Use n8n Smart
Use n8n Smart
Like many of you, I’ve been following various sources to stay up to date with current developments in the AI sphere. I can tell you: not an easy task! A lot is happening, both in LLM development itself and in applying those models. This blog is about that second part.
Every few days I find really nice and creative examples of using n8n. My YouTube start page is full of that kind of content.n8n is a really nice and user-friendly visual programming language. It works fast, has nice overview capabilities, and is great to start with. There are some limitations though, limiting its usability in production environments. Not because the application can’t handle it, but because in the self-hosted and cheaper versions there is no version control—you’ll have to go the Enterprise tier for that.
A lot of the people working with n8n are young, enthusiastic, and smart, doing great things but not very experienced. This results in some bad practices, like not having version control (at least on paid or important projects—I version control all my projects, which has saved me countless times) and not being able to easily restore your code. Both are a no-go in my book. I have a solution for that though, which helps prevent those stressful events where you accidentally delete or mess up a workflow. More on that later.
Back to n8n’s strengths: In the past I did some projects with Azure Logic Apps, and I prefer n8n by far (the recent update for the Logic Apps editor, though an improvement, still doesn’t come close).
The Version Control Challenge
The lack of built-in version control in n8n’s free and self-hosted tiers presents real risks:
Accidental deletions and modifications: One wrong click and your workflow is gone or broken. Without version history, there’s no safety net.
No audit trail: When something breaks in production, you need to know what changed and when. Without version control, you’re flying blind.
Collaboration challenges: Multiple team members working on workflows? Good luck coordinating changes without conflicts or overwrites.
No rollback capability: That update you just pushed broke everything? Without version control, you can’t easily revert to the last working state.
These aren’t theoretical problems—they’re daily frustrations for n8n users building anything beyond simple experiments. And while the Enterprise tier solves this with built-in version control, not everyone can justify that cost, especially when starting out or working on smaller projects.
Why This Matters
If you’re using n8n for paid projects or anything important, operating without version control is risky. I version control all my projects—it has saved me countless times. From recovering accidentally deleted workflows to understanding why something that worked yesterday is broken today, version control is essential infrastructure, not a nice-to-have feature.
The good news? There’s a solution that doesn’t require upgrading to Enterprise.
What’s Next?
I’ve built a tool that brings Git-based version control to n8n’s free and self-hosted tiers. It automatically tracks your workflow changes, creates meaningful commits, and gives you full rollback capability—without requiring Enterprise.
In my next blog post, I’ll show you:
- How the tool works
- A live demonstration of version control in action
- How to set it up for your own n8n instance
- Real examples of recovering from mistakes and tracking changes
If you’re running n8n workflows that matter, you’ll want to check this out. Feedback and questions are always welcome!