🚀 n8n Docker Production Stack

A production-ready, scalable, and secure Docker Compose setup for n8n workflow automation with PostgreSQL, Redis, and external Python runners.

✨ Features

🚀 Production-Ready: Queue-based execution, worker scaling, health checks
🔒 Security First: Non-root DB users, Redis auth, encrypted credentials
📈 Scalable: Separate main/worker containers, external Python runners
🔄 Persistent: Docker volumes for data, zero-downtime updates
🌍 Timezone Aware: Proper configuration for scheduled workflows

📦 Quick Start

1. Clone & Configure

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/n8n-setup.git
cd n8n-setup
cp .env.example .env

2. Edit Environment Variables

# Edit .env file with your secure passwords
nano .env

# Or generate secure passwords:
openssl rand -base64 32  # For N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY
openssl rand -base64 24  # For REDIS_PASSWORD

3. Launch Services

# Start all services
docker-compose up -d

# Watch logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Check status
docker-compose ps

4. Access n8n

🌐 Open: http://localhost:5678
🔑 First login: Create admin account

🏗️ Architecture

Simple overview

graph TB
    User[👤 User] -->|Port 5678| Main[n8n Main<br/>Web UI & API]
    Main -->|Queue Tasks| Redis[Redis Queue<br/>Message Broker]
    Redis --> Worker1[n8n Worker #1]
    Redis --> Worker2[n8n Worker #2]
    Main -->|Python Tasks| Runners[Python Runners]
    Main -->|Store Data| Postgres[(PostgreSQL Database)]
    
    style Main fill:#FF6B6B
    style Redis fill:#DC382D
    style Postgres fill:#336791

Full overview

graph TB
    %% Инициаторы процессов
    User[👤 User / External API]
    Schedule[⏰ Scheduler]
    
    %% Основные сервисы n8n
    Main[n8n-main<br/><b>Web UI & API</b><br/>Port: 5678]
    Workers[n8n-workers<br/><b>Task Processors</b>]
    Runners[n8n-runners<br/><b>Python Executor</b>]
    
    %% Инфраструктура
    DB[(PostgreSQL<br/><b>Metadata & Results</b>)]
    Queue{Redis<br/><b>Message Queue</b>}
    Storage[(Shared Volume<br/>n8n_storage)]
    
    %% Связи
    User -->|HTTP/WebSocket| Main
    Schedule -->|Triggers| Main
    
    Main -->|1. Store Workflow| DB
    Main -->|2. Queue Tasks| Queue
    
    Queue -->|3. Fetch Tasks| Workers
    Queue -->|Tasks with Python| Runners
    
    Workers -->|4. Save Results| DB
    Runners -->|Python Results| DB
    
    Main -.->|Mount| Storage
    Workers -.->|Mount| Storage
    Runners -.->|Mount| Storage
    
    %% Группировка для наглядности
    subgraph "n8n Application Layer"
        Main
        Workers
        Runners
    end
    
    subgraph "Infrastructure Layer"
        DB
        Queue
        Storage
    end
    
    %% Стили для улучшения восприятия
    classDef service fill:#FF6B6B,color:white,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    classDef storage fill:#336791,color:white,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    classDef queue fill:#DC382D,color:white,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    classDef user fill:#4CAF50,color:white,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    
    class Main,Workers,Runners service
    class DB,Storage storage
    class Queue queue
    class User,Schedule user

⚙️ Configuration Details

Core Services

Service	Purpose	Port	Image
n8n-main	Web UI & API gateway	5678	`n8nio/n8n:latest`
n8n-worker	Background task processing	-	`n8nio/n8n:latest`
n8n-runners	Python script execution	-	`n8nio/runners:latest`
PostgreSQL	Data persistence	5432	`postgres:16`
Redis	Message queue & cache	6379	`redis:7`

Environment Variables (.env)

# ========== DATABASE ==========
POSTGRES_USER=postgres_root
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
POSTGRES_DB=n8n
POSTGRES_NON_ROOT_USER=n8n_user
POSTGRES_NON_ROOT_PASSWORD=user_secure_password

