1N8N BACKUP TARGETS
2──────────────────
3 
41. WORKFLOWS
5   └── All workflow definitions
6   └── Active/inactive states
7   └── Settings & configurations
8 
92. CREDENTIALS
10   └── API keys, tokens
11   └── OAuth connections
12   └── Database passwords
13   └── ⚠️ ENCRYPTED - needs key!
14 
153. DATABASE
16   └── execution_entity (history)
17   └── workflow_entity (workflows)
18   └── credentials_entity (creds)
19   └── webhook_entity (webhooks)
20 
214. ENCRYPTION KEY
22   └── N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY
23   └── ⚠️ Without this = data loss!
24 
255. ENVIRONMENT CONFIG
26   └── .env file
27   └── docker-compose.yml
28   └── nginx.conf

11. Open workflow
22. Click ⋮ menu → Download
33. Save as JSON file
4 
5Or export all:
61. Settings → Personal
72. Export workflows
83. Choose "All Workflows"

1❌ Cannot export credentials via UI
2❌ For security reasons
3✅ Must backup database instead

1# Export all workflows
2docker exec n8n n8n export:workflow --all --output=/backup/workflows.json
3 
4# Export specific workflow
5docker exec n8n n8n export:workflow --id=YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID --output=/backup/workflow.json
6 
7# Export credentials (requires encryption key)
8docker exec n8n n8n export:credentials --all --output=/backup/credentials.json
9 
10# Decrypt credentials for backup
11docker exec n8n n8n export:credentials --all --decrypted --output=/backup/credentials-plain.json

1#!/bin/bash
2# backup-postgres.sh
3 
4DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
5BACKUP_DIR=/backups/postgres
6 
7# Create backup
8PGPASSWORD=$POSTGRES_PASSWORD pg_dump \
9  -h postgres \
10  -U n8n \
11  -d n8n \
12  -F c \
13  -f "$BACKUP_DIR/n8n_$DATE.dump"
14 
15# Compress
16gzip "$BACKUP_DIR/n8n_$DATE.dump"
17 
18# Cleanup old backups (keep 30 days)
19find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.dump.gz" -mtime +30 -delete
20 
21echo "Backup complete: n8n_$DATE.dump.gz"

1#!/bin/bash
2# backup-sqlite.sh
3 
4DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
5BACKUP_DIR=/backups/sqlite
6N8N_DATA=/home/node/.n8n
7 
8# Stop n8n for consistency (optional)
9docker compose stop n8n
10 
11# Copy database
12cp "$N8N_DATA/database.sqlite" "$BACKUP_DIR/n8n_$DATE.sqlite"
13 
14# Compress
15gzip "$BACKUP_DIR/n8n_$DATE.sqlite"
16 
17# Restart
18docker compose start n8n

1#!/bin/bash
2# backup-volumes.sh
3 
4DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
5BACKUP_DIR=/backups/volumes
6 
7# Backup n8n data volume
8docker run --rm \
9  -v n8n_data:/source:ro \
10  -v $BACKUP_DIR:/backup \
11  alpine tar czf /backup/n8n_data_$DATE.tar.gz -C /source .
12 
13# Backup postgres volume
14docker run --rm \
15  -v postgres_data:/source:ro \
16  -v $BACKUP_DIR:/backup \
17  alpine tar czf /backup/postgres_data_$DATE.tar.gz -C /source .

