Daily n8n Workflow Backup to Google Drive (7-Day Retention)

Daily n8n Workflow Backups to Google Drive—Automatically

This n8n automation exports all of your n8n workflows every day into a timestamped Google Drive folder, then automatically removes backup folders older than 7 days to keep your Drive storage tidy.

What this workflow does

• Runs daily at 01:30 via a Schedule Trigger.
• Creates a new backup folder in your configured Google Drive parent folder, using a timestamped name.
• Retrieves all n8n workflows through the n8n API.
• Converts each workflow to a formatted JSON file (with a safe filename) and uploads it into the new Google Drive backup folder.
• Lists existing backup folders in Google Drive whose names start with n8n-backup-.
• Deletes folders older than seven days for retention management.

Use cases

• SaaS operators who want reliable, off-instance backup of n8n workflow configurations.
• Automation engineers who need easy rollback or review of historical workflow versions.
• Teams managing multiple environments who want a consistent daily export to Google Drive.
• Anyone concerned about storage growth, since this workflow enforces a 7-day retention window.

Technical details

• Schedule Trigger set to run daily at 01:30.
• Google Drive integration to create folders, upload JSON files, list folders, and delete backups older than 7 days.
• n8n API access to list and export all workflows.
• Nodes used: n8n, set, code, sticky note, google drive, schedule trigger.

Setup requirements

• Create a Google Drive OAuth2 credential in n8n with access to the target backup parent folder.
• Create an n8n API credential (or enable API access) so the workflow can list/export workflows.
• Provide the target Google Drive parent folder ID in the backupFolderId parameter.
• Adjust the Schedule Trigger time if 01:30 doesn’t match your environment.