Queue mode

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.

You can run n8n in different modes depending on your needs. Queue mode provides the best scalability. Refer to Queue mode for more information.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
OFFLOAD_MANUAL_EXECUTIONS_TO_WORKERS	Boolean	false	Set to true if you want manual executions to run on the worker rather than on main.
QUEUE_BULL_PREFIX	String	-	Prefix to use for all queue keys.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_DB	Number	0	The Redis database used.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_HOST	String	localhost	The Redis host.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_PORT	Number	6379	The Redis port used.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_USERNAME	String	-	The Redis username (needs Redis version 6 or above). Don't define it for Redis < 6 compatibility
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_PASSWORD	String	-	The Redis password.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_TIMEOUT_THRESHOLD	Number	10000	The Redis timeout threshold (in ms).
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_CLUSTER_NODES	String	-	Expects a comma-separated list of Redis Cluster nodes in the format host:port, for the Redis client to initially connect to. If running in queue mode (EXECUTIONS_MODE = queue), setting this variable will create a Redis Cluster client instead of a Redis client, and n8n will ignore QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_HOST and QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_PORT.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_TLS	Boolean	false	Enable TLS on Redis connections.
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_DUALSTACK	Boolean	false	Enable dual-stack support (IPv4 and IPv6) on Redis connections.
QUEUE_WORKER_TIMEOUT (deprecated)	Number	30	Deprecated from n8n 1.22.0. Use N8N_GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT instead. How long should n8n wait (seconds) for running executions before exiting worker process on shutdown.
QUEUE_HEALTH_CHECK_ACTIVE	Boolean	false	Whether to enable health checks (true) or disable (false).
QUEUE_HEALTH_CHECK_PORT	Number	5678	The port to serve health checks on. If you experience a port conflict error when starting a worker server using its default port, change this.
QUEUE_WORKER_LOCK_DURATION	Number	60000	How long (in ms) is the lease period for a worker to work on a message.
QUEUE_WORKER_LOCK_RENEW_TIME	Number	10000	How frequently (in ms) should a worker renew the lease time.
QUEUE_WORKER_STALLED_INTERVAL	Number	30000	How often should a worker check for stalled jobs (use 0 for never).
QUEUE_WORKER_MAX_STALLED_COUNT (deprecated)	Number	1	Deprecated Removed in n8n 2.0. Setting this has no effect. See Remove QUEUE_WORKER_MAX_STALLED_COUNT for migration details.

Webhook responses

In queue mode, a worker sends a webhook response back to the main instance inside a queue message. These variables set how large that message can be, and whether n8n stores a larger response body in binary data storage instead of failing the node. Refer to Large webhook responses for details.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
N8N_WEBHOOK_RESPONSE_RELAY_SIZE_MAX	Number	64	Maximum size (in MiB) of a response a worker sends back to the main instance inside a queue message. Redis holds several copies of a response in flight, so budget about 1.5 times this value in Redis memory per response in flight. The same limit applies to a tool result an MCP Trigger workflow returns.
N8N_WEBHOOK_RESPONSE_RELAY_OFFLOAD_ENABLED	Boolean	false	Whether a worker stores a response body above N8N_WEBHOOK_RESPONSE_RELAY_SIZE_MAX in binary data storage, so the main instance can stream it to the client, instead of failing the node. Needs a N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE that stores (filesystem, database, s3, or azure), and storage every instance can read. Set this on your workers only after every main and webhook instance runs n8n 2.34.0 or later.

Multi-main setup

Refer to Configuring multi-main setup for details.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
N8N_MULTI_MAIN_SETUP_ENABLED	Boolean	false	Whether to enable multi-main setup for queue mode (license required).
N8N_MULTI_MAIN_SETUP_KEY_TTL	Number	10	Time to live (in seconds) for leader key in multi-main setup.
N8N_MULTI_MAIN_SETUP_CHECK_INTERVAL	Number	3	Interval (in seconds) for leader check in multi-main setup.

Related resources

• Environment variables