Automate Wise Transfer Tracking with Airtable Using n8n

1. Opening Problem Statement

Meet Sarah, a finance manager responsible for tracking multiple international payments sent via Wise for her growing company. Each transfer’s status, date, reference, and amount demand manual monitoring across several platforms — a task that consumes hours weekly and frequently leads to missed updates and data errors. This labor-intensive process drags productivity down, increases audit risks, and delays reconciliation.

For Sarah, manually updating transfer details into spreadsheets or databases is inefficient and prone to mistakes. What if there was a way to automatically capture every transfer state change from Wise and neatly log it into an easy-to-use system like Airtable? This would save precious hours and boost operational accuracy.

2. What This Automation Does

This n8n workflow automatically listens for transfer state changes in Wise and records key transfer details in Airtable without manual intervention. Specifically, when a transfer updates its state (e.g., processing, completed, failed), the workflow triggers and performs the following:

• Detects a transfer state change event from Wise in real time
• Fetches detailed transfer data by transfer ID via Wise API
• Extracts crucial data like Transfer ID, Date created, Reference, and Amount
• Formats this information into a structured record
• Appends the formatted transfer record as a new entry in Airtable Table 1
• Logs transfers instantly for easy tracking and audit readiness

This automation saves Sarah hours every week, completely eliminates manual tracking errors, and enables near-instant financial reconciliation.

3. Prerequisites ⚙️

• A Wise account with API access enabled to receive transfer state change webhooks and query transfer details.
• An Airtable account with API enabled and access to create/append records in a base and table.
• Configured Wise API Credentials in n8n.
• Configured Airtable API Credentials in n8n.
• An active n8n instance (cloud-hosted or self-hosted), where you can add and run this workflow.

4. Step-By-Step Guide

Step 1: Setting up the Wise Trigger Node for Transfer State Changes

Go to your n8n editor, click Add Node, and select Wise Trigger from the node list.

In the parameters panel, set Event to tranferStateChange to listen specifically for transfer updates.

Enter your Wise profile ID in the Profile ID field — this tells the trigger which Wise account to listen for.

Connect your Wise API credentials under Credentials → Wise API Credentials.

You should see the node ready with a webhook URL generated — this is where Wise will send transfer state change notifications.

Common mistake: Ensure the event value is exactly tranferStateChange and not misspelled, or the webhook won’t trigger correctly.

Step 2: Configure the Wise Node to Fetch Transfer Details

Add a new node called Wise and select it to perform API calls.

Set the Resource field to transfer and in Transfer ID, enter: {{$json["data"]["resource"]["id"]}} to dynamically get the transfer ID from the webhook data.

Select your Wise API credentials again for authentication.

This node fetches detailed transfer info as soon as the event is received.

Common mistake: Double-check the JSON expression syntax; any mistakes will cause errors in transfer data lookup.

Step 3: Extract and Format Transfer Data with the Set Node

Add a Set node next to transform the incoming data into a clean format for Airtable.

Configure the node by adding string fields for Transfer ID, Date (creation timestamp), Reference text, and Amount (source value) with the following mappings:

Transfer ID: {{$json["id"]}
Date: {{$json["created"]}
Reference: {{$json["reference"]}
Amount: {{$json["sourceValue"]}}

Enable Keep Only Set to remove other unnecessary data.

This prepares a neat object to send to Airtable.

Common mistake: Forgetting to enable Keep Only Set can cause unexpected data to be appended.

Step 4: Append Data into Airtable

Add an Airtable node and set Operation to append.

Choose the target table, for example, “Table 1”.

Make sure you have linked your Airtable API credentials.

Connect the Set node’s output into the Airtable node.

When the workflow runs, it will add a new record with all the transfer fields you set.

Common mistake: Ensure the Airtable table name matches exactly; otherwise, the append operation fails.

5. Customizations ✏️

• Add More Transfer Fields: In the Set node, add additional fields like “Status,” “Recipient Type,” or “Currency” by expanding the values with proper JSON expressions from the Wise node output. This lets you track more details in Airtable.
• Change Airtable Table: In the Airtable node, replace the table name “Table 1” with a custom table in your base to organize data differently or separate datasets.
• Filter Transfer Events: Introduce a IF node before the Set node to only process specific transfers (e.g., only completed ones) by checking the transfer status in the Wise node data.

6. Troubleshooting 🔧

Problem: “Webhook not triggering when transfer changes.”
Cause: Wrong event type or webhook URL not properly registered in Wise developer settings.
Solution: Verify the event is “tranferStateChange” exactly. Recheck webhook URL registration in Wise’s developer console and test with a sample transfer.

Problem: “Airtable append operation fails with error message.”
Cause: Incorrect table name or missing permissions.
Solution: Confirm the Airtable table name exactly matches and that the API key has append rights.

7. Pre-Production Checklist ✅

• Test Wise webhook connectivity by making a test transfer state change in Wise and confirming the Wise Trigger node receives data.
• Verify transfer details are correctly fetched in the Wise node by reviewing executed data.
• Confirm data fields are properly formatted in the Set node and appear as expected.
• Ensure Airtable records are appended successfully after running the workflow manually.
• Backup your Airtable base before mass logging to prevent data corruption.

8. Deployment Guide

Once you successfully test the workflow manually and confirm Airtable entries update correctly, activate the workflow in n8n by toggling the active switch.

Ensure your n8n instance runs reliably and monitor the workflow’s execution logs for any errors during runtime.

This workflow runs continuously, listening for real-time transfer updates from Wise, so stable internet and uptime are essential.

9. FAQs

Q: Can I use Google Sheets instead of Airtable?
A: Yes, but you’d need to replace the Airtable node with a Google Sheets node configured to append rows. Field mapping will differ slightly.

Q: Does this consume a lot of Wise API credits?
A: This workflow triggers per transfer state change, so usage depends on your transfer volume. Wise’s API limits typically cover moderate usage without extra cost.

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes, API credentials and webhooks are securely managed in n8n, but always follow best practices for credential storage and n8n access control.

10. Conclusion

You’ve just built a seamless automation that takes the pain out of manually tracking Wise transfers by instantly logging detailed transfer data into Airtable. This saves hours weekly, reduces human error, and facilitates easy financial audits.

Next, consider extending this automation by adding notifications for failed transfers via Slack or emails, integrating reconciling workflows with accounting software, or generating automated transfer summary reports periodically.

Keep experimenting with n8n to build more custom automations tailored to your financial tracking needs — you’ve got a powerful tool at your fingertips!