# ========== REDIS ==========
REDIS_PASSWORD=your_redis_password

# ========== N8N CORE ==========
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=generate_with_openssl_rand_base64_32
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Europe/Moscow
TZ=Europe/Moscow

# ========== EXTERNAL RUNNERS ==========
N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true
N8N_RUNNERS_MODE=external
N8N_RUNNERS_BROKER_LISTEN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
N8N_RUNNERS_AUTH_TOKEN=your_secure_runner_token

🔧 Advanced Features

📊 Monitoring & Logs

# View real-time logs
docker-compose logs -f n8n-main

# Check service health
docker-compose ps

# Monitor resource usage
docker stats

# Access database
docker-compose exec postgres psql -U n8n_user -d n8n

🔄 Scale Workers (Horizontal Scaling)

# Scale to 3 workers for heavy loads
docker-compose up -d --scale n8n-worker=3

# Scale Python runners
docker-compose up -d --scale n8n-runners=2

💾 Backup & Restore

# Backup database
docker-compose exec postgres pg_dump -U n8n_user n8n > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Backup volumes
tar -czf n8n_backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz \
  -C $(docker volume inspect n8n-setup_n8n_storage -f '{{.Mountpoint}}') . \
  -C $(docker volume inspect n8n-setup_db_storage -f '{{.Mountpoint}}') .

# Restore database
docker-compose exec -T postgres psql -U n8n_user -d n8n < backup_file.sql

🚀 Performance Tuning

Edit docker-compose.yml to add resource limits:

n8n-worker:
  deploy:
    resources:
      limits:
        cpus: '1.0'
        memory: 1G
      reservations:
        cpus: '0.5'
        memory: 512M

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues & Solutions

Issue	Solution
"Python 3 is missing"	Ensure `N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true` and `N8N_RUNNERS_MODE=external` are set. Check that the `n8n-runners` container is running (`docker-compose ps`).
"NOAUTH Authentication required"	Verify the `REDIS_PASSWORD` in your `.env` file matches the password configured in the Redis service. Ensure there are no special characters causing issues.
Database connection failed	Check PostgreSQL logs: `docker-compose logs postgres`. Verify the `POSTGRES_NON_ROOT_USER` and `POSTGRES_NON_ROOT_PASSWORD` are correct and the user has privileges.
Port 5678 already in use	Change the host port in the `n8n-main` service ports mapping (e.g., `- "8080:5678"`). Find and stop the process using the port: `netstat -ano \| findstr :5678` (Windows).
Workflows not executing	Check worker status: `docker-compose logs n8n-worker`. Ensure Redis is healthy (`docker-compose ps`) and the `EXECUTIONS_MODE=queue` is set.
"Failed to start Python task runner" warning	This is normal if using external runners. It confirms the internal runner is disabled. Verify the external runner is connected: `docker-compose logs n8n-runners \| grep -i connected`.
n8n-main or worker exits with code 1	Almost always a configuration error. Check the logs for the specific service just before it crashed: `docker-compose logs --tail=50 n8n-main`.
Dependency failed to start: container ... is unhealthy	The health check for a service (Postgres/Redis) failed. Investigate that specific service's logs: `docker-compose logs postgres`.

Diagnostic Commands

# Check the status and health of all containers
docker-compose ps

# View the last 50 lines of logs from all services
docker-compose logs --tail=50

# Follow logs in real-time (Ctrl+C to stop)
docker-compose logs -f

# Test PostgreSQL connection and responsiveness
docker-compose exec postgres pg_isready -U n8n_user -d n8n

# Test Redis connection and authentication
docker-compose exec redis redis-cli -a $REDIS_PASSWORD ping

# Check if the external Python runner connected successfully
docker-compose logs n8n-runners | grep -i "connected\|ready\|auth"

# Inspect the environment variables inside a running container
docker-compose exec n8n-main env | grep N8N_

# Check Docker volume usage and location
docker volume ls
docker volume inspect n8n-setup_n8n_storage

Step-by-Step Debug Guide

Full Restart: Often fixes transient network/startup issues.

docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d
docker-compose logs -f

Check Specific Service Logs: If one service is failing.

