GETTING A WORKFLOW OUT OF n8n.
n8n exports workflows as JSON, which is the right format for a machine and the wrong one for every person you need to show it to. These are the practical ways round that — images, embeds, handovers, and what the file actually contains before you send it.
7 guides · 41 min · updated 28 July 2026
How to export an n8n workflow as an image
n8n has no built-in image export. Its Download button produces workflow JSON, and its canvas has no "save as PNG" option. To get an image you render that JSON with a separate tool: paste the file into Pixtex and download a PNG, SVG, JPEG, WebP or PDF of the canvas at up to 4× resolution — no screenshotting, no cropping, and nothing lost off the edge of the viewport.
Making the image
Getting a picture out of a workflow that n8n will only hand you as JSON.
The n8n workflow screenshot problem
Screenshots of an n8n canvas crop, blur or capture the wrong thing. Here is exactly why, and how rendering the workflow from its JSON fixes it.
Export an n8n workflow to PDF or SVG
Print-ready and scalable exports of an n8n workflow — what PDF and SVG actually preserve, and which one to pick for a deliverable, a docs site or a poster.
Publishing it
Putting the diagram somewhere other people will actually run into it.
Embed an n8n workflow diagram in a README
Put a live picture of your n8n workflow in a GitHub README, Notion page or docs site — hosted at a permanent URL that re-renders itself when the workflow changes.
Images for n8n templates and tutorials
If you sell or publish n8n templates, the picture is the product page. How to render listing images, thumbnails and social cards straight from the workflow.
Handing it over
What to send a client or a stranger — and what to strip out before you do.
How to document an n8n workflow for a client
A repeatable way to hand over an n8n build: one overview diagram, one image per branch, annotated connections, and a PDF the client can actually read.
How to share an n8n workflow safely
Exported n8n workflow JSON can carry pinned customer data and inline API keys. Here is what is in the file, how to check it, and when to send a picture instead.
Not sure which one
- You run an agency
- and the client keeps asking for "the documentation". How to document an n8n workflow for a client
- You sell or publish templates
- and the listing image is doing the selling. Images for n8n templates and tutorials
- You ship code
- and the diagram in the README went stale two commits ago. Embed an n8n workflow diagram in a README
We also measured 10,957 of them
A census of the public n8n.io template library — how big a real workflow is, what it is built out of, and how many carry a sticky note. Raw data published under CC BY.
read the research →Try it on your own workflow
In n8n: open the workflow, ⋯ menu, Download. Drop that file on the editor and export a PNG, SVG or PDF. Free, no account, nothing to install.