n8n  

Data Migration in n8n: A Complete Guide with Real-World Examples

Data Migration N8N

What is Data Migration in n8n?

Data migration in n8n refers to moving workflows, workflow executions, configurations, and related assets from one n8n instance to another, for example:

  • From development → staging

  • From staging → production

  • From self-hosted instance A → instance B

This is needed when you manage multiple environments or need to sync workflows across teams. n8n itself provides export/import of workflows, but project-wide automated/controlled migration for many workflows and all metadata often requires specialized tools or scripts.

Why Do We Need a Data Migration Tool for n8n?

Here are the main reasons:

📌 1. Consistency Across Environments

Manual migration of multiple workflows is error-prone and slow. A tool ensures you get the same workflows in all targets.

📌 2. Save Time & Reduce Risk

Manual copy/paste or UI export/import becomes tedious and unreliable for large teams.

📌 3. Version Control & Audit

You can maintain a history of what was migrated, when, and by whom.

📌 4. Automation

Integrate migration into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., whenever a release branch is deployed). This makes deployment faster and safer.

Where Can You Use Migration Tools?

Migration tools or scripts are useful in scenarios like:

ScenarioExample
Multiple InstancesProduction vs Staging n8n setups
Team CollaborationSync workflows across teams
Backup & RestoreMaintain backups of workflows
CI/CD IntegrationDeploy workflows via GitOps

When Should You Migrate?

Common times you'd trigger a migration:

  • Before product releases

  • After final workflow testing

  • When cloning an environment (dev → prod)

  • During disaster recovery planning

How to Migrate Workflows in n8n

There is no official bulk migration tool built into n8n yet, but you have several approaches:

Method 1 : Use the Built-in Workflow Export / Import

n8n allows exporting workflows as JSON and importing them.

📌 Steps

  1. Open workflow in n8n editor

  2. Click Export

  3. Save JSON

  4. Open target instance

  5. Click Import

  6. Choose JSON file

👉 This is fine for few workflows, but not ideal at scale.

Method 2 : Use n8n REST API To Automate Migration

n8n provides REST APIs that let you list, get, and create workflows programmatically.

📌 Prerequisite

✔ n8n instance must have API enabled and a valid API key.

Example: Node.js + Axios Script

This script fetches all workflows from a source instance and imports them to a target instance.

Replace <SRC_HOST>, <SRC_API_KEY>, <DEST_HOST>, <DEST_API_KEY> as needed

const axios = require("axios");

// Source instance
const src = axios.create({
  baseURL: "https://<SRC_HOST>/rest",
  headers: { "Authorization": "Bearer <SRC_API_KEY>" }
});

// Destination instance
const dest = axios.create({
  baseURL: "https://<DEST_HOST>/rest",
  headers: { "Authorization": "Bearer <DEST_API_KEY>" }
});

async function migrateAllWorkflows() {
  // 1. List workflows from source
  const { data: workflows } = await src.get("/workflows");
  
  console.log(`Found ${workflows.length} workflows in source`);

  for (let wf of workflows) {
    // 2. Get full workflow JSON
    const { data: full } = await src.get(`/workflows/${wf.id}`);
    
    // 3. Create workflow on target
    await dest.post("/workflows", full);
    
    console.log(`Migrated: ${wf.name}`);
  }
}

migrateAllWorkflows().catch(console.error);

What this does:
✔ Lists workflows
✔ Exports JSON
✔ Imports into target instance

Tips on Workflow Migration

✨ 1. Credentials

n8n workflows may depend on credentials (e.g., Gmail, Google Sheets). Those are stored separately, ensure you manually recreate credentials on target or script them via the Credentials API.

Use Case: Migrating Workflows Across Environments

Imagine a company has:

  • Dev instance: dev.n8n.mycompany.com

  • Prod instance: prod.n8n.mycompany.com

You can schedule migration via CI/CD so that after QA approval, workflows from Dev get migrated to Prod once a week automatically using the script above.

Real Deployment Example

You could add this to a CI pipeline (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI):

name: n8n Workflow Sync

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "release/*" ]

jobs:
  migrate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Migrate n8n Workflows
        run: node migrate.js
        env:
          SRC_HOST: ${{ secrets.N8N_DEV }}
          SRC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.N8N_DEV_KEY }}
          DEST_HOST: ${{ secrets.N8N_PROD }}
          DEST_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.N8N_PROD_KEY }}

Future Direction & Tools

There are community discussions about better tooling for n8n migrations. e.g., SaaS tools for bulk migration between instances and versioned migration history.

Membership not found