Secure MongoDB Data Retrieval API with Validation & HTTP Responses

This n8n workflow provides a robust, secure API endpoint for retrieving all documents from any specified MongoDB collection via a simple HTTP GET request. It starts with a webhook trigger that captures the collection name from the URL path (e.g., /webhook/:collectionName). Input is rigorously validated using a regex pattern (^(!system.)[a-zA-Z0-9._]{1,120}$) to block system collections, prevent injection attacks, and enforce length limits, ensuring only safe alphanumeric, underscore, and dot characters are allowed.

A conditional node checks validation results: invalid inputs trigger immediate 4xx error responses with clear messages, halting execution to protect the database. Valid requests proceed to query the MongoDB collection, fetching all documents. Responses are standardized by converting MongoDB's _id fields to 'id', wrapping data in a consistent JSON envelope, and returning 2xx success codes. Comprehensive error handling covers connection issues and empty results.

Benefits include enhanced security for exposing database reads publicly without custom backend code, rapid API deployment, and compliance with best practices like input sanitization. Ideal use cases: internal dashboards pulling order/inventory data, third-party app integrations for customer records, or prototyping read-only APIs for e-commerce, analytics, or CMS systems. Saves hours of development time while minimizing vulnerabilities.