Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago

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Working with contexts, flow and global variables in Node-RED is a valuable skill when building complex automations.

Using JSON and JavaScript makes it a fairly intuitive experience in Node-RED.

I show you examples using the Change Node and the Function Node; these are both very useful nodes.

Check out my video on the Function Node: youtu.be/mXVcxXI0jM0

Useful Links:

Contexts: nodered.org/docs/user-guide/context
Writing Functions: nodered.org/docs/user-guide/writing-functions

My Node-RED playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL79iw4ttpsPfZ_fF3vjMmXmY-Rb_d-A3P

00:00 Intro
00:42 Change Node - Setting string variables
03:11 Change Node - JSON Strings & JS Objects
04:56 - Saving variables across Node-RED restarts
06:46 Change Node - Clearing / removing variables
07:33 Global Variable example with Home Assistant entity
08:58 Function Node - Storing and retrieving from variables
11:20 Local / Node context - Accessing data just within a node
12:42 Outro

#nodered