# Flow disappeared but running

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-disappeared-but-running/3446>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [25 September 2018 16:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-disappeared-but-running/3446 "2018-09-25T16:36:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Joao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Joao](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Joao)\
**Post date:** [25 September 2018 16:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-disappeared-but-running/3446/1 "2018-09-25T16:36:45Z")

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I have 1 flow that disappeared but still running. How can i retrieve the nodes of that flow.i can not deploy the NR. I check the flow\_.json and seems the nodes are there but the flow statement is not.

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**Author:** ![ukmoose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ukmoose/32/13_2.png) [@ukmoose](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ukmoose)\
**Post date:** [25 September 2018 17:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-disappeared-but-running/3446/2 "2018-09-25T17:32:00Z")

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If you look in your flows directory there is a hidden file which is you previous deployed flows.

If you are on a unixy OS  
cd into your node-red directory and ls -altr and it’s the flows file that starts with a .

Copy that file to a new name and then restart node-red using that flows file (see the docs on how to specify a file name)