Automated daily workflow backup to GitHub

This workflow provides a robust solution for automatically backing up all your n8n workflows to a designated GitHub repository on a daily basis. By leveraging the n8n API and GitHub API, it ensures your workflows are version-controlled and securely stored, safeguarding against data loss and facilitating disaster recovery.

How it works

The automation follows these key steps:

1. Scheduled trigger: The workflow is initiated automatically every day at a pre-configured time.
2. List existing backups: It first connects to your GitHub repository to retrieve a list of already backed-up workflow files. This helps in determining whether a workflow's backup file needs to be created or updated.
3. Retrieve n8n workflows: The workflow then fetches all current workflows directly from your n8n instance using the n8n REST API.
4. Process and prepare: Each retrieved workflow is individually processed. Its data is converted into JSON format. This JSON content is then encoded to base64, a format suitable for GitHub API file operations.
5. Commit to GitHub: For each n8n workflow:
   • A standardized filename is generated (e.g., workflow-name-tag.json).
   • The workflow checks if a file with this name already exists in the GitHub repository (based on the list fetched in step 2).
   • If the file exists: It updates the existing file with the latest version of the workflow.
   • If it's a new workflow (file doesn't exist): A new file is created in the repository.
   • Each commit is timestamped for clarity.

This process ensures that you always have an up-to-date version of all your n8n workflows stored securely in your GitHub version control system, providing peace of mind and a reliable backup history.

Pre-requisites

Before you can use this template, please ensure you have the following:

• An active n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud).
• A GitHub account.
• A GitHub repository created where you want to store the workflow backups.
• A GitHub Personal Access Token with repo scope (or fine-grained token with read/write access to the specific backup repository). This token will be used for GitHub API authentication.
• n8n API credentials (API key) for your n8n instance.

Set up steps

Setting up this workflow should take approximately 10-15 minutes if you have your credentials ready.

1. Import the template: Import this workflow into your n8n instance.
2. Configure n8n API credentials:
   • Locate the "Retrieve workflows" node.
   • In the "Credentials" section for "n8n API", create new credentials (or select existing ones).
   • Enter your n8n instance URL and your n8n API Key (you can create your n8n api key in the settings of your n8n instance)
3. Configure GitHub credentials:
   • Locate the "List files from repo" node (and subsequently "Update file" / "Upload file" nodes which will use the same credential).
   • In the "Credentials" section for "GitHub API", create new credentials.
   • Select OAuth2/Personal Access Token authentication method.
   • Enter the GitHub Personal Access Token you generated as per the pre-requisites.
4. Specify repository details:
   • In the "List files from repo", "Update file", and "Upload file" GitHub nodes:
     • Set the Owner: Your GitHub username or organization name.
     • Set the Repository: The name of your GitHub repository dedicated to backups.
     • Set the Branch (e.g., main or master) where backups should be stored.
     • (Optional) Specify a Path within the repository if you want backups in a specific folder (e.g., n8n_backups/). Leave blank to store in the root.
5. Adjust schedule (Optional):
   • Select the "Schedule Trigger" node.
   • Modify the trigger interval (e.g., change the time of day or frequency) as needed. By default, it's set for a daily run.
6. Activate the workflow: Save and activate the workflow.

Explanation of nodes

Here's a detailed breakdown of each node used in this workflow:

• Schedule trigger
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger
  • Purpose: This node automatically starts the workflow based on a defined schedule (e.g., daily at midnight).
• List files from repo
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.github
  • Purpose: Connects to your specified GitHub repository and lists all files, primarily to check for existing workflow backups.
• Aggregate
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.aggregate
  • Purpose: Consolidates the list of file names obtained from the "List files from repo" node into a single item for easier lookup later in the "Check if file exists" node.
• Retrieve workflows
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.n8n
  • Purpose: Uses the n8n API to fetch a list of all workflows currently present in your n8n instance.
• Json file
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.convertToFile
  • Purpose: Takes the data of each workflow (retrieved by the "Retrieve workflows" node) and converts it into a structured JSON file format.
• To base64
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.extractFromFile
  • Purpose: Converts the binary content of the JSON file (from the "Json file" node) into a base64 encoded string. This encoding is required by the GitHub API for file content.
• Commit date & file name
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.set
  • Purpose: Prepares metadata for the GitHub commit. It generates:
    • commitDate: The current date and time for the commit message.
    • fileName: A standardized file name for the workflow backup (e.g., my-workflow-vps-backups.json), typically using the workflow's name and its first tag.
• Check if file exists
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.if
  • Purpose: A conditional node. It checks if the fileName (generated by "Commit date & file name") is present in the list of files aggregated by the "Aggregate" node. This determines if the workflow backup already exists in GitHub.
• Update file
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.github
  • Purpose: If the "Check if file exists" node determines the file does exist, this node updates that existing file in your GitHub repository with the latest workflow content (base64 encoded) and a commit message.
• Upload file
  • Type: n8n-nodes-base.github
  • Purpose: If the "Check if file exists" node determines the file does not exist, this node creates and uploads a new file to your GitHub repository with the workflow content and a commit message.

Customization

Here are a few ways you can customize this template to better fit your needs:

• Backup path: In the GitHub nodes ("List files from repo", "Update file", "Upload file"), you can specify a Path parameter to store backups in a specific folder within your repository (e.g., workflows/ or daily_backups/).
• Filename convention: Modify the "Commit date & file name" node (specifically the expression for fileName) to change how backup files are named. For example, you might want to include the workflow ID or a different date format.
• Commit messages: Customize the commit messages in the "Update file" and "Upload file" GitHub nodes to include more specific information if needed.
• Error handling: Consider adding error handling branches (e.g., using the "Error Trigger" node or checking for node execution failures) to notify you if a backup fails for any reason.
• Filtering workflows: If you only want to back up specific workflows (e.g., those with a particular tag or name pattern), you can add a "Filter" node after "Retrieve workflows" to include only the desired workflows in the backup process.
• Backup frequency: Adjust the "Schedule Trigger" node to change how often the backup runs (e.g., hourly, weekly, or on specific days).

Template was created in n8n v1.92.2