How can we recover our n8n workflows after deleting the role and user tables?

The error message “Could not find a personal project for this user” typically occurs because the owner’s personal project—automatically created during the initial setup—is now missing or mismatched. In n8n each user should have a personal project that links their workflows and settings, and manually altering the user and role tables (and associated foreign keys) without recreating or re‐associating the personal project can leave workflows orphaned.

Given your situation, here are a few approaches to recover your workflows:

1. Re-associate Workflows with the New Owner Project
   Since the workflows are still in your database but were originally linked to a different (now deleted) owner UUID, you’ll need to update the project relations so the workflows are linked to your current owner’s personal project. This involves:

   • Identifying the personal project entry for the current owner (which should have been created when you reset the instance owner setup).
   • Updating the appropriate relations (for example, in the “project_relations” or similar tables) to point to the new owner’s UUID.
   • Important: Proceed with caution when editing the database directly. If you have a backup, use it to verify the correct associations.

2. Re-Import Workflows from a Backup Export
   If you made an export of your workflows prior to the database modifications, you can re-import them. When you import workflows using the CLI, they will be linked to the current instance’s projects and user settings. For example, you can run:

   BASHCopied
   n8n import:workflow --input=file.json

   If you have your export structured as separate files for each workflow (by using the --separate flag), adjust your command accordingly.

3. Reset User Management (If Acceptable)
   Running the CLI command to reset user management will remove all user accounts and reset the system to its pre-setup state:

   BASHCopied
   n8n user-management:reset

   This will allow n8n to create a new owner account with a fresh personal project once you perform the in-app setup. However, note that this approach will lose any changes in user management (and possibly workflow associations) that have been made so far. If you choose this route, you'll likely need to re-import your workflows after re-establishing the owner account properly.

Recommendations Going Forward

• Avoid Direct Database Modifications: In the future, use the supported CLI commands and the in-app user management functions to reset the owner account. For example, setting up SMTP and then using the in-app password reset (or the user-management:reset command when necessary) minimizes the risk of breaking the project–user associations.
• Backup Frequently: Make export backups of workflows and credentials using the CLI (e.g., n8n export:workflow --backup ...) so that you can recover without resorting to manual database fixes.

By correcting the missing or mismatched project association—either manually updating the database or by re-importing workflows correctly linked to the current owner project—you should be able to recover access to your workflows.

Remember to restart n8n after making such changes, so that all updates are correctly applied.