Skip to main content

n8n deployment

Self-hosted n8n is commonly run on a VPS or Kubernetes with a reverse proxy terminating TLS. The goal is: correct public URL, TLS, health checks, and no accidental exposure of the editor.

Public URL variables​

n8n must know how it is reached on the internet so webhooks, OAuth redirects, and emails generate correct links. Key deployment variables include:

  • N8N_HOST, N8N_PORT, N8N_PROTOCOL — How n8n describes itself (deployment variables).
  • N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL — Public editor URL; also used for SAML redirect URL and emails (same page).
  • WEBHOOK_URL — Often set to your public base (see base URL configuration).

Misconfiguration produces broken webhooks or wrong OAuth callbacks—debug those first when integrations fail behind proxies.

Reverse proxies​

Place Caddy or Nginx in front of n8n:

  • Terminate HTTPS (Let’s Encrypt).
  • Forward WebSockets if the UI uses them (N8N_PUSH_BACKEND defaults include websocket—ensure proxy supports upgrade).
  • Set N8N_PROXY_HOPS to the number of reverse proxies so n8n trusts X-Forwarded-* correctly (deployment variables).

Example conceptual Nginx location (adapt paths/certs):

location / {
  proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:5678;
  proxy_http_version 1.1;
  proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
  proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
  proxy_set_header Host $host;
  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}

TLS​

  • Prefer automatic ACME (Caddy or certbot) over long-lived self-signed certs for public webhooks.
  • If terminating TLS at the proxy, keep N8N_PROTOCOL=https consistent with what users use in the browser.

VPS baseline​

  1. Firewall — Allow 22 (locked down), 80/443 to proxy; do not expose Postgres/redis to the world.
  2. Unattended upgrades or a patch cadence for the host OS.
  3. Backups — Database dumps and /home/node/.n8n state (setup notes).
  4. Health — Monitor process, disk, and DB connections.

Scaling pointer​

For large teams or heavy workloads, n8n documents queue mode and scaling topics (scaling overview). See Configuration.