n8n mit Docker Compose selbst hosten: Komplette Anleitung (2026)

# Projektverzeichnis erstellen und aufrufen
mkdir -p ~/n8n && cd ~/n8n

nano ~/n8n/.env

# n8n Kernkonfiguration
N8N_HOST=deine-domain.de
N8N_PORT=5678
N8N_PROTOCOL=https
WEBHOOK_URL=https://deine-domain.de

# Verschlüsselungskey (einen zufälligen 32-Zeichen-String erzeugen)
# Ausführen: openssl rand -hex 16
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=dein_32_zeichen_zufalls_string_hier

# Basic Auth (schützt die n8n-Oberfläche mit einem Login)
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=dein_sicheres_passwort

# PostgreSQL-Datenbank
DB_TYPE=postgresdb
DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=postgres
DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=n8n
DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=dein_db_passwort

# Zeitzone (für geplante Workflows)
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Europe/Berlin

# Optional: Telemetrie deaktivieren
N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false
N8N_PERSONALIZATION_ENABLED=false

openssl rand -hex 16
# Beispielausgabe: a3f8c2d1e4b5097634a1f2e3d4c5b6a7

nano ~/n8n/docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  postgres_data:

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: n8n
      POSTGRES_USER: n8n
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD-SHELL', 'pg_isready -h localhost -U n8n -d n8n']
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 10

  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=${N8N_HOST}
      - N8N_PORT=${N8N_PORT}
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=${N8N_PROTOCOL}
      - WEBHOOK_URL=${WEBHOOK_URL}
      - N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=${N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE}
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=${N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER}
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=${N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD}
      - DB_TYPE=${DB_TYPE}
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=${DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST}
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=${DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT}
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=${DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE}
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=${DB_POSTGRESDB_USER}
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=${DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD}
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
      - N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=${N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED}
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy

cd ~/n8n
docker compose up -d

docker compose ps

NAME           IMAGE                 COMMAND                  SERVICE    STATUS
n8n-n8n-1      n8nio/n8n:latest      "tini -- /docker-ent…"   n8n        Up 30 seconds
n8n-postgres-1 postgres:15-alpine    "docker-entrypoint.s…"   postgres   Up 32 seconds (healthy)

docker compose logs n8n | tail -20

n8n ready on 0.0.0.0, port 5678

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name deine-domain.de;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # WebSocket-Unterstützung (für n8n UI Live-Updates erforderlich)
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

        proxy_read_timeout 300;
        proxy_connect_timeout 300;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/n8n
sudo nginx -t
# Erwartet: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
sudo systemctl reload nginx

sudo certbot --nginx -d deine-domain.de

sudo certbot renew --dry-run
# Erwartet: Congratulations, all simulated renewals succeeded

cd ~/n8n

# Neuestes Image herunterladen
docker compose pull n8n

# Den n8n-Container mit dem neuen Image neu erstellen
# --no-deps: nur den n8n-Dienst neu starten, nicht postgres
docker compose up -d --no-deps n8n

docker compose exec n8n n8n --version

# Alle Workflows als JSON exportieren
docker compose exec n8n n8n export:workflow --all --output=/home/node/.n8n/workflows-backup.json

# Das Backup aus dem Container auf den Host kopieren
docker cp n8n-n8n-1:/home/node/.n8n/workflows-backup.json ./workflows-backup.json