Deployment

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.

This page lists the deployment configuration options for your self-hosted n8n instance, including setting up access URLs, enabling templates, customizing encryption, and configuring server details.

Proxy variable priorities

The proxy-from-env package that n8n uses to handle proxy environment variables (those ending with _PROXY) imposes a certain variable precedence. Notably, for proxy variables, lowercase versions (like http_proxy) have precedence over uppercase variants (for example HTTP_PROXY) when both are present.

To learn more about proxy environment variables, check the environment variables section of the package details.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
HTTP_PROXY	String	-	A URL to proxy unencrypted HTTP requests through. When set, n8n proxies all unencrypted HTTP traffic from nodes through the proxy URL.
HTTPS_PROXY	String	-	A URL to proxy TLS/SSL encrypted HTTP requests through. When set, n8n proxies all TLS/SSL encrypted HTTP traffic from nodes through the proxy URL.
ALL_PROXY	String	-	A URL to proxy both unencrypted and encrypted HTTP requests through. When set, n8n uses this value when more specific variables (HTTP_PROXY or HTTPS_PROXY) aren't present.
NO_PROXY	String	-	A comma-separated list of hostnames or URLs that should bypass the proxy. When using HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, or ALL_PROXY, n8n will connect directly to the URLs or hostnames defined here instead of using the proxy.
N8N_ENFORCE_GLOBAL_USER_AGENT	Boolean	false	When set to true, n8n replaces the default bare n8n User-Agent string with an RFC-compliant value (Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; n8n/<version>; +https://n8n.io/)) on all outbound HTTP requests. Enable this to prevent web application firewalls from blocking n8n requests.
N8N_GLOBAL_USER_AGENT_VALUE	String	-	A custom User-Agent string to use for all outbound HTTP requests. Overrides the RFC-compliant default set by N8N_ENFORCE_GLOBAL_USER_AGENT. Useful when you don't want to disclose the n8n version to upstream servers.
N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL	String	-	Public URL where users can access the editor. Also used for emails sent from n8n and the redirect URL for SAML based authentication.
N8N_DISABLE_UI	Boolean	false	Set to true to disable the UI.
N8N_PREVIEW_MODE	Boolean	false	Set to true to run in preview mode.
N8N_TEMPLATES_ENABLED	Boolean	true	Enables workflow templates (true) or disable (false).
N8N_TEMPLATES_HOST	String	https://api.n8n.io	Change this if creating your own workflow template library. Note that to use your own workflow templates library, your API must provide the same endpoints and response structure as n8n's. Refer to Workflow templates for more information.
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY	String	Random key generated by n8n	Provide a custom key used to encrypt credentials in the n8n database. By default n8n generates a random key on first launch.
N8N_ENV_FEAT_ENCRYPTION_KEY_ROTATION	Boolean	false	Set to true on all instances (main and workers) to enable encryption key rotation. One-way change: take a full database backup first.
N8N_ENV_FEAT_OAUTH2_JWE	Boolean	false	Set to true on all instances (main and workers) to enable JWE token decryption for OAuth 2.0 credentials. Preview feature.
N8N_ENV_FEAT_TOKEN_EXCHANGE	Boolean	false	Set to true to enable token exchange for embedding partners. Preview feature.
N8N_OAUTH_JWE_JWKS_PER_MINUTE	Number	60	Per-IP rate limit on the public JWKS endpoint (/rest/.well-known/jwks.json) used by JWE token decryption for OAuth 2.0 credentials.
N8N_MCP_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT	Number	100	Maximum number of requests per IP, per 5 minutes, to the MCP server endpoint (/mcp-server/http).
N8N_OAUTH_SERVER_REGISTER_RATE_LIMIT	Number	10	Maximum number of requests per IP, per 5 minutes, to the OAuth server client registration endpoint (/oauth/register and /mcp-oauth/register).
