Automated Workflow Backups to GitHub with PR Creation & Slack Notifications

Who is this for?

This template is ideal for DevOps engineers, automation specialists, and n8n users who manage multiple workflows and want a reliable version control system for backups. It’s especially useful for teams collaborating via GitHub.

What problem is this workflow solving?

Manually backing up n8n workflows to GitHub can be time-consuming and error-prone. This workflow solves that by automating the backup of new and updated n8n workflows, ensuring your GitHub repository always reflects the latest changes.

What this workflow does Retrieves all workflows from your local n8n instance. Decodes their content and compares it with existing GitHub files. Detects newly created or updated workflows. Creates a new Git branch and commits changes. Opens a pull request (PR) to the main branch. Sends a Slack notification when the PR is created.

The system uses GitHub API, n8n, Merge, Set, and Slack nodes for full automation.

Setup GitHub credentials: Add your GitHub API credentials in n8n. Slack integration: Connect your Slack Bot token if you want PR notifications. Repository details: Update github_owner, repo_name, and workflow directory path in the “Define Local Variables” node. n8n API key - Check this doc

How to customize this workflow to your needs Change the workflow directory from workflows/ to a custom path. Modify the Slack message or add email notification support. Add filters to back up only specific workflows based on naming or tags. Adjust branch naming conventions or use different GitHub base branches.

This workflow provides a seamless backup and versioning pipeline, minimizing manual Git interactions and supporting collaborative automation development.