Create and run workflows

A workflow¹ is a collection of nodes connected together to automate a process. You build workflows on the workflow canvas².

Create a workflow

1. Select the

button in the upper-left corner of the side menu. Select workflow.

1. If your n8n instance supports projects, you'll also need to choose whether to create the workflow inside your personal space or a specific project you have access to. If you're using the community version, you'll always create workflows inside your personal space.
2. Get started by adding a trigger node: select Add first step...

Or:

1. Select the

create button in the upper-right corner from either the Overview page or a specific project. Select workflow.

1. If you're doing this from the Overview page, you'll create the workflow inside your personal space. If you're doing this from inside a project, you'll create the workflow inside that specific project.
2. Get started by adding a trigger node: select Add first step...

If it's your first time building a workflow, you may want to use the quickstart guides to quickly try out n8n features.

Run workflows manually

You may need to run your workflow manually when building and testing, or if your workflow doesn't have a trigger node.

To run manually, select Execute Workflow.

Run workflows automatically

All new workflows are unpublished by default. See Publishing and saving workflows.

You need to publish workflows that start with a trigger node or Webhook node so that they can run automatically. When a workflow isn't published, you must run it manually.

To publish your workflow, open your workflow and click Publish. The option to unpublish is in the workflow settings menu.

Published workflows run whenever its trigger conditions are met.