N8N_OAUTH_SERVER_AUTHORIZE_RATE_LIMIT	Number	50	Maximum number of requests per IP, per 5 minutes, to the OAuth server authorization endpoint (/oauth/authorize and /mcp-oauth/authorize).
N8N_OAUTH_SERVER_TOKEN_RATE_LIMIT	Number	20	Maximum number of requests per IP, per 5 minutes, to the OAuth server token endpoint (/oauth/token and /mcp-oauth/token).
N8N_OAUTH_SERVER_REVOKE_RATE_LIMIT	Number	30	Maximum number of requests per IP, per 5 minutes, to the OAuth server token revocation endpoint (/oauth/revoke and /mcp-oauth/revoke).
N8N_USER_FOLDER	String	user-folder	Provide the path where n8n will create the .n8n folder. This directory stores user-specific data, such as database file and encryption key.
N8N_PATH	String	/	The path n8n deploys to. Combining N8N_PATH with reverse proxies can cause folder navigation issues. Use a subdomain (for example, n8n.example.com) or use N8N_PATH without reverse proxy.
N8N_HOST	String	localhost	Host name n8n runs on.
N8N_PORT	Number	5678	The HTTP port n8n runs on.
N8N_LISTEN_ADDRESS	String	::	The IP address n8n should listen on.
N8N_PROTOCOL	Enum string: http, https	http	The protocol used to reach n8n.
N8N_SSL_KEY	String	-	The SSL key for HTTPS protocol.
N8N_SSL_CERT	String	-	The SSL certificate for HTTPS protocol.
N8N_PERSONALIZATION_ENABLED	Boolean	true	Whether to ask users personalisation questions and then customise n8n accordingly.
N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED	Boolean	true	When enabled, n8n sends notifications of new versions and security updates.
N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENDPOINT	String	https://api.n8n.io/versions/	The endpoint to retrieve where version information.
N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_INFO_URL	String	https://docs.n8n.io/getting-started/installation/updating.html	The URL displayed in the New Versions panel for more information.
N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED	Boolean	true	Whether to share selected, anonymous telemetry with n8n. Note that if you set this to false, you can't enable Ask AI in the Code node.
N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_CONFIG_FRONTEND	String	1zPn9bgWPzlQc0p8Gj1uiK6DOTn;https://telemetry.n8n.io	Telemetry configuration for the frontend.
N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_CONFIG_BACKEND	String	1zPn7YoGC3ZXE9zLeTKLuQCB4F6;https://telemetry.n8n.io/v1/batch	Telemetry configuration for the backend.
N8N_PUSH_BACKEND	String	websocket	Choose whether the n8n backend uses server-sent events (sse) or WebSockets (websocket) to send changes to the UI.
VUE_APP_URL_BASE_API	String	http://localhost:5678/	Used when building the n8n-editor-ui package manually to set how the frontend can reach the backend API. Refer to Configure the Base URL.
N8N_HIRING_BANNER_ENABLED	Boolean	true	Whether to show the n8n hiring banner in the console (true) or not (false).
N8N_PUBLIC_API_SWAGGERUI_DISABLED	Boolean	false	Whether the Swagger UI (API playground) is disabled (true) or not (false).
N8N_PUBLIC_API_DISABLED	Boolean	false	Whether to disable the public API (true) or not (false).
N8N_PUBLIC_API_ENDPOINT	String	api	Path for the public API endpoints.
N8N_GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT	Number	30	How long should the n8n process wait (in seconds) for components to shut down before exiting the process.
N8N_DEV_RELOAD	Boolean	false	When working on the n8n source code, set this to true to automatically reload or restart the application when changes occur in the source code files.
N8N_REINSTALL_MISSING_PACKAGES	Boolean	false	If set to true, n8n will automatically attempt to reinstall any missing packages.
N8N_TUNNEL_SUBDOMAIN	String	-	Specifies the subdomain for the n8n tunnel. If not set, n8n generates a random subdomain.
N8N_PROXY_HOPS	Number	0	Number of reverse-proxies n8n is running behind.