Stay on top of upstream changes without manual checks. When a new release appears on GitHub, the flow looks for a matching issue in GitLab and opens one only if it does not exist. Great for teams that maintain Docker images, libraries, or internal forks and want clear follow up work.

A weekly schedule kicks off two paths. One path pulls the latest release from a selected GitHub repository. The other path lists open issues in a chosen GitLab project. A merge brings both results into a function that compares the release tag with current issue titles. If there is no match, a new GitLab issue is created with a clear title, the release link, and the release notes. This avoids duplicate tickets and gives your team a single place to track the update.

Setup is simple. You need GitHub and GitLab credentials, the repo and project names, and your preferred schedule. Expect to cut weekly checks from many minutes to just one run, and reduce missed updates. Useful for dependency bumps, security patch follow up, and planned upgrade work across teams.

• Weekly schedule runs the update check on a fixed cadence
• Pulls the most recent GitHub release with limit set to one
• Lists open GitLab issues for the target project to compare against
• Merges release data and issue data for a simple side by side check
• Custom function checks if an issue for the release tag already exists
• Creates a GitLab issue with a templated title and body that include the tag and link

• Reduce manual release checks from 30 minutes to 2 minutes per week
• Automate 100 percent of upstream release watching
• Avoid duplicate tickets by checking existing issues before creating new ones
• Connect GitHub and GitLab so updates and tasks stay in one place
• Scale to more repos by cloning the same pattern across projects

1. Import the template into n8n: Create a new workflow in n8n > Click the three dots menu > Select 'Import from File' > Choose the downloaded JSON file.
2. You'll need accounts with GitHub and GitLab. See the Tools Required section above for links to create accounts with these services.
3. In the n8n credentials manager, create a GitHub credential. If unsure, double click the GitHub node, open the 'Credential to connect with' dropdown, click 'Create new credential', and follow the on screen steps. Use a Personal Access Token with read access to the repository releases if you choose token based auth.
4. Create a GitLab credential in the n8n credentials manager. If unsure, double click a GitLab node and use 'Create new credential'. A Personal Access Token with the api scope works well for listing and creating issues.
5. Open the GitHub node that gets releases. Set the repository owner and name. Keep the operation as get all releases with limit 1 so only the latest release is used. Run the node once to confirm you receive the latest tag, link, and notes.
6. Open the GitLab List issues node. Select your credential and choose the project by ID or by group and project path. Filter for open issues if available. Run this node to make sure you can fetch current issues.
7. Check the Merge node connections. One input should come from the GitHub release node and the other from the GitLab issues node. Keep the default merge behavior so both datasets are available to the next step.
8. Review the function node that decides if an issue should be created. It compares the GitHub release tag with existing issue titles. If your n8n instance does not allow require, replace the lodash calls with plain JavaScript string checks.
9. Open the GitLab Create issue node. Map the title to include the release tag and set the body to include the release URL and notes. Add labels if your team uses them. Test create one issue to confirm permissions.
10. Configure the Cron node to run every week at a time that fits your team. Save and activate the workflow so it runs on schedule.
11. Validation: Run the whole workflow manually once. Confirm that no issue is created when one already exists, and that a new issue appears when there is a new tag. If you see permission errors, check token scopes and project access in GitHub and GitLab.