1#!/bin/bash
2# full-backup.sh - Complete n8n backup
3 
4set -e
5 
6# Configuration
7BACKUP_DIR="/backups"
8DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
9BACKUP_NAME="n8n_backup_$DATE"
10RETENTION_DAYS=30
11 
12# Create backup directory
13mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME"
14cd "$BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME"
15 
16echo "Starting n8n backup: $BACKUP_NAME"
17 
18# 1. Export workflows
19echo "Exporting workflows..."
20docker exec n8n n8n export:workflow --all --output=/tmp/workflows.json
21docker cp n8n:/tmp/workflows.json ./workflows.json
22 
23# 2. Export credentials (encrypted)
24echo "Exporting credentials..."
25docker exec n8n n8n export:credentials --all --output=/tmp/credentials.json
26docker cp n8n:/tmp/credentials.json ./credentials.json
27 
28# 3. Database backup
29echo "Backing up database..."
30PGPASSWORD=$POSTGRES_PASSWORD pg_dump \
31  -h localhost \
32  -p 5432 \
33  -U n8n \
34  -d n8n \
35  -F c \
36  -f ./database.dump
37 
38# 4. Copy environment files
39echo "Copying configuration..."
40cp /opt/n8n/.env ./env_backup.txt
41cp /opt/n8n/docker-compose.yml ./docker-compose.yml
42 
43# 5. Save encryption key
44echo "Saving encryption key..."
45echo "N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY" > ./encryption_key.txt
46chmod 600 ./encryption_key.txt
47 
48# 6. Create archive
49echo "Creating archive..."
50cd "$BACKUP_DIR"
51tar czf "${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz" "$BACKUP_NAME"
52rm -rf "$BACKUP_NAME"
53 
54# 7. Upload to remote (optional)
55# aws s3 cp "${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz" s3://your-bucket/n8n-backups/
56 
57# 8. Cleanup old backups
58echo "Cleaning up old backups..."
59find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "n8n_backup_*.tar.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete
60 
61echo "Backup complete: ${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz"
62echo "Size: $(du -h ${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz | cut -f1)"

1# Edit crontab
2crontab -e
3 
4# Add these entries:
5 
6# Daily backup at 2 AM
70 2 * * * /opt/n8n/scripts/full-backup.sh >> /var/log/n8n-backup.log 2>&1
8 
9# Weekly database optimization at 3 AM Sunday
100 3 * * 0 docker exec n8n-postgres vacuumdb -U n8n -d n8n -v >> /var/log/n8n-backup.log 2>&1
11 
12# Monthly full export at 4 AM on 1st
130 4 1 * * /opt/n8n/scripts/monthly-export.sh >> /var/log/n8n-backup.log 2>&1

1# docker-compose.yml
2services:
3  backup:
4    image: alpine
5    volumes:
6      - ./scripts:/scripts:ro
7      - ./backups:/backups
8      - n8n_data:/n8n_data:ro
9      - postgres_data:/postgres_data:ro
10    environment:
11      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
12      - N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
13    command: >
14      sh -c "
15        apk add --no-cache postgresql-client &&
16        while true; do
17          /scripts/backup.sh
18          sleep 86400
19        done
20      "

1# From JSON export
2docker exec -i n8n n8n import:workflow --input=/backup/workflows.json
3 
4# Specific workflow
5docker exec -i n8n n8n import:workflow --input=/backup/workflow.json --id=WORKFLOW_ID

1# From encrypted export (needs same encryption key!)
2docker exec -i n8n n8n import:credentials --input=/backup/credentials.json

1# Stop n8n
2docker compose stop n8n
3 
4# Restore database
5PGPASSWORD=$POSTGRES_PASSWORD pg_restore \
6  -h localhost \
7  -U n8n \
8  -d n8n \
9  -c \
10  --if-exists \
11  /backups/database.dump
12 
13# Start n8n
14docker compose start n8n

