Build CMS Import Rows & Collision-Safe Redirects (Legacy CSV) in n8n

Import legacy CMS content rows with collision-safe slugs—and generate 301 redirects from your CSV

This n8n workflow helps you upload a legacy content CSV, normalize source URLs and slugs, generate collision-safe destination slugs, and output ready-to-import CMS import rows plus a 301 redirect map with diagnostics for collisions and rejected records.

What this workflow does

• Accepts a CSV upload via an n8n Form Trigger, ingesting legacy rows for migration.
• Applies migration rules using configurable behavior such as redirectStatusCode, destinationPrefix, and a collision suffix policy.
• Normalizes each record by cleaning the source URL format and trimming title and any provided slug.
• Generates destination slugs by:
  • Keeping valid supplied slugs when available, or
  • Slugifying titles when slugs are missing/invalid,
• Resolves duplicate slugs deterministically with numeric suffixes, ensuring collision-safe destination slugs.
• Rejects invalid rows that are missing required identity fields, and returns diagnostics.
• Outputs two collections:
  • CMS content import rows (e.g., title, slug, destination path)
  • A redirect map (from → to, plus status code)
• Returns a readiness flag (ready vs. review_required) based on whether collisions or rejected records are present.

Use cases

• Preparing a bulk CMS migration from a legacy CSV export while preserving old URLs via 301 redirects.
• Generating collision-safe SEO slugs before importing content into a new CMS.
• Running a pre-flight check to identify collisions and rejected records before any import.

Technical details

• Nodes/blocks used: Form Trigger, if, set, code, merge, and sticky note.
• Behavior includes slugifying titles, numeric suffix collision resolution, and building both CMS import rows and a redirect map with diagnostics.