Scheduled workflow backups from n8n to Google Drive with auto cleanup

Auto Backup n8n Workflows to Google Drive

Imagine the sinking feeling: hours, weeks, or even months of meticulous work building your n8n workflows, suddenly gone. A server crash, an accidental deletion, data corruption, or an unexpected platform issue – and all your automated processes vanish. Without a reliable backup system, you're facing a complete rebuild from scratch, a scenario that's not just frustrating but can be catastrophic for business operations.

Furthermore, consider the daunting task of migrating your n8n instance to a new host or server. Manually exporting each workflow, one by one, then painstakingly importing them into the new environment is not only incredibly time-consuming, especially if you have tens or hundreds of workflows, but also highly prone to errors and omissions. You need a systematic, automated solution.

This workflow provides a robust solution for automatically backing up all your n8n workflows to Google Drive on schedule (default to every hour). It creates a uniquely named folder for each backup instance, incorporating the date and hour, and then systematically uploads each workflow as an individual JSON file. To manage storage space, the workflow also includes a cleanup mechanism that deletes backup folders older than a user-defined retention period (defaulting to 7 days).

Ideally, this backup workflow should be used in conjunction with a restore solution like our ["Restore Workflows from Google Drive Backups" template](https://aiautomationpro.org/products/n8n-restore-workflows-from-google-drive-backups/).

For more powerful n8n templates, visit our website or contact us at [AI Automation Pro](https://aiautomationpro.org/). We help your business build custom AI workflow automation and apps.

Feature highlights

Triggers on schedule (default to hourly). Creates a \n8n\backup\YYYY-MM-DD\HH\ folder in Google Drive. Fetches all n8n workflows. Saves each workflow as a JSON file to the new folder. Deletes backup folders older than the 'Coverage Period' (default to 7 days).