n8n

About n8n

What gets installed

Ready when the VPS starts

Compatible OS

Ubuntu 24.04

Application

n8n

Tech stack

DockerNode.jsPostgreSQL

Minimum RAM

2 GB

Minimum CPU

1 vCPU

Default port

5678

Access

root over SSH

Key features

• 400+ native integrations (SaaS, databases, APIs)
• Visual drag-and-drop editor to build workflows
• Conditional branching, loops, and error handling
• AI nodes: text generation, classification, embeddings
• Webhooks, cron scheduling, and event triggers
• Secure credential management, execution logs

When to use this solution?

Guide

Deploy n8n on your VPS

1. 1

   What the installation does for you

   When the VPS is created, ServOrbit installs Docker if it is missing, then starts n8n and its PostgreSQL 16 database with Docker Compose. The interface listens on 127.0.0.1:5678, the server's loopback interface: nothing is published on its IP address, and no domain is attached yet.

2. 2

   Find the address and access details

   The “n8n is installed” email and your VPS page in the client area, under “Installed applications”, tell you how to open the app: its address when a domain is in place, otherwise the SSH tunnel command and the port. You will also find the link to this guide and the “Support” button there.

3. 3

   Open n8n without a domain

   From your computer, run ssh -L 5678:127.0.0.1:5678 root@<vps-ip>, keep the session open, then open http://localhost:5678. The port may have been reassigned during installation: use the one shown in your client area, 5678 being only the catalogue default.

4. 4

   Log in for the first time

   Do it right away: the first screen creates the owner account (email, name, password of at least 8 characters with one uppercase letter and one digit), and the very first visitor becomes the owner of the instance. Then create your first workflow: a trigger (Webhook, Cron, email…), then the applications to connect.

5. 5

   Publish over HTTPS on a domain

   When n8n is installed from your client area with a chosen address — your own domain or a free ServOrbit subdomain — the platform sets up the nginx vhost and the Let's Encrypt certificate. An installation made when the VPS was created, or without an address, is published from the VPS page: the “Attach a domain” button in the app's block (a domain from your account, the free subdomain, or a name you point to the server). Once the domain is in place, add N8N_HOST=<domain>, N8N_PROTOCOL=https and N8N_WEBHOOK_URL=https://<domain>/ (WEBHOOK_URL before n8n 2.35.0) to the environment block of the n8n service, in the app's Compose file (docker compose ls shows its folder), then run docker compose up -d. Without these variables, the webhook URLs n8n generates keep pointing to localhost and cannot be reached.

6. 6

   Appendix: redo everything by hand

   To reinstall without the platform: install Docker, write a docker-compose.yml with the n8nio/n8n image and a postgres:16-alpine database (DB_TYPE=postgresdb, the DB_POSTGRESDB_* variables, plus N8N_HOST, N8N_PROTOCOL and N8N_WEBHOOK_URL), publish the port on 127.0.0.1:5678 and run docker compose up -d. Put a reverse proxy in front (nginx, for example) with a Let's Encrypt certificate (certbot --nginx -d <domain>).