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OpenTelemetry

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.

n8n can export workflow and node execution traces over OTLP to an OpenTelemetry collector. Refer to OpenTelemetry tracing for details.

Variable
Type
Default
Description
Available from

N8N_OTEL_ENABLED

Boolean

false

Whether to enable OpenTelemetry tracing. When set to false, n8n doesn't load the OpenTelemetry SDK.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT

String

http://localhost:4318

Base URL of the OTLP HTTP endpoint to export traces to. n8n appends the value of N8N_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACING_PATH to this URL.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACING_PATH

String

/v1/traces

Path appended to N8N_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT for exporting traces.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS

String

-

Comma-separated list of key=value pairs to send as HTTP headers with each OTLP request. Use this for authentication tokens or tenant headers. For example: authorization=Bearer <token>,x-tenant=acme.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_EXPORTER_SERVICE_NAME

String

n8n

Value of the service.name resource attribute on exported spans.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE

Number

1.0

Fraction of traces to export, between 0 and 1. n8n uses a trace ID ratio sampler, so all spans in a trace are either sampled or dropped together.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_TRACES_INCLUDE_NODE_SPANS

Boolean

true

Whether to emit a node.execute span for each node execution. Set to false to export workflow-level spans only.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_TRACES_PRODUCTION_ONLY

Boolean

true

Whether to export traces for production executions only. Set to false to export traces for all workflow executions.

2.25.2

N8N_OTEL_TRACES_INJECT_OUTBOUND

Boolean

true

Whether to inject the W3C traceparent/tracesstate headers into outbound HTTP requests made by nodes that use n8n's HTTP helpers.

2.19.0

N8N_OTEL_STARTUP_CONNECTIVITY_TIMEOUT_MS

Number

2000

Timeout (in milliseconds) for the startup connectivity check against the OTLP endpoint. n8n logs a warning if the endpoint isn't reachable within this period.

2.19.0

N8N_AGENTS_TRACING_ENABLED

Boolean

true

Whether agent runs emit OpenTelemetry spans. Inherits the endpoint, headers, sampling, and transport settings from N8N_OTEL_*. Spans have nowhere to go until you configure an OTel provider, so set this to false to run workflow tracing without agent spans.

2.33.0

N8N_AGENTS_TRACING_RECORD_INPUTS

Boolean

true

Whether agent tracing records inputs, such as prompts and tool arguments. Set to false to exclude sensitive input data from traces.

2.33.0

N8N_AGENTS_TRACING_RECORD_OUTPUTS

Boolean

true

Whether agent tracing records outputs, such as responses and tool results. Set to false to exclude sensitive output data from traces.

2.33.0

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