Importing Workflows and Credentials

Tips & Tricks
1

I was trying to import credentials and workflows using the CLI and kept running into:

An error occurred while importing workflows. See log messages for details.
ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/backup-workflows.json'

Which was a bit frustrating because I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working even after copying the backup files as such: 
docker cp backup-workflows.json n8n-container:/data


Turns out here’s what I had to do (stumbled upon this after 60+ minutes of trial/error/troubleshooting:

docker cp backup-workflows.json n8n-container:/
docker exec -u node -it n8n-container n8n import:workflow --input=/backup-workflows.json

And it finally worked!


Also make sure you export your credentials decrypted if you’re starting a new n8n instance!


For reference, I’m running v1.38.1 via docker.

I hope this helps someone save a bunch of time and headache haha

Cheers,
bean

2 Likes
2

Thanks a lot for sharing this. I am sure it will help others!

1 Like
3

Absolutely!

Also make sure you export your credentials decrypted if you’re starting a new n8n instance! (added to OP)