Swarm Essentials Nodes & Playbooks
Memory Lattice, Vault Imprint, Field Forge, Switchboard, List Split/Fold, Web Scout, Quality Gate, HTTP Pulse, and governed sector templates.
Essentials are production primitives that shape data, ground agents in your Knowledge Vault, route multi-way, batch lists, and fail closed before external sends — without burning LLM tokens on glue work. Open them from the Swarm Arsenal or load a starter template.
Core essentials (Arsenal)
- Memory Lattice — retrieve vault snippets (vector + keyword), no LLM
- Vault Imprint — write upstream output into the vault so later runs compound
- HTTP Pulse — n8n HTTP Request: method/URL/auth, {{text}} / {{$json.field}} templates, query params, response path, SSRF-safe
- Field Forge / Text Template / Schema Extract — deterministic field map, {{vars}}, JSON paths
- List Split + Loop + List Fold — batch rows; Loop injects { item, index, count }
- Filter / Limit / Remove Duplicates / Sort — n8n-class list plumbing (no LLM)
- Stop and Error / Pass Through — hard-stop branch or no-op stamp
- Switchboard — multi-route condition (first matching expression wins)
- Web Scout — public web search without an agent LLM
- Quality Gate — block empty/demo/stub payloads before external write
- Error Sentinel — wire from the red error port to log or rethrow
- Run Receipt / Respond to Intake — in-app proof terminal and webhook response closeout
Canvas ergonomics (n8n-class)
- Step I/O: JSON · Schema · Table views on input/output — browse fields and list rows without leaving the inspector
- Schema · insert: on Condition, Filter, Field Forge, templates — click upstream paths to insert $json.field expressions
- Pin (P): freeze last-run output for stable re-tests; Edit pin to mock edge cases. Production runs ignore pins.
- Disable (D): skip a step without deleting it. Item counts appear on run receipts for list envelopes.
- Dirty / stale: amber triangle when config or wiring changed after a successful run — re-run the step to clear
- Groups (⌘G / ⌘⇧G): frame 2+ nodes (members move with the frame), rename, collapse/expand; ungroup keeps the graph
- Swarm AI (⌘J): open the NL generator / assistant (⌘G is reserved for groups)
- Debug pin-all: command palette → “Pin All From Last Run” freezes every successful step for stable iteration
- Shortcuts (? or ⌘/): full canvas shortcut overlay
- Simulate → Optimize Flow: applies faster models on bottleneck agents
- Schema drag-drop: drag fields from Schema · insert into expression inputs
Patterns that work
- RAG: Trigger → Memory Lattice → Agent (cite sources) → Formatter → Run Receipt
- Batch: List Split → Loop → Agent → List Fold → Run Receipt
- Intake: Webhook → Field Forge → Switchboard → handlers → Respond to Intake
- Research: Web Scout → Memory Lattice → Agent → Vault Imprint
- Safe send: Agent → Quality Gate → Slack/Email (requireEvalBeforeWrite)
Governed sector playbooks
Templates are pinned under Swarm → Templates. Each embeds essentials + HITL where side effects matter:
- Governed Support Desk
- Governed Sales Pipeline
- Governed Content Publish
- Governed Ops Incident
- Governed Finance Review
- Governed HR Onboarding
Also: List Batch, Web + Vault, Intake Switchboard, HTTP → Extract starters for learning the primitives.
Natural language generate
The Swarm NL generator and canvas AI ops understand essentials types (e.g. Memory Lattice, list_split, Switchboard). Prefer real retrieve/search/shape nodes over inventing fake “retriever agents.”