Deploy workflows from Google Drive to n8n instance
Automatically deploy n8n workflows by simply dropping JSON files into a Google Drive folder—this template watches for new exports, cleans and imports them into your n8n instance, applies a tag, and then archives the processed files.
### Who is this template for?
This workflow template is designed for n8n power users, and automation specialists who need a simple, reliable way to bulk‑deploy or version‑control n8n workflows via Google Drive. It’s perfect if you:
- Manage multiple n8n instances (staging, production, etc.)
- Want an easy “drop‑in” approach to publish new or updated workflows
- Prefer storing/exporting JSON in Drive rather than editing in the UI
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### Use case
Manually importing `.json` exports into n8n is slow and error‑prone. With this template you can:
- Keep your workflows in a shared Drive folder (version control friendly)
- Automatically sanitize each file so only supported settings go through
- Tag deployed workflows consistently for easy filtering
- Move processed files to a “Deployed” folder for clear change tracking
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### How it works
1. **Watch “ToDeploy” folder** in Google Drive for new `.json` files
2. **Download & parse** each file into a JSON object
3. **Clean payload**: strip out everything except the allowed `executionOrder` (and timezone if you choose)
4. **POST** the cleaned workflow to your n8n instance via `/api/v1/workflows`
5. **PUT** a predefined tag onto the newly created workflow
6. **Move file** to your “Deployed” folder when import succeeds, or capture the workflow name & error if it fails
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### Setup instructions
**1.** In Google Drive create a **ToDeploy** folder and a **Deployed** folder
+ Update "**Google Drive Trigger -ToDeploy folder**" to your ToDeploy folder
+ Update "**Move JSON file to Deployed folder**" to you Deployed folder
**2.** Create a **n8n API key**:
+Go to Settings > n8n API
+Select Create an API key
+Copy API Key
**3.** In "**Get Existing Workflow Tags**" node:
Create n8n API Authentication
**Authentication:** Predefined Credential Type
**Credential Type:** n8n API
Create new credential:
+Paste in API key
+Baseurl: https://SUBDOMAIN.YOURDOMAINNAME.com/api/v1/
**4.** Add n8n API authentication to:
+ "**Create n8n Workflow**" node
+ "**Set Workflow Tag**" node
**5.** Add your N8N instance URL to the **N8N_Instance_URL** variable in "**Set n8n URL variable**" node.
**6.** Run **"1. Get Workflow Tags"** flow and copy the ID of your chosen tag.
**7.** In "**Set n8n API URL & Tag ID variables**" node:
+ Add the Workflow Tag ID to the **N8N_Instance_Tag** variable
+ Add your N8N instance URL to the **N8N_Instance_URL** variable
**8.** Set workflow to Active
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### How to adjust it to your needs
- **Use different tags**: run **Get Existing Workflow Tags** on start‑up to refresh available tags, or hard‑code multiple tags in the **Set Workflow Tag** node.
- **Add notifications**: connect the error branch to Slack or Email nodes so you get alerted if an import fails.
- **Swap Drive for another storage**: replace Google Drive nodes with Dropbox, S3, or GitHub triggers if you prefer a different source for your JSON files.
