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.

🚀 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.

⚙️ 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

🧩 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

🔄 Example Output

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

🧠 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.