n8n Automation Workflows

Production-ready n8n workflow automations for infrastructure management, monitoring, and operations

🎯 Overview

This repository contains automated workflows for n8n, covering:

• 🏗️ Infrastructure - Server and container management (Portainer, Docker, system updates)
• 📊 Monitoring - System health checks, alerts, and observability
• 💾 Backup - Automated backup routines and verification
• 📢 Notifications - Centralized alerting and reporting

All workflows are:

• ✅ Production-tested
• ✅ Fully documented with setup guides
• ✅ Versioned with semantic versioning
• ✅ Secure (no credentials in repository)
• ✅ CI/CD validated on every commit

⚠️ Security Notice

This is a PUBLIC repository.

• ❌ NO credentials or sensitive data are stored here
• ✅ All credentials must be configured via n8n GUI
• ✅ Example files use placeholder values only
• ✅ .gitignore prevents accidental credential commits
• ✅ GitHub Actions scans for sensitive data

See Security Guidelines below.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• n8n installed (>= 1.15.0) - Installation Guide
• Access to target systems (servers, APIs, etc.)
• Required credentials configured in n8n

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/spydi/spydi-n8n-automation.git
   cd spydi-n8n-automation

2. Configure server inventory:

   cp examples/configs/servers.example.json servers.json
   nano servers.json  # Update with your actual server details

3. Set up credentials in n8n:

   • See examples/credentials/ for templates
   • Configure SSH, SMTP, Slack, etc. in n8n GUI
   • Never store actual credentials in files!

4. Import workflows:

   • Open n8n → Workflows → Import from File
   • Select workflow JSON from workflows/ directory
   • Map credentials to your n8n credentials
   • Test in development first!

See docs/getting-started/ for detailed setup instructions.

📖 Workflows

Infrastructure Automation

Workflow	Version	Description	Status
Portainer Upgrade	1.0.0	Automated Portainer container upgrades with validation	✅ Stable

Monitoring & Alerts

Workflow	Version	Description	Status
Coming soon	-	Server health monitoring	🚧 Planned

Backup Automation

Workflow	Version	Description	Status
Coming soon	-	Database backup automation	🚧 Planned

Notifications

Workflow	Version	Description	Status
Coming soon	-	Centralized notification router	🚧 Planned

View full workflow catalog →

📁 Repository Structure

spydi-n8n-automation/
├── workflows/              # n8n workflow files organized by category
│   ├── infrastructure/     # Infrastructure management workflows
│   ├── monitoring/         # Monitoring and alerting
│   ├── backup/            # Backup automation
│   └── notifications/     # Notification workflows
├── docs/                  # Comprehensive documentation
│   ├── getting-started/   # Setup and installation guides
│   ├── guides/           # How-to guides and best practices
│   ├── reference/        # Technical reference docs
│   └── contributing/     # Contribution guidelines
├── examples/             # Example configurations (NO sensitive data)
│   ├── configs/         # Server inventory examples
│   └── credentials/     # Credential setup templates
├── templates/           # Workflow templates for new automations
├── scripts/            # Validation and helper scripts
└── .github/workflows/  # CI/CD automation

🔐 Security Guidelines

Never Commit:

❌ Credentials or API keys
❌ Server IPs/hostnames (use servers.example.json for templates)
❌ Environment-specific data
❌ Database connection strings
❌ SSH keys or certificates
❌ Real webhook URLs
❌ Email passwords

Always:

✅ Use .example suffix for template files
✅ Configure credentials via n8n GUI
✅ Use n8n variables ($vars) for environment-specific data
✅ Review files before committing
✅ Let CI/CD catch sensitive data before merge

Credential Management

All sensitive credentials must be stored in n8n's credential manager:

1. n8n → Credentials → New Credential
2. Select type (SSH, SMTP, API, etc.)
3. Enter credentials
4. Reference by name in workflows

Never hardcode credentials in workflow JSON files.

See examples/credentials/ for setup guides.

🛠️ Development

Development Workflow

This project uses a branch-based development workflow to ensure stability:

• main - Production-ready workflows (stable releases only)
• develop - Pre-release testing (beta features, integration testing)
• feature/* - Development branches for new workflows/features

Testing Stages:

1. Local Testing - Test on development servers first
2. Staging Testing - Integration testing in staging environment (24-48 hours)
3. Production Release - Phased rollout with monitoring

Quick Start:

# Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/my-new-workflow

# Develop and test locally
# ... make changes ...

# Create PR to develop branch
git push origin feature/my-new-workflow
# Open PR: feature/my-new-workflow → develop

📖 Complete Guides:

• Development Workflow - Complete branching strategy, 16-step development lifecycle
• Testing Workflows - 3-stage testing process with validation checklists
• Workflow Versioning - Semantic versioning and CHANGELOG management
• Using Workflows Safely - End-user safety guidelines

Adding a New Workflow

1. Create workflow directory:

   git checkout develop
   git checkout -b feature/new-workflow
   mkdir -p workflows/[category]/[workflow-name]
   cd workflows/[category]/[workflow-name]

