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Docker-Compose#

If you have already installed Docker and Docker-Compose, then you can start with step 4.

Self-hosting knowledge prerequisites

Self-hosting n8n requires technical knowledge, including:

  • Setting up and configuring servers and containers
  • Managing application resources and scaling
  • Securing servers and applications
  • Configuring n8n

n8n recommends self-hosting for expert users. Mistakes can lead to data loss, security issues, and downtime. If you aren't experienced at managing servers, n8n recommends n8n Cloud.

Latest and Next versions

n8n releases a new minor version most weeks. The latest version is for production use. next is the most recent release. You should treat next as a beta: it may be unstable. To report issues, use the forum.

Current latest: 1.52.2
Current next: 1.53.1

1. Install Docker#

This can vary depending on the Linux distribution used. You can find detailed instructions in the Docker documentation. The following example is for Ubuntu:

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sudo apt-get remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

2. Optional: Non-root user access#

Run when logged in as the user that should also be allowed to run docker:

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sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
su - ${USER}

3. Install Docker-Compose#

This can vary depending on the Linux distribution used. You can find detailed instructions in the Docker documentation.

The example below is for Ubuntu:

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sudo apt-get install docker-compose-plugin

4. DNS setup#

Add A record to route the subdomain accordingly:

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Type: A
Name: n8n (or the desired subdomain)
IP address: <IP_OF_YOUR_SERVER>

5. Create Docker Compose file#

Create a docker-compose.yml file. Paste the following in the file:

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version: "3.7"

services:
  traefik:
    image: "traefik"
    restart: always
    command:
      - "--api=true"
      - "--api.insecure=true"
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entryPoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.tlschallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.email=${SSL_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - traefik_data:/letsencrypt
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro

  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5678:5678"
    labels:
      - traefik.enable=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.rule=Host(`${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}`)
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.entrypoints=web,websecure
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls.certresolver=mytlschallenge
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLRedirect=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSSeconds=315360000
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.browserXSSFilter=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.contentTypeNosniff=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.forceSTSHeader=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLHost=${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSIncludeSubdomains=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSPreload=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.middlewares=n8n@docker
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

volumes:
  traefik_data:
    external: true
  n8n_data:
    external: true

If you are planning on reading/writing local files with n8n (for example, by using the Read/Write Files from Disk node, you will need to configure a data directory for those files here. If you are running n8n as a root user, add this under volumes for the n8n service:

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- /local-files:/files

If you are running n8n as a non-root user, add this under volumes for the n8n service:

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- /home/<YOUR USERNAME>/n8n-local-files:/files

You will now be able to write files to the /files directory in n8n and they will appear on your server in either /local-files or /home/<YOUR USERNAME>/n8n-local-files, respectively.

6. Create .env file#

Create an .env file and change it accordingly.

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# The top level domain to serve from
DOMAIN_NAME=example.com

# The subdomain to serve from
SUBDOMAIN=n8n

# DOMAIN_NAME and SUBDOMAIN combined decide where n8n will be reachable from
# above example would result in: https://n8n.example.com

# Optional timezone to set which gets used by Cron-Node by default
# If not set New York time will be used
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Europe/Berlin

# The email address to use for the SSL certificate creation
SSL_EMAIL=user@example.com

7. Create data folder#

Create the Docker volume that's defined as n8n_data. n8n will save the database file from SQLite and the encryption key in this volume.

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sudo docker volume create n8n_data

Create a volume for the Traefik data, This is defined as traefik_data.

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sudo docker volume create traefik_data

8. Start Docker Compose#

n8n can now be started via:

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sudo docker compose up -d

To stop the container:

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sudo docker compose stop

9. Done#

n8n will now be reachable using the above defined subdomain + domain combination. The above example would result in: https://n8n.example.com

n8n will only be reachable using https and not using http.

Secure your n8n instance

Make sure that you set up authentication for your n8n instance.

Next steps#