1#!/bin/bash
2# restore.sh - Full n8n restore
3 
4set -e
5 
6BACKUP_FILE=$1
7 
8if [ -z "$BACKUP_FILE" ]; then
9    echo "Usage: ./restore.sh backup_file.tar.gz"
10    exit 1
11fi
12 
13echo "Starting restore from: $BACKUP_FILE"
14 
15# Extract backup
16RESTORE_DIR="/tmp/n8n_restore_$$"
17mkdir -p "$RESTORE_DIR"
18tar xzf "$BACKUP_FILE" -C "$RESTORE_DIR"
19 
20# Find backup directory
21BACKUP_DIR=$(ls "$RESTORE_DIR")
22 
23# Stop services
24echo "Stopping services..."
25docker compose stop n8n
26 
27# Restore encryption key (CRITICAL!)
28echo "Checking encryption key..."
29source "$RESTORE_DIR/$BACKUP_DIR/encryption_key.txt"
30if [ -z "$N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY" ]; then
31    echo "ERROR: No encryption key in backup!"
32    exit 1
33fi
34 
35# Restore database
36echo "Restoring database..."
37PGPASSWORD=$POSTGRES_PASSWORD pg_restore \
38  -h localhost \
39  -U n8n \
40  -d n8n \
41  -c \
42  --if-exists \
43  "$RESTORE_DIR/$BACKUP_DIR/database.dump"
44 
45# Restore n8n data volume
46echo "Restoring n8n data..."
47docker run --rm \
48  -v n8n_data:/target \
49  -v "$RESTORE_DIR/$BACKUP_DIR":/backup:ro \
50  alpine sh -c "rm -rf /target/* && tar xzf /backup/n8n_data.tar.gz -C /target"
51 
52# Start services
53echo "Starting services..."
54docker compose start n8n
55 
56# Cleanup
57rm -rf "$RESTORE_DIR"
58 
59echo "Restore complete!"
60echo "Please verify workflows and credentials work correctly."

1#!/bin/bash
2# Upload to S3
3 
4BACKUP_FILE=$1
5S3_BUCKET="your-backup-bucket"
6S3_PATH="n8n-backups/$(date +%Y/%m)"
7 
8aws s3 cp "$BACKUP_FILE" "s3://$S3_BUCKET/$S3_PATH/"
9 
10# List backups
11aws s3 ls "s3://$S3_BUCKET/n8n-backups/" --recursive

1#!/bin/bash
2# Using rclone
3 
4rclone copy \
5  /backups/n8n_backup_latest.tar.gz \
6  b2:your-bucket/n8n-backups/

1#!/bin/bash
2# Using rclone
3 
4rclone copy \
5  /backups/n8n_backup_latest.tar.gz \
6  gdrive:n8n-backups/

1#!/bin/bash
2# verify-backup.sh
3 
4BACKUP_FILE=$1
5 
6echo "Verifying backup: $BACKUP_FILE"
7 
8# Extract and check
9TEMP_DIR="/tmp/verify_$$"
10mkdir -p "$TEMP_DIR"
11tar xzf "$BACKUP_FILE" -C "$TEMP_DIR"
12 
13# Check required files
14REQUIRED_FILES=(
15    "workflows.json"
16    "credentials.json"
17    "database.dump"
18    "encryption_key.txt"
19)
20 
21for file in "${REQUIRED_FILES[@]}"; do
22    if [ -f "$TEMP_DIR"/*/"$file" ]; then
23        echo "✅ $file exists"
24    else
25        echo "❌ $file MISSING!"
26    fi
27done
28 
29# Check workflow count
30WORKFLOW_COUNT=$(cat "$TEMP_DIR"/*/workflows.json | jq '. | length')
31echo "📊 Workflows in backup: $WORKFLOW_COUNT"
32 
33# Cleanup
34rm -rf "$TEMP_DIR"
35 
36echo "Verification complete"

1DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
2──────────────────────
3 
4SCENARIO                    RTO        RPO
5────────────────────────────────────────────
6Database corruption         1 hour     24 hours
7Server failure              2 hours    24 hours
8Region outage               4 hours    24 hours
9Ransomware/breach           8 hours    24 hours
10 
11RTO = Recovery Time Objective
12RPO = Recovery Point Objective

1□ Daily automated backups running
2□ Backups stored off-site
3□ Encryption key stored separately
4□ Restore procedure documented
5□ Restore tested monthly
6□ Secondary server ready (optional)
7□ Contact list for emergencies