Docker-Compose

If you have already installed Docker and Docker-Compose, then you can start with step 3.

You can find Docker Compose configurations for various architectures in the n8n-hosting repository.

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: 1.84.3
Current next: 1.85.4

1. Install Docker and Docker Compose

How you install Docker and Docker Compose can vary depending on the Linux distribution you use. You can find detailed instructions in both the Docker and Docker Compose installation documentation. The following example is for Ubuntu:

# Remove incompatible or out of date Docker implementations if they exist
for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove $pkg; done
# Install prereq packages
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
# Download the repo signing key
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
# Configure the repository
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

# Update and install Docker and Docker Compose
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Verify that Docker and Docker Compose are available by typing:

docker --version
docker compose version

2. Optional: Non-root user access

You can optionally grant access to run Docker without the sudo command.

To grant access to the user that you're currently logged in with (assuming they have sudo access), run:

sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
# Register the `docker` group memebership with current session without changing your primary group
exec sg docker newgrp

To grant access to a different user, type the following, substituting <USER_TO_RUN_DOCKER> with the appropriate username:

sudo usermod -aG docker <USER_TO_RUN_DOCKER>

You will need to run exec sg docker newgrp from any of that user's existing sessions for it to access the new group permissions.

You can verify that your current session recognizes the docker group by typing:

groups

3. DNS setup

To host n8n online or on a network, create a dedicated subdomain pointed at your server.

Add an A record to route the subdomain accordingly:

• Type: A
• Name: n8n (or the desired subdomain)
• IP address: (your server's IP address)

4. Create an .env file

Create a project directory to store your n8n environment configuration and Docker Compose files and navigate inside:

mkdir n8n-compose
cd n8n-compose

Inside the n8n-compose directory, create an .env file to customize your n8n instance's details. Change it to match your own information:

# DOMAIN_NAME and SUBDOMAIN together determine where n8n will be reachable from
# The top level domain to serve from
DOMAIN_NAME=example.com

# The subdomain to serve from
SUBDOMAIN=n8n

# The above example serve n8n at: https://n8n.example.com

# Optional timezone to set which gets used by Cron and other scheduling nodes
# New York is the default value if not set
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Europe/Berlin

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

5. Create local files directory

Inside your project directory, create a directory called local-files for sharing files between the n8n instance and the host system (for example, using the Read/Write Files from Disk node):

mkdir local-files

The Docker Compose file below can automatically create this directory, but doing it manually ensures that it's created with the right ownership and permissions.

6. Create Docker Compose file

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

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
      - ./local-files:/files

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  traefik_data:

The above Docker Compose file configures two containers: one for n8n, and one to run traefik, an application proxy to manage TLS/SSL certificates and handle routing.

It also creates and mounts two Docker Volumes and mounts the local-files directory you created earlier:

Name	Type	Container mount	Description
n8n_data	Volume	/home/node/.n8n	Where n8n saves its SQLite database file and encryption key.
traefik_data	Volume	/letsencrypt	Where traefik saves the TLS/SSL certificate data.
./local-files	Bind	/files	A local directory shared between the n8n instance and host. In n8n, use the /files path to read from and write to this directory.

7. Start Docker Compose

You can now start n8n by typing:

sudo docker compose up -d

To stop the container, type:

sudo docker compose stop

8. Done

You can now reach n8n using the subdomain + domain combination you defined in your .env file configuration. The above example would result in https://n8n.example.com.

n8n is only accessible using secure HTTPS, not over plain HTTP.

Next steps

• Learn more about configuring and scaling n8n.
• Or explore using n8n: try the Quickstarts.