Database

File-based configuration

You can add _FILE to individual variables to provide their configuration in a separate file. Refer to Keeping sensitive data in separate files for more details.

By default, n8n uses SQLite. n8n also supports PostgreSQL. n8n deprecated support for MySQL and MariaDB in v1.0.

This page outlines environment variables to configure your chosen database for your self-hosted n8n instance.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_TYPE /_FILE	Enum string: sqlite, postgresdb	sqlite	The database to use.
DB_TABLE_PREFIX	*	-	Prefix to use for table names.
DB_PING_INTERVAL_SECONDS	Number	2	How often, in seconds, n8n pings the database to check that the connection is still alive.
DB_PING_TIMEOUT_MS	Number	5000	How long, in milliseconds, n8n waits for a single ping to respond before counting it as a failure. Falls back to the deprecated N8N_DB_PING_TIMEOUT if that's set.
DB_PING_MAX_FAILURES_BEFORE_RECOVERY	Number	3	How many pings in a row must fail before n8n treats the connection as lost and starts recovery.
DB_RECOVERY_BACKOFF_MIN_MS	Number	1000	How long, in milliseconds, n8n waits before its first recovery attempt. Each retry waits longer (exponential backoff).
DB_RECOVERY_BACKOFF_MAX_MS	Number	30000	The longest, in milliseconds, n8n waits between recovery attempts. This caps the backoff. Must be greater than or equal to DB_RECOVERY_BACKOFF_MIN_MS.
DB_CONNECTION_ACQUISITION_TIMEOUT_MS	Number	30000	How long, in milliseconds, a query waits while recovery is in progress before failing fast with an error. Set to 0 to wait indefinitely. Applies to PostgreSQL only.

PostgreSQL

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE /_FILE	String	n8n	The name of the PostgreSQL database.
DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST /_FILE	String	localhost	The PostgreSQL host.
DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT /_FILE	Number	5432	The PostgreSQL port.
DB_POSTGRESDB_USER /_FILE	String	postgres	The PostgreSQL user.
DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL password.
DB_POSTGRESDB_POOL_SIZE /_FILE	Number	2	Control how many parallel open Postgres connections n8n should have. Increasing it may help with resource utilization, but too many connections may degrade performance.
DB_POSTGRESDB_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT /_FILE	Number	20000	Postgres connection timeout (ms).
DB_POSTGRESDB_IDLE_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT /_FILE	Number	30000	Amount of time before an idle connection is eligible for eviction for being idle.
DB_POSTGRESDB_MAX_CONNECTION_LIFETIME_MS /_FILE	Number	3600000	How long, in milliseconds, n8n keeps a pooled connection before recycling it. Recycling old connections helps avoid stale connections that the database or network dropped without n8n noticing. The default is one hour. Set to 0 to disable recycling.
DB_POSTGRESDB_KEEP_ALIVE /_FILE	Boolean	true	Whether to enable TCP keep-alive on connections. Keep-alive lets n8n notice a dead connection without having to run a query first.
DB_POSTGRESDB_KEEP_ALIVE_INITIAL_DELAY_MS /_FILE	Number	10000	How long, in milliseconds, n8n waits before sending the first TCP keep-alive probe on a connection.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA /_FILE	String	public	The PostgreSQL schema.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_ENABLED /_FILE	Boolean	false	Whether to enable SSL. Automatically enabled if DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CA, DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CERT or DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_KEY is defined.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CA /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL certificate authority.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CERT /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL certificate.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_KEY /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL key.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED /_FILE	Boolean	true	If n8n should reject unauthorized SSL connections (true) or not (false).

SQLite

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_SQLITE_POOL_SIZE	Number	0	Controls whether to open the SQLite file in WAL mode or rollback journal mode. Uses rollback journal mode when set to zero. When greater than zero, uses WAL mode with the value determining the number of parallel SQL read connections to configure. WAL mode is much more performant and reliable than the rollback journal mode.
DB_SQLITE_VACUUM_ON_STARTUP	Boolean	false	Runs VACUUM operation on startup to rebuild the database. Reduces file size and optimizes indexes. This is a long running blocking operation and increases start-up time.

How database connection recovery works

n8n keeps checking that it can still reach your database. If the connection drops, for example after a database restart or a network blip, n8n can repair it on its own instead of staying broken until you restart n8n.

Here's the cycle the variables on this page control:

1. Every DB_PING_INTERVAL_SECONDS, n8n sends a ping. Each ping has DB_PING_TIMEOUT_MS to respond.

2. Once DB_PING_MAX_FAILURES_BEFORE_RECOVERY pings fail in a row, n8n treats the connection as lost.

3. n8n then rebuilds the connection, retrying with a growing wait between attempts that starts at DB_RECOVERY_BACKOFF_MIN_MS and never exceeds DB_RECOVERY_BACKOFF_MAX_MS.

4. On PostgreSQL, while recovery is in progress, any new query waits up to DB_CONNECTION_ACQUISITION_TIMEOUT_MS for the connection to come back, then fails with an error rather than hanging.

Applies to all databases

The health checks and the recovery cycle (the DB_PING_* and DB_RECOVERY_BACKOFF_* variables) apply to every database type. The remaining settings (DB_CONNECTION_ACQUISITION_TIMEOUT_MS, DB_POSTGRESDB_MAX_CONNECTION_LIFETIME_MS, DB_POSTGRESDB_KEEP_ALIVE, and DB_POSTGRESDB_KEEP_ALIVE_INITIAL_DELAY_MS) apply to PostgreSQL only. The default values suit most deployments, so you can leave them unchanged unless you run into connection problems.