| name | n8n-export |
| description | Export all workflows from the local n8n instance into version-controlled JSON under apps/automation/workflows/. Use when the user asks to export, pull, snapshot, or sync workflows from the local n8n. |
n8n-export
Fetches every workflow from the local n8n instance via the REST API and writes each one to apps/automation/workflows/<slug>/workflow.json with instance-specific fields stripped for clean diffs.
Preconditions
- n8n is running locally (
pnpm --filter automation n8n:ps shows it).
apps/automation/.env has N8N_API_KEY set. If missing, stop and direct the user to create one at http://localhost:5678/settings/api and paste into .env.
Steps
-
Pre-flight checks:
grep -E '^N8N_API_KEY=.+' apps/automation/.env >/dev/null || echo 'MISSING N8N_API_KEY'
curl -sf http://localhost:5678/healthz >/dev/null || echo 'n8n not reachable'
-
Run the export:
pnpm --filter automation workflows:export
-
Report the summary to the user (added / updated / removed / skipped-with-notes counts printed by the script).
What's stripped
Instance-specific fields (id, versionId, createdAt, updatedAt, triggerCount, active, shared, meta, pinData) are removed before writing. Tag IDs/timestamps are stripped too; tag names are kept.
Preserved across exports
If apps/automation/workflows/<slug>/README.md exists and is non-empty, the script will NOT delete that directory even if the workflow has been removed from n8n. It warns instead, so you notice the dangling directory and can resolve it intentionally.
Credentials
Credentials are never exported. Only the reference (name + id) appears in the JSON; secrets stay in n8n's encrypted store.
