n8n vs code: when a workflow should graduate to a service

A visual workflow tool is a superpower for the first ninety percent of any automation. The last ten percent is where the argument starts.

Signals it is time to graduate

1. The workflow crosses ten branching conditions.
2. You need transactional guarantees across three or more systems.
3. A single run costs real money and needs cost accounting.
4. The team keeps forking the workflow instead of parameterizing it.
5. You want proper tests — not smoke runs.
6. The workflow now owns state that other services need to read.

A migration that respects the past

Do not throw the canvas away. Keep it as the orchestrator and lift the hot subgraphs into a typed service the workflow calls. You get testability where you need it and continuity where you do not.