Back up workflows to GitHub with deterministic JSON exports

Quick overview

This workflow runs daily and exports all workflows from your n8n instance, normalizes them into deterministic JSON files, and pushes the result to a GitHub repository using the Git Data API so changes are committed only when the exports actually differ.

How it works

1. Runs every day at 03:05, or on any schedule you set.
2. Retrieves every workflow from your n8n instance through the n8n API, archived ones included.
3. Normalizes each export: volatile fields are stripped, JSON keys are sorted, archived workflows are filed separately, and a README inventory is generated.
4. Reads the current branch reference, commit and repository tree from GitHub.
5. Builds one Git tree holding every workflow file, and marks orphaned exports for deletion so a renamed or deleted workflow does not linger in the backup.
6. Creates a single commit and moves the branch, but only when the new tree differs from the current one, so an unchanged run writes nothing.

Setup

1. Create a private GitHub repository and initialize it with at least one commit, then decide the target branch and backup folder.
2. Create a fine-grained GitHub token scoped to that repository with Contents read and write, and store it in a GitHub API credential.
3. Create an n8n API key in Settings, store it in an n8n API credential, and assign it to the List workflows node.
4. Assign the GitHub API credential to the six HTTP Request nodes. Update owner, repo, branch and folder in the Configuration node, then run the workflow manually twice: the second run should commit nothing.

Requirements

• n8n with the public API enabled, plus an n8n API credential

Customization

• A private GitHub repository containing at least one commit

Additional info

A GitHub fine-grained token limited to that repository, with Contents read and write