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Deploy Workflows from Google Drive to n8n Instance

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Created by: Jason Guest || jpguest

Jason Guest

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Last update 2 months ago

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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

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

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

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

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.