DEV Community

kittisuw
kittisuw

Posted on

🚀 How to Self-Host n8n with Docker Compose

n8n is a powerful open-source workflow automation tool. If you're deploying it yourself using Docker Compose, it's important to pin the image version for reliability and control.

✅ Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure your system has:

  • Docker installed
  • Docker Compose installed
  • A working terminal (Linux, macOS, or WSL on Windows)
  • Basic knowledge of Docker CLI

Check versions:

docker -v
docker compose version
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

🧱 Step-by-Step Installation

1️⃣ Create a directory 

mkdir -p ~/n8n-docker && cd ~/n8n-docker
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2️⃣ Create docker-compose.yml 

version: "3.7"

services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:1.103.2  # ✅ Pin the version
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Bangkok
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=your-password
    volumes:
      - ./n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    restart: unless-stopped
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

🧐 Explanation:

  • volumes: persists your workflows and credentials.
  • restart: unless-stopped: auto-restarts unless manually stopped.
  • image: n8nio/n8n:1.103.2: fixes version to avoid surprises on update.
  • restart: unless-stopped: self restart

3️⃣ Start the container 

docker compose up -d
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4️⃣ Access n8n

Visit: http://localhost:5678
Login: admin / your-password

🔒 Why You Should Pin the Docker Image Version

Avoid using latest — it could break your workflows after unexpected updates.

Behavior Result
latest May auto-update on pull, could introduce breaking changes
:1.103.2 Stable and predictable version

👉 Check Docker Hub tags and release notes.

🛠 Upgrade Procedure

  1. Backup the ./n8n_data directory
  2. Update the image tag in docker-compose.yml
  3. Pull and restart and verify system health 
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
docker ps
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode 
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED       STATUS       PORTS                    NAMES
923e00afb0bc   n8nio/n8n:1.103.3   "tini -- /docker-ent…"   2 hours ago   Up 2 hours   0.0.0.0:5678->5678/tcp   n8n-n8n-1
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✅ Summary

  • Self-host n8n with Docker Compose
  • Pin the Docker image version
  • Secure access with basic auth
  • Persist data with volume mounts
  • Safe upgrade flow

#n8n #Automation #SelfHosted

Top comments (0)