Engine

The engine node uses the Smartunit Engine Provider to read or change deployed Node-RED flows.

High-impact node: Update Flows, Create Node, and Update Node change the running flow configuration. Restrict access, validate every payload, and keep a recoverable copy of known-good flows.

Actions

Action	Current behavior
Auto	Requires msg.action for every input.
Get tabs	Returns flow-tab definitions.
Get flows	Returns flow configuration for the selected scope.
Get nodes	Lists nodes, optionally filtered by node type and scope.
Update flows	Replaces the complete deployed flow configuration.
Create node	Adds a node definition to a flow tab.
Get node	Returns one node definition by ID.
Update node	Merges a patch into one node and redeploys it.

Scope

Get Flows and Get Nodes support:

• All flows
• Selected tab
• Current tab, meaning the tab containing the Engine node

msg.scope overrides the configured scope. msg.flowId selects a tab when scope is tab.

Runtime Inputs

Field	Purpose
msg.action	Selects the action in Auto mode.
msg.scope	Overrides flow or node-list scope.
msg.flowId	Tab for selected-scope reads or Create Node.
msg.nodeType	Optional Get Nodes filter.
msg.nodeId	Target for Get Node or Update Node.
msg.payload	Flow array, new node definition, or node patch.
msg.regenerateIds	Set to "yes" when Update Flows should generate new IDs.

The current runtime evaluates msg.regenerateIds for Update Flows. Supply it explicitly when importing a template that must receive new IDs.

Create Node

msg.payload must be a plain node-definition object. It must include type. The target tab can come from msg.payload.z, msg.flowId, or the configured Tab. An ID is generated when omitted.

Update Node

msg.payload is merged into the target node. The runtime ignores structural changes to id and type, but other properties can change behavior, position, wiring-related configuration, or node-specific settings.

Update Flows

Update Flows replaces the complete flow configuration with the supplied array. An incomplete payload can remove unrelated tabs or nodes.

Use this action only with trusted, validated data and a recovery procedure. Do not expose Engine actions directly as unrestricted agent tools.

Errors

Invalid IDs, malformed payloads, and provider failures are passed to done(err). Attach a Catch node and record enough context to recover without logging sensitive flow credentials.