# Replace <service_name> with postgres, redis, n8n-main, etc.
docker-compose logs --tail=100 <service_name>

Verify Configuration: Ensure all .env variables are set and used correctly in docker-compose.yml.

# Compare your .env with the expected variables
cat .env

Access Container Shell: For deep inspection.

docker-compose exec n8n-main /bin/sh
# Inside container, you can check processes, installed packages, etc.

📈 Performance Benchmarks

Metric	Value	Notes
Workers per GB RAM	2-3 workers	512MB per worker recommended
Queue throughput	~100 tasks/sec	With 3 workers, Redis queue
Database connections	50 concurrent	PostgreSQL with 100 max_connections
Startup time	30-60 seconds	All services healthy
Python Runner Latency	< 100ms	Simple scripts on same network

🔐 Security Checklist

Non-root database user configured
Redis password authentication enabled
n8n encryption key set (32+ chars)
External runner auth token configured
Container health checks implemented
Volume persistence for data survival
SSL/TLS encryption (add reverse proxy)
Firewall rules (limit external access)
Regular updates (monitor for CVEs)

🚢 Deployment Options

1. Local Development

# Quick start for testing
docker-compose up

2. Production Deployment

# Use specific versions (not 'latest')
sed -i 's/:latest/:2.0.2/g' docker-compose.yml

# Add reverse proxy (nginx/traefik)
# Enable SSL certificates
# Set up monitoring (Prometheus/Grafana)

3. Cloud Deployment

AWS: ECS/EKS with RDS & ElastiCache
GCP: Cloud Run with Cloud SQL & Memorystore
Azure: Container Instances with Azure DB & Redis

🔄 Update Procedure

# 1. Backup data
./scripts/backup.sh

# 2. Pull new images
docker-compose pull

# 3. Update with zero downtime
docker-compose up -d

# 4. Verify
docker-compose ps
docker-compose logs --tail=20 n8n-main

🤝 Contributing

Found a bug? Have a feature request? Contributions are welcome!

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

⭐ Support & Star History

If this project helped you, please give it a ⭐!

https://api.star-history.com/svg?repos=sedovdmitry/n8n-setup&type=Date

🙏 Acknowledgments

n8n.io for the amazing workflow automation platform
Docker community for containerization best practices
All contributors who help improve this setup

📞 Need Help?

GitHub Issues: Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue. Please include details like error logs and your configuration (remember to remove passwords!).
GitHub Discussions: Have a question, want to share your setup, or discuss best practices? Join the conversation in Discussions.
Official n8n Documentation: For in-depth questions about n8n features, nodes, and core concepts, the official docs are the best resource: docs.n8n.io.
Community & Support:
- n8n Community Forum: A great place to ask n8n-specific questions: community.n8n.io
- Stack Overflow: Use the n8n tag for programming and configuration questions.

Debugging Tip: When seeking help, providing logs is crucial. Run docker-compose logs <service_name> and share the relevant error output.

Built with ❤️ for the n8n community | 🐳 Docker | 🐍 Python | 🗄️ PostgreSQL

Happy automating! Your workflows are in good containers.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 2 Commits
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
init-data.sh		init-data.sh

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🚀 n8n Docker Production Stack

✨ Features

📦 Quick Start

1. Clone & Configure

2. Edit Environment Variables

3. Launch Services

4. Access n8n

🏗️ Architecture

Simple overview

Full overview

⚙️ Configuration Details

Core Services

Environment Variables (.env)

🔧 Advanced Features

📊 Monitoring & Logs

🔄 Scale Workers (Horizontal Scaling)

💾 Backup & Restore

🚀 Performance Tuning

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues & Solutions

Diagnostic Commands

Step-by-Step Debug Guide

📈 Performance Benchmarks

🔐 Security Checklist

🚢 Deployment Options

1. Local Development

2. Production Deployment

3. Cloud Deployment

🔄 Update Procedure

🤝 Contributing

📄 License

⭐ Support & Star History

🙏 Acknowledgments

📞 Need Help?

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