Automatically update n8n version

🔄 n8n Workflow: Check and Update n8n Version

This workflow automatically checks if the local n8n version is outdated and, if so, creates a file to signal an update is needed.

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🖥️ Working Environment

• Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04
• n8n Installation: Docker container

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📁 Project Directory Structure

n8n/ ├── check_update.txt ├── check-update.sh ├── compose.yml ├── update_n8n.cron

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🧾 File Descriptions

check_update.txt

Contains a single word:

• true: Update is needed
• false: No update required

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check-update.sh

#!/bin/bash
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

if grep -q "true" /home/sysadmin/n8n/check_update.txt; then
    # Place your update logic here
    echo "Update needed - please insert update logic"
    echo true > /home/sysadmin/n8n/check_update.txt
fi

Purpose:

• Checks the contents of check_update.txt
• If it contains true, executes update logic (currently a placeholder)
• Resets check_update.txt to true

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update_n8n.cron

SHELL=/bin/sh
10 5 * * * /bin/sh /home/sysadmin/n8n/check-update.sh

Purpose:

• Runs the check-update.sh script daily at 5:10 AM
• Uses /bin/sh as the shell environment

🧩 n8n Workflow Breakdown

1. Schedule Trigger 🕓

• Purpose: Triggers the workflow every day at 5:00 AM
• Node Type: Schedule Trigger

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2. Get the latest n8n version 🌐

• Purpose: Fetches the latest version of n8n from npm
• Endpoint: https://registry.npmjs.org/n8n/latest
• Node Type: HTTP Request

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3. Get Local n8n version 🖥️

• Purpose: Retrieves the currently running n8n version
• Endpoint: http://192.168.100.18:5678/rest/settings
• Node Type: HTTP Request

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4. If 🔍

• Purpose: Compares the local and latest versions
• Condition: If not equal → update is needed

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5. SSH1 🧾

• Purpose: Writes the result to a file on the host via SSH
• Logic:

echo "{{ $('If').params.conditions ? 'false' : 'true' }}" > check_update.txt

Effect: Updates check_update.txt with "true" if an update is needed, "false" otherwise.

🛠️ Setting up Crontab on Ubuntu

1. Register the cron job with:

crontab update_n8n.cron

2. Verify that your cron job is registered:

crontab -l

✅ Result

• 5:00 AM – n8n workflow checks versions and writes result to check_update.txt
• 5:10 AM – Cron runs check-update.sh to respond to update flag