n8n

n8n is a workflow automation platform for connecting APIs, services, and custom logic. Use this component when you need Diploi to build and deploy n8n so you can focus on building workflows, not configuring runtime environments.

Add to your project

Paste this entry into the components list in diploi.yaml to add n8n to your project.

components:
  - name: n8n
    identifier: n8n
    package: https://github.com/diploi/component-n8n#v2.45.6

Note

• If the folder of the component in your repository is not named n8n, add a folder parameter with the name of the folder.
• Import the environment variables of add-ons, such as a database, into the component with env.include in diploi.yaml:

components:
  - name: n8n
    identifier: n8n
    package: https://github.com/diploi/component-n8n#v2.45.6
    env:
      include:
        - postgres.*

Database

n8n stores its data in PostgreSQL. When you pick n8n in the Stack Builder, the PostgreSQL add-on and the environment variable mapping below are added to your project automatically. If you add n8n to an existing project by editing diploi.yaml yourself, add them too:

components:
  - name: n8n
    identifier: n8n
    package: https://github.com/diploi/component-n8n#v2.45.6
    env:
      include:
        - postgres.POSTGRES_HOST:DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST
        - postgres.POSTGRES_PORT:DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT
        - postgres.POSTGRES_USER:DB_POSTGRESDB_USER
        - postgres.POSTGRES_PASSWORD:DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD
addons:
  - name: PostgreSQL
    identifier: postgres
    package: https://github.com/diploi/addon-postgres#v18.3-pgvector

The mapping is needed because n8n only reads the variable names listed in its documentation.

AI models

To use Diploi-hosted models in n8n, create an OpenAI credential that points at the AI Gateway:

• Base URL: {diploi-ai-gateway-url}/openai/v1
• API key: {diploi-ai-gateway-token}

Inject those placeholders as env vars on the n8n component, then pick a supported model. See AI Gateway.

n8n reference

What n8n defines in a deployment.

Check a running deployment

Run diploi describe n8n in a development environment to see the values a deployment actually uses, its addresses and its connection strings. Secrets are masked unless you add --reveal. Add --json to get the same output as JSON, for scripts and AI agents.

Environment variables

n8n sets these values in every deployment. Other components can import them with env.include as n8n.*. Defaults marked generated are unique to each deployment.

Parameters are set on the deployment’s Setup tab.

Admin login

The owner account created on the first start. Change both in n8n afterwards.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAIL	string	admin@example.com	Email
INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD	secret	generated	Password

Database

n8n’s own database on the PostgreSQL add-on.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE	string	n8n	Database name

Keys

Generated for this project. Never change it, n8n could no longer read the credentials it encrypted with it.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY	secret	generated	Encryption key

Prompt tab

Let the agent in the Diploi prompt tab use n8n’s MCP server, as the owner. Optional.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
N8N_AGENT_TOKEN	secret	generated	The token the agent reaches the MCP server with. The Diploi core adds it to the agent’s requests.

Other variables

Set by the package. Override them on the deployment’s Environment tab or in diploi.yaml.

Variable	Default
DB_TYPE	postgresdb
DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA	public
TZ	UTC
N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL	generated
N8N_WEBHOOK_URL	generated
N8N_SAMESITE_COOKIE	none
N8N_SECURE_COOKIE	true
N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED	false
N8N_MCP_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT	0
N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE	database
N8N_REINSTALL_MISSING_PACKAGES	true
N8N_RUNNERS_MODE	external
N8N_RUNNERS_AUTH_TOKEN	generated
DIPLOI_AI_URL	{diploi-ai-gateway-url}/anthropic
DIPLOI_AI_TOKEN	{diploi-ai-gateway-token}

Readme

Start a demo, no card required https://diploi.com/component/n8n

Uses the official n8nio/n8n Docker image as it is (n8n 2.45). The version is the images[].image tag in diploi.yaml.

Requires PostgreSQL, which is included as a Diploi add-on. The AI nodes run on the Diploi AI proxy, so they work without an API key of your own.

Operation

Getting started

1. In the Dashboard, click Create Project +
2. Under Pick Components, choose n8n
3. In Pick Add-ons, PostgreSQL is required and selected by default.
4. Choose Create Repository so Diploi generates a new GitHub repo for your project.
5. Click Launch Stack

How to add a custom domain and launch to production: https://diploi.com/blog/hosting_n8n

Login

Log in with the email and password under Admin login in the deployment’s Setup tab. The email is admin@example.com by default, and the password is generated for every project.

Change both in n8n’s personal settings after the first login. The Setup tab’s values are only read on the first start.

First start

A setup container runs beside n8n in its pod. On every start it creates n8n’s own database (Database name in the Setup tab, default n8n) on the PostgreSQL add-on if it is missing, and n8n waits for that. When n8n first starts on an empty database, the container also creates the owner account from Admin login. It switches n8n Assistant off (see AI), and switches on n8n’s MCP server and its Auto-expose new workflows setting for the Prompt tab. A deployment set up by an earlier version of this component gets these settings on its next start, unless its owner already chose them.

On every start it then gives the prompt tab’s agent its access and writes the Diploi AI credential, see AI. The script lives in the component’s helm files (.diploi/helm/app-scripts.yaml), so it is updated with the component rather than being frozen in the user project. The setup container is a plain Alpine that installs psql, jq and curl when it starts, which takes a few seconds.

If the setup fails, the setup container’s log says why. Finish it in the browser: n8n asks for an owner account while there is none, and the next start does the rest.

