically generates a unique URL. You must copy and use this full URL.


4. Execution: Send a POST request to this URL, ensuring your payload is JSON and contains the required keys:

{
      "year": 2025,
      "countryCode": "US"
    }

1. Review: Test the n8n workflow using the 'Test Workflow' button or an external tool like Postman or Insomnia. The response should contain the public holiday data.

This compact n8n workflow relies on three critical nodes:

Receive Holiday Request Webhook (Webhook n8n Trigger)
Function: Acts as the entry point and primary n8n trigger for the entire automation. It exposes a custom API endpoint.
Key Configuration: HTTP Method is set to POST, and the Response Mode is set to 'Response Node' to defer the reply until the data is fetched.

Get Public Holidays (HTTP Request n8n Node)
Function: Fetches the holiday data from the external Nager.Date API.
Key Configuration: The URL is dynamically constructed using expressions to inject data from the incoming request body: =https://date.nager.at/api/v3/PublicHolidays/{{ $json.body.year }}/{{ $json.body.countryCode }}.

Respond with Holiday Data (Respond to Webhook n8n Node)
Function: Terminates the n8n workflow and returns the API results back to the caller.
* Key Configuration: Set to 'All Incoming Items' to ensure the raw JSON data received from the previous n8n node (the public holiday list) is returned directly as the webhook response.