⚙️ Automatically update n8n version

⚡ 2,153 views · ⚙️ DevOps & CI/CD

Description

🔄 n8n Workflow: Check and Update n8n Version

This workflow automatically checks if the local n8n version is outdated and, if so, creates a file to signal an update is needed.

🖥️ Working Environment

Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04
n8n Installation: Docker container

📁 Project Directory Structure

n8n/ ├── check_update.txt ├── check-update.sh ├── compose.yml ├── update_n8n.cron

🧾 File Descriptions

`check_update.txt`

Contains a single word:

true: Update is needed
false: No update required

`check-update.sh`

#!/bin/bash
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

if grep -q "true" /home/sysadmin/n8n/check_update.txt; then
    # Place your update logic here
    echo "Update needed - please insert update logic"
    echo true &gt; /home/sysadmin/n8n/check_update.txt
fi

Purpose:

Checks the contents of check_update.txt
If it contains true, executes update logic (currently a placeholder)
Resets check_update.txt to true

`update_n8n.cron`

SHELL=/bin/sh
10 5 * * * /bin/sh /home/sysadmin/n8n/check-update.sh

Purpose:

Runs the check-update.sh script daily at 5:10 AM
Uses /bin/sh as the shell environment

🧩 n8n Workflow Breakdown

1. Schedule Trigger 🕓

Purpose: Triggers the workflow every day at 5:00 AM
Node Type: Schedule Trigger

2. Get the latest n8n version 🌐

Purpose: Fetches the latest version of n8n from npm
Endpoint: https://registry.npmjs.org/n8n/latest
Node Type: HTTP Request

3. Get Local n8n version 🖥️

Purpose: Retrieves the currently running n8n version
Endpoint: http://192.168.100.18:5678/rest/settings
Node Type: HTTP Request

4. If 🔍

Purpose: Compares the local and latest versions
Condition: If not equal → update is needed

5. SSH1 🧾

Purpose: Writes the result to a file on the host via SSH
Logic:

echo "{{ $('If').params.conditions ? 'false' : 'true' }}" &gt; check_update.txt

Effect: Updates check_update.txt with "true" if an update is needed, "false" otherwise.

🛠️ Setting up Crontab on Ubuntu

1. Register the cron job with:

crontab update_n8n.cron

2. Verify that your cron job is registered:

crontab -l

✅ Result

5:00 AM – n8n workflow checks versions and writes result to check_update.txt
5:10 AM – Cron runs check-update.sh to respond to update flag

🔗 Nodes Used

HTTP Request, SSH, Schedule Trigger

📥 Import

Download workflow.json and import into n8n: Workflow menu → Import from File

📖 Importing guide · 🔑 Credential setup