🧠 n8n Professional Deployment Template (Self-Hosted, Community Edition)

This repository contains a production-ready template for deploying n8n — the powerful workflow automation tool — in a secure, scalable, and extensible environment without the need for the Enterprise license.

It supports:

• Scalable worker-based execution using Redis queues
• Secure PostgreSQL storage
• Automated backups
• Clean environment separation (production, staging, internal)
• Optional domain-based configuration with HTTPS
• Full customization for real-world, team-based use cases

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🚀 What's Included

✅ Production-Grade Services

• n8n: Main web interface, configured securely with basic authentication and HTTPS support.
• n8n-worker: Headless execution container using EXECUTIONS_MODE=queue.
• redis: Used for queue-based execution management.
• postgres: Stores workflows, credentials, and execution logs.
• volumes: Persistent storage for DB and n8n internal data.

✅ Smart Environment Inheritance

The deployment uses an x-shared block in docker-compose.yml to:

• Avoid duplication across services
• Ensure consistent environment variables
• Keep the configuration DRY and clean

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📁 Folder Structure

├── docker-compose.yml         # Main multi-service deployment
├── .env                       # Environment variables (not committed)
├── .env.production.example    # Example file for secure deployments
├── scripts/
│   └── backup.sh              # Optional: cron-compatible backup script
└── README.md                  # You're here!

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🧪 How to Use

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-org/n8n-deploy-template.git
cd n8n-deploy-template

2. Create Your .env File

cp .env.production.example .env

Edit the file and fill in secure values for your database, domain, and encryption key.

The deployment will default to localhost if N8N_DOMAIN is not provided.

3. Launch the Stack

docker compose up -d

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🌐 Optional Domain Support

You can configure your deployment for a custom domain:

N8N_DOMAIN=n8n.yourdomain.com
N8N_PROTOCOL=https

If these values are omitted, the system will default to localhost for development.

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⚙️ Add More Workers

You can scale execution by adding more n8n-worker services:

n8n-worker-2:
  <<: *shared
  command: worker

n8n-worker-3:
  <<: *shared
  command: worker

Workers will auto-discover tasks via Redis queues and run them in parallel.

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🔐 Security Highlights

• 🔑 ENCRYPTION_KEY for data protection (required in production)
• 🔐 Basic auth enabled by default
• 🔒 No ports exposed publicly except for n8n
• 🧱 Optional reverse proxy support (e.g., Traefik, Nginx)
• 🌩️ Cloudflare integration recommended for production

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🧼 Backup Support

Backups can be made using a simple cron-compatible script like this:

docker exec n8n tar czf /backups/n8n-$(date +%F).tar.gz /home/node/.n8n

You can also export workflows and credentials directly via n8n and upload them to S3, email, or another backup destination.

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📈 Observability (Optional)

• 🔍 Logs available via docker logs n8n
• 🧭 Integrate Prometheus + Grafana + Loki for metrics and logging
• Monitor queue execution, failed jobs, execution time, etc.

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💡 Tips

• Each environment (production, test, internal) can use its own .env file and DB instance.
• You can customize the n8n UI by injecting branding via Dockerfile overrides (optional).
• A GitHub Actions workflow can automate deployment to platforms like Dokploy or Railway.

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🧪 Example .env.production.example

ENCRYPTION_KEY=REPLACE_WITH_SECURE_KEY
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=REPLACE_WITH_SECURE_PASSWORD

POSTGRES_USER=n8n
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=REPLACE_WITH_SECURE_DB_PASSWORD
POSTGRES_DB=n8n

N8N_DOMAIN=n8n.example.com
N8N_PROTOCOL=https

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📎 License

MIT or custom license depending on your organization needs.

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✍️ Credits

Template created and maintained by Franblakia for BlakIA.

Powered by n8n, PostgreSQL, Redis and Docker Compose.