AI

The Anthropic credential Diploi AI uses the Diploi AI proxy, and its use is billed to your Diploi account as AI usage. Every start writes it with the proxy’s address and the deployment’s token, which changes whenever the deployment starts. Choose it in the Anthropic nodes, such as the Anthropic Chat Model of an AI Agent, and pick a Claude model, such as claude-sonnet-5-5 or claude-haiku-5-5.

• Keep its name. A start that finds no credential of that name creates a new one, and a start overwrites changes to its key and address.
• To switch it off, turn off AI in the Setup tab. The credential is deleted.
• To use your own Anthropic key, create an Anthropic credential of your own.

n8n Assistant, n8n’s own AI chat, is switched off. It needs a code sandbox, which this component does not set up: n8n Sandbox, a privileged Docker-in-Docker container, or the paid Daytona service. Without one, n8n opens the Assistant’s setup instead of the workflows and never opens its chat. Ask the agent in the Prompt tab to build and fix workflows instead. To use the Assistant with a sandbox of your own, switch it on in n8n’s settings. Its model settings accept an Anthropic credential, such as Diploi AI.

Prompt tab

The agent in the Diploi prompt tab can use n8n’s MCP server, so you can ask it to build, change, test and run workflows. It acts as n8n’s owner.

The agent reaches the MCP server with the Access token under Prompt tab in the Setup tab. The Diploi core adds the token to the agent’s requests, so it never reaches the development environment. Every start writes the token into n8n’s database as the owner’s MCP API key Diploi agent.

• The agent sees the workflows that are available in MCP. New workflows are, and the ones it creates. Switch an older one on in its settings, or in Settings > Instance-level MCP.
• To switch its access off, turn off Prompt tab in the Setup tab. The key is deleted. n8n’s MCP server stays on for your own MCP clients: switch it off in Settings > Instance-level MCP.
• To rotate the token, change the Access token.
• Rotating the owner’s MCP API key in n8n deletes the agent’s key too, until the next start writes it again.

Code node

The Code node’s JavaScript and Python run in the pod’s runners container, from n8n’s n8nio/runners image. It starts a runner when a Code node needs one, and stops it when it has been idle for a while.

The runners keep n8n’s defaults: Python code cannot import modules, not even from the standard library, and JavaScript code can use crypto and moment. Allowing more needs a runner configuration of your own, see n8n’s task runner documentation.

Storage

n8n keeps all of its data in its PostgreSQL database, so the component has no volumes. Back up the add-on to back up n8n.

• Files that workflows download or create are stored in PostgreSQL too, up to 512 MB each (N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE is database). n8n deletes them with their executions, which it prunes after 14 days, or beyond 10,000, by default.
• Community nodes installed in the editor are lost from the disk when n8n restarts, so n8n installs them again from npm every time it starts (N8N_REINSTALL_MISSING_PACKAGES), which makes the start a little slower.
• n8n’s event log, which it reads to recover executions that were running when it crashed, is lost when it restarts.

Setup tab

The deployment’s Setup tab holds the values a project chooses. Each is also an environment variable of the containers.

Group	Field	Variable	Description
Admin login	Email	INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAIL	Email address of the owner account created on the first start. Default admin@example.com.
Admin login	Password	INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Password of that account. Generated per project.
Database	Database name	DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE	n8n’s own database on the PostgreSQL add-on. Default n8n.
Keys	Encryption key	N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Encrypts n8n’s credentials. Generated per project. Never change it.
AI	the switch	DIPLOI_AI_ENABLED	The Diploi AI credential, through the Diploi AI proxy. Default on.
Prompt tab	the switch	DIPLOI_AGENT_ENABLED	Whether the prompt tab’s agent may use n8n’s MCP server. Default on.
Prompt tab	Access token	N8N_AGENT_TOKEN	The agent’s token for the MCP server. Generated per project.

Environment variables

Variable	Description
N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL, N8N_WEBHOOK_URL	The public address of n8n, from the component’s host. Used in links, OAuth and webhook URLs.
N8N_SECURE_COOKIE, N8N_SAMESITE_COOKIE	true and none: browsers send the login cookie over HTTPS only, also to n8n embedded in another site.
N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED	false. Diploi decides the n8n version.
N8N_MCP_SERVER_RATE_LIMIT	0. Every request of the prompt tab’s agent comes from the Diploi core’s address, which n8n’s limit per address would throttle.
N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE, N8N_REINSTALL_MISSING_PACKAGES	database and true, see Storage.
N8N_RUNNERS_MODE, N8N_RUNNERS_AUTH_TOKEN	external, and a token generated per project: the Code node runs in the runners container, which signs in to n8n with the token.
DIPLOI_AI_URL, DIPLOI_AI_TOKEN	The Diploi AI proxy, and the deployment’s token for it, which changes whenever the deployment starts.
DB_TYPE, DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA, TZ	postgresdb, public and UTC.

PostgreSQL connection details (DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST, DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT, DB_POSTGRESDB_USER, DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD) come from the PostgreSQL add-on.

Any other n8n environment variable can be added in the Environment tab.

Development and production

Every stage runs the same upstream image, and n8n serves on port 5678. There is nothing to build: this folder holds no code, and n8n is configured in its editor, in the Setup tab and through environment variables. To move to another n8n version, change the image tag in diploi.yaml, and the n8nio/runners tag in .diploi/helm/app.yaml to the same version.

The first start migrates n8n’s database, which can take a few minutes on a small core. The deployment waits for /healthz/readiness before it sends traffic to a new version.

To build your own nodes, see n8n’s documentation, and publish them as community nodes.

See also

• Using Components
• n8n component repository
• n8n on diploi.com
• Tutorial: hosting n8n on Diploi
• AI Gateway
• n8n documentation
• n8n MCP server
• n8n environment variables
• Learn more about the diploi.yaml file