Use the command line

The Server CLI is a built-in command-line interface that runs on the same machine as your n8n installation. It provides direct database access for administrative tasks and can execute most commands even when n8n isn't running.

When to use Server CLI vs n8n CLI

Running CLI commands

You can use CLI commands with self-hosted n8n. Depending on how you choose to install n8n, there are differences in how to run the commands:

• npm: the n8n command is directly available. The documentation uses this in the examples below.
• Docker: the n8n command is available within your Docker container:

docker exec -u node -it <n8n-container-name> <n8n-cli-command>

Start a workflow

You can start workflows directly using the CLI.

Execute a saved workflow by its ID:

n8n execute --id <ID>

Publish or unpublish a workflow

You can publish or unpublish a workflow using the CLI. In n8n 2.0, the previous active/inactive toggle was replaced by a publish/unpublish model. Use publish:workflow and unpublish:workflow to change a workflow's published state from the CLI.

Publish a workflow

Use publish:workflow to publish a workflow by its ID. You can optionally publish a specific historical version by passing its versionId.

Command flags:

Publish the current draft of a workflow by ID:

n8n publish:workflow --id=<ID>

Publish a specific historical version of a workflow:

n8n publish:workflow --id=<ID> --versionId=<VERSION_ID>

Unpublish a workflow

Use unpublish:workflow to unpublish a workflow by its ID, or all workflows at once.

Command flags:

Unpublish a workflow by its ID:

n8n unpublish:workflow --id=<ID>

Unpublish all workflows:

n8n unpublish:workflow --all

update:workflow (deprecated)

Set the active status of a workflow by its ID to false:

n8n update:workflow --id=<ID> --active=false

Set the active status of a workflow by its ID to true:

n8n update:workflow --id=<ID> --active=true

Set the active status to false for all the workflows:

n8n update:workflow --all --active=false

Set the active status to true for all the workflows:

n8n update:workflow --all --active=true

Export entities

You can export your database entities from n8n using the CLI. This tooling allows you to export all entity types from one database type, such as SQLite, and import them into another database type, such as Postgres.

Command flags:

n8n export:entities --outputDir=./outputs --includeExecutionHistoryDataTables=true

Export workflows and credentials

You can export your workflows and credentials from n8n using the CLI.

Command flags:

Workflows

Export all your workflows to the standard output (terminal):

n8n export:workflow --all

Export a workflow by its ID and specify the output file name:

n8n export:workflow --id=<ID> --output=file.json

Export all workflows to a specific directory in a single file:

n8n export:workflow --all --output=backups/latest/file.json

Export all the workflows to a specific directory using the --backup flag (details above):

n8n export:workflow --backup --output=backups/latest/

Export a specific workflow version

You can export a specific historical version of a workflow by passing its versionId with --version:

n8n export:workflow --id=<ID> --version=<VERSION_ID> --output=workflow-v1.json

Export the published version of a workflow

Use --published to export the currently published/active version of a workflow rather than the current draft:

n8n export:workflow --id=<ID> --published --output=published.json

You can combine --published with --all to export every workflow's published version. Workflows that don't have a published version are skipped:

n8n export:workflow --all --published --output=workflows.json

Credentials

Export all your credentials to the standard output (terminal):

n8n export:credentials --all

Export credentials by their ID and specify the output file name:

n8n export:credentials --id=<ID> --output=file.json

Export all credentials to a specific directory in a single file:

n8n export:credentials --all --output=backups/latest/file.json

Export all the credentials to a specific directory using the --backup flag (details above):

n8n export:credentials --backup --output=backups/latest/

Export all the credentials in plain text format. You can use this to migrate from one installation to another that has a different secret key in the configuration file.

n8n export:credentials --all --decrypted --output=backups/decrypted.json

Import entities

You can import entities from a previous export:entities command using this command, it allows importing of entities into a database type that differs from the exported database type. Current supported database types include: SQLite, Postgres.

The database is expected to be empty prior to import, this can be forced with the --truncateTables parameter.

Command flags:

n8n import:entities --inputDir ./outputs --truncateTables true

Import workflows and credentials

You can import your workflows and credentials from n8n using the CLI.

Available flags:

Workflows

Import workflows from a specific file:

n8n import:workflow --input=file.json

Import all the workflow files as JSON from the specified directory:

n8n import:workflow --separate --input=backups/latest/

By default, import:workflow deactivates every imported workflow. To preserve the active field from each JSON file instead, pass --activeState=fromJson (only supported in multi-main & queue mode):

n8n import:workflow --separate --input=backups/latest/ --activeState=fromJson

Credentials

Import credentials from a specific file:

n8n import:credentials --input=file.json

Import all the credentials files as JSON from the specified directory:

n8n import:credentials --separate --input=backups/latest/

License

Clear

Clear your existing license from n8n's database and reset n8n to default features:

n8n license:clear

If your license includes floating entitlements¹, running this command will also attempt to release them back to the pool, making them available for other instances.

Info

Display information about the existing license:

n8n license:info

User management

You can reset user management using the n8n CLI. This returns user management to its pre-setup state. It removes all user accounts.

Use this if you forget your password, and don't have SMTP set up to do password resets by email.

n8n user-management:reset

Disable MFA for a user

If a user loses their recovery codes you can disable MFA for a user with this command. The user will then be able to log back in to set up MFA again.

n8n mfa:disable --email=johndoe@example.com

Disable LDAP

You can reset the LDAP settings using the command below.

n8n ldap:reset

Uninstall community nodes and credentials

You can manage community nodes using the n8n CLI. For now, you can only uninstall community nodes and credentials, which is useful if a community node causes instability.

Command flags:

Nodes

Uninstall a community node by package name:

n8n community-node --uninstall --package <COMMUNITY_NODE_NAME>

For example, to uninstall the Evolution API community node, type:

n8n community-node --uninstall --package n8n-nodes-evolution-api

Credentials

Uninstall a community node credential:

n8n community-node --uninstall --credential <CREDENTIAL_TYPE> --userId <ID>

For example, to uninstall the Evolution API community node credential, visit the repository and navigate to the credentials.ts file to find the name:

n8n community-node --uninstall --credential evolutionApi --userId 1234

Security audit

You can run a security audit on your n8n instance, to detect common security issues.

n8n audit