n8n-io/n8n · error · UserError

No workflows with published versions found.

Error message

No workflows with published versions found.

What it means

Thrown by `export:workflow` when `--published` is set without `--id` (i.e. with `--all` or `--projectId`), workflows were found, but none of them have a published version resolvable through WorkflowHistoryRepository. The aggregate counterpart of error 1301.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/commands/export/workflow.ts:138

		}

		const workflows = await Container.get(WorkflowRepository).find({
			where: this.getWhereFilter(flags),
			relations: ['tags', 'shared', 'shared.project'],
		});

		if (workflows.length === 0) {
			throw new UserError('No workflows found with specified filters');
		}

		const workflowsToExport = await getWorkflowsToExport(workflows, flags);

		if (flags.published && workflowsToExport.length === 0) {
			if (flags.id)
				throw new UserError(
					`No published version found for workflow "${workflows[0].name}" (${workflows[0].id})`,
				);
			else throw new UserError('No workflows with published versions found.');
		}
		if (flags.version && flags.id && workflowsToExport.length === 0) {
			throw new UserError(
				`Version "${flags.version}" not found for workflow "${workflows[0].name}" (${workflows[0].id})`,
			);
		}
		if (workflowsToExport.length === 0) {
			throw new UserError('No workflows found with specified filters');
		}

		if (flags.separate) {
			let fileContents: string;
			let i: number;
			for (i = 0; i < workflowsToExport.length; i++) {
				fileContents = JSON.stringify(workflowsToExport[i], null, flags.pretty ? 2 : undefined);
				const filename = `${
					(flags.output!.endsWith(path.sep) ? flags.output : flags.output + path.sep) +
					workflowsToExport[i].id

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ac6606e81)

Solutions

1. Drop `--published` to export current draft versions of all workflows.
2. Activate workflows in the UI before exporting their published versions.
3. Audit: `SELECT count(*) FILTER (WHERE active_version_id IS NULL) FROM workflow_entity;` to see how many lack published versions.

Example fix

// before
n8n export:workflow --all --published --output=backups/
// after
n8n export:workflow --all --output=backups/

// Count workflows with a non-null activeVersionId before bulk --published export
async function publishedCount(ds: DataSource): Promise<number> {
  const { count } = await ds.getRepository('workflow_entity')
    .createQueryBuilder('w').where('w.activeVersionId IS NOT NULL').getCount();
  return count;
}
if (await publishedCount(ds) === 0) {
  console.error('No published workflows — dropping --published flag');
  flags.published = false;
}

try {
  await execN8n(['export:workflow', '--all', '--published', '--output', dir]);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.includes('No workflows with published versions')) {
    await execN8n(['export:workflow', '--all', '--output', dir]);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: `n8n export:workflow --all --published` or `--projectId=X --published` where every matched workflow has a null activeVersionId, has never been activated, or whose history rows are absent.

Common situations: Bulk export on a dev instance where workflows were created via CLI/import but never activated through the UI; history pruning removed all version rows; environments where workflow activation is disabled.

Related errors

• No published version found for workflow "${workflows[0].name
• No workflows found with specified filters
• Version "${flags.version}" not found for workflow "${workflo
• No credentials found with specified filters
• Filesystem error while creating the output directory: ${e in

AI-assisted analysis of n8n-io/n8n@5ac6606e81 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/263de5029e9cf33f. Report an issue: GitHub.