n8n-nodes-global-workflow-updated-trigger

A global trigger node for n8n that emits an item whenever any workflow in your n8n instance gets updated.

Since n8n Community Edition doesn't expose a global “workflow updated” event, this node implements light internal polling with persistent state to detect changes without noise or duplicates.

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🚀 Features

• Detects updates across all workflows in your n8n instance.
• Emits one item per updated workflow.
• Optionally includes the full workflow JSON.
• Persists state (lastSync and per-ID map) to avoid duplicates.
• Optional Basic Auth support for secured instances.

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⚙️ Installation

Option 1: Local / Docker deployment

1. Build the node:

npm install
npm run build

2. Mount it in your docker-compose.yml:

volumes:
  - ./n8n-nodes-global-workflow-updated-trigger:/home/node/custom-nodes:ro
environment:
  N8N_CUSTOM_EXTENSIONS: /home/node/custom-nodes

3. Restart n8n:

docker compose up -d

Option 2: Install from npm

npm install n8n-nodes-global-workflow-updated-trigger

Then mount it using:

environment:
  N8N_CUSTOM_EXTENSIONS: /home/node/node_modules/n8n-nodes-global-workflow-updated-trigger

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🧩 Usage

Add Global Workflow Updated Trigger to a new workflow and configure:

Option	Description
Base URL	Usually http://localhost:5678 inside the container
Interval (seconds)	How often to check for changes (5–15s recommended)
Exclude Regex	Skip workflows whose names match this pattern
Emit Full Workflow	If true, includes the full workflow JSON
Credentials	Use HTTP Basic Auth if your instance requires it

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🔄 Example Output

{
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Daily Report",
  "updatedAt": "2025-10-29T12:34:56.000Z",
  "workflow": {
    "id": 42,
    "name": "Daily Report",
    "nodes": [...],
    "connections": {...}
  }
}

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🧠 Best Practices

• Set the regex to ignore this trigger’s own workflow.
• Keep the polling interval modest (≥5s).
• Use this node to drive GitHub or S3 backup workflows.
• Combine with HTTP → GitHub “Create/Update file” to version-control your workflows.