Run the Migration Report. n8n says to open Settings → Migration Report before upgrading. It lists the workflows and settings that need attention (n8n docs: v3.0 breaking changes). For 2.0 the report needed n8n 1.119.0 or later (v2.0 migration tool).
Back up first. Export your workflows and back up the database and Docker volume. See our backup guide. One Reddit user lost all their workflows after a Docker upgrade (r/n8n).
Read the breaking changes. v3.0 changes behaviour and retires some legacy features (docs). The 2.0 changes are also worth knowing: Publish/Unpublish replaced the active toggle, and the release channels were renamed to stable/beta (v2.0 breaking changes).
Pin a version tag. Use a specific version, or the stable tag rather than beta (docs).
Test on a copy first (staging), then upgrade production.
Check our version tracker and avoid releases flagged "Wait".
Weekly: "n8n releases — upgrade or wait?"
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