2. Use templates:

   cp ../../../templates/_workflow-template/*.template.md .
   # Rename .template.md to .md and customize

3. Required files:

   • workflow-name.json - n8n workflow export with metadata
   • README.md - Usage documentation
   • prerequisites.md - Setup requirements
   • troubleshooting.md - Common issues
   • CHANGELOG.md - Version history

4. Add metadata to JSON:

   {
     "meta": {
       "templateVersion": "1.0.0",
       "author": "your-name",
       "category": "infrastructure",
       "description": "Brief description",
       ...
     }
   }

5. Test locally (Stage 1):

   # Validate workflow
   python scripts/check-version.py
   bash scripts/check-sensitive-data.sh
   # Test on development servers

6. Submit PR to develop:

   git add workflows/[category]/[workflow-name]
   git commit -m "feat: add [workflow-name] automation"
   git push origin feature/new-workflow

7. Staging testing (Stage 2):

   • PR merged to develop
   • Test in staging environment for 24-48 hours
   • Monitor execution logs

8. Production release (Stage 3):

   • PR from develop → main
   • Tag release (e.g., v1.1.0)
   • Phased rollout with monitoring

See CONTRIBUTING.md for complete contribution guidelines.

Running Validation Locally

# Validate all workflows
./scripts/check-version.py           # Check version metadata
./scripts/validate-changelogs.sh     # Validate CHANGELOG format
./scripts/check-sensitive-data.sh    # Scan for credentials
./scripts/check-workflow-consistency.py  # Check file structure

📚 Documentation

For End Users

• Getting Started - Installation and setup guides
• Using Workflows Safely - Safety guidelines for workflow usage
• Workflow Catalog - Complete workflow listing

For Contributors & Developers

• Contributing Guide - How to contribute workflows
• Development Workflow - Branching strategy and development lifecycle
• Testing Workflows - 3-stage testing process
• Workflow Versioning - Semantic versioning and CHANGELOG management
• Repository Structure - Complete repo organization guide

Technical Reference

• Reference Documentation - Technical reference and API docs
• Validation Scripts - Script documentation

🧪 Testing

Never test untested workflows on production servers!

This project uses a 3-stage testing process:

Stage 1: Local Testing (Development)

• Test workflows on development/test servers only
• Validate JSON syntax and metadata
• Check for sensitive data exposure
• Verify expected outcomes

# Validation
python scripts/check-version.py
bash scripts/check-sensitive-data.sh

# Test execution on dev servers

Stage 2: Staging Testing (Pre-Production)

• Deploy to staging environment
• Run workflows for 24-48 hours
• Monitor execution logs
• Verify integration with other systems
• Performance and error rate monitoring

Stage 3: Production Deployment

• Phased rollout (1-5 servers → 25% → 50% → 100%)
• Continuous monitoring
• Rollback plan ready
• Post-deployment verification

📖 Complete Testing Guide: docs/guides/testing-workflows.md

See individual workflow documentation for specific testing instructions.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! This project follows a structured development workflow to ensure quality and stability.

Quick Start

1. Fork this repository
2. Create feature branch from develop: git checkout -b feature/new-automation
3. Add your workflow following templates
4. Test locally (Stage 1 testing required)
5. Ensure all validations pass
6. Update documentation
7. Submit pull request to develop branch

Branching Strategy

• main → Production releases only (stable workflows)
• develop → Integration and staging testing
• feature/* → New workflow development
• bugfix/* → Bug fixes
• hotfix/* → Critical production fixes

Required Before PR

✅ Local testing complete (Stage 1)
✅ All validation scripts pass
✅ Documentation updated (README, prerequisites, troubleshooting, CHANGELOG)
✅ No sensitive data in commits
✅ Semantic versioning followed
✅ CHANGELOG updated

📖 Complete Guides:

• CONTRIBUTING.md - Full contribution guidelines
• DEVELOPMENT.md - Development workflow and lifecycle
• Testing Guide - Testing process and checklists

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🆘 Support

• Documentation: docs/
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• n8n Community: community.n8n.io

🗺️ Roadmap

v1.0 (Current)

• ✅ Repository structure and documentation
• ✅ Portainer upgrade automation
• ✅ CI/CD validation pipeline
• ✅ Security scanning

v1.1 (Next)

• 🔄 Docker cleanup automation
• 🔄 Server health monitoring
• 🔄 Slack notification integration
• 🔄 Batch server processing

v2.0 (Future)

• 📋 Database backup automation
• 📋 SSL certificate renewal
• 📋 Log aggregation workflows
• 📋 Incident response automation

📊 Project Stats

• Workflows: 1 (more coming soon!)
• Categories: 4
• Documentation Pages: 15+
• Automated Validations: 5

💡 Related Projects

• n8n - Workflow automation tool
• n8n-nodes-base - n8n core nodes
• Awesome n8n - Curated list of n8n resources

🙏 Acknowledgments

• n8n team for the amazing workflow automation platform
• Community contributors
• Open source projects that inspired this repository

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Maintained by: spydi
Last Updated: 2025-12-21
Repository Version: 1.0.0

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