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🌀 Seamless DevOps. Powered by Swarm, Secured by Secrets.

🔧 n8n-setup-docker: Secure, Custom, Ready for Action

This repo delivers a production-friendly n8n stack using:

• 🐳 Docker Swarm for container orchestration
• 🔐 Docker Secrets for all sensitive env vars
• ⚙️ Custom scripts to prep, deploy, and launch cleanly
• 🧠 Readable, modifiable, highly hackable code

If you want a secure, local-AND-remote deployable n8n instance with PostgreSQL and zero manual docker CLI poking…
This is it.

🧠 Project Tree

./
├── docker-compose.yaml              # Swarm service definition
├── Dockerfile                       # Custom n8n image with psql & logic
├── container_run.sh                 # Entry script inside container
├── docker_swarm_deploy.sh           # Dev’s best friend — deploys everything
├── docker_clear_env_vars.sh         # Script to remove or unset sensitive environment variables from the shell/session.
├── docker_destroy_container.sh      # Script to fully stop and remove Docker stack, containers, volumes, and leave Swarm.
├── README.md                        # Project overview, usage instructions, diagrams, and badges. Your main documentation.
├── Docker_cheatsheet.md             # Handy reference for common Docker commands tailored to your workflow.
├── .gitignore                       # Git config file to exclude specified files/folders (like secrets, volumes, etc.) from version control.
├── .dockerignore                    # Docker config file to exclude files/folders from being copied into Docker build context.
├── secrets/                         # 🔥 Sensitive data here (not git-tracked!)
│   ├── N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER.txt
│   ├── N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD.txt
│   ├── N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY.txt
│   ├── DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST.txt
│   ├── DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT.txt
│   ├── DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE.txt
│   ├── DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA.txt
│   ├── DB_POSTGRESDB_USER.txt
│   ├── DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD.txt
│   └── N8N_PORT.txt                  # optional

🚀 Quickstart

1️⃣ Initialize Docker Swarm (if needed)

# only needed on the first run:
docker swarm init

2️⃣ Add Your Secrets

Drop plain-text secret files into the ./secrets/ in the project dir. Example:

echo "admin"    > secrets/N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER.txt
echo "hunter2"  > secrets/N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD.txt
echo "myKeyBase" > secrets/N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY.txt

echo "db.example.com" > secrets/DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST.txt
echo "public"         > secrets/DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA.txt
echo "5432"           > secrets/DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT.txt
echo "n8n_user"       > secrets/DB_POSTGRESDB_USER.txt
echo "pa$$w0rd"       > secrets/DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD.txt
echo "n8n"            > secrets/DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE.txt

And the same for your DB creds.

3️⃣ Deploy It Like a Boss

./docker_swarm_deploy.sh

This will:

🏗️ Build your my-n8n:latest image

🔐 Create (or update) all Docker secrets

📦 Deploy a Swarm stack (n8n_stack) with those secrets

🧠 Auto-detect your timezone and inject it too!

4️⃣ Check Docker logs:

docker service logs -f n8n_stack_n8n

And that's it - n8n is set up and ready! In case of online deployment you'll be able to access your automations from anywhere! (login using the values from your secret files)

🔍 What's Actually Happening?

Your container launches via: container_run.sh:

🧪 Loads secrets from /run/secrets/…

🔁 Converts them into environment variables

✅ Tests PostgreSQL DB connection via psql

🎬 Runs n8n ONLY if everything is healthy

💡 Fail fast, fail clean — or don’t fail at all.

♻️ Rotating Secrets

Secrets are immutable in Docker Swarm. To update:

# Edit files in ./secrets/*.txt

# Then:
./docker_swarm_deploy.sh

This deletes+recreates them automatically.

💾 Helpful scripts

(mostly helpful during development, not recommended for production):

💥 Getting rid of Docker Containers

Wanna burn it down?

./docker_destroy_container.sh

(Watch out - the script stops and removes all the Docker containers!)

🧼 Cleaning Up env variables

In case mess in env variables is giving you a headache:

./docker_clear_env_variables.sh

👽 Need to reset n8n credentials within Docker container?

# This will list running containers, localise id or name of running container with n8n:
docker ps

# Execute n8n credentials reset command inside container:
docker exec -it <container_name_or_id> n8n user-management:reset

📘 Docker Cheatsheet

📎 Check out the Docker_cheatsheet.md for more handy commands!

(I see you, automation fiend 😎)

💪 Powered By

🚀 Free Tier PostgreSQL Hosting for n8n Self-Hosting (examples):

State of affairs as for June 2025

☁️ Awesome Free (or Generous Trial) Shell Hosting for Remote Docker Swarm & n8n Frontend

State of affairs as for June 2025

🐵 Development plans:

• Kubernetes orchestration of containers with various customizable settings.
• Increase of installation options of popular services n8n connects to on setup.
• A script to dump workflows and creds from n8n regularly (via API or CLI). Re-import them with new keys and never lose your data.
• Much more to come...

© 2025 Paweł Kochanowicz · GitHub

This project is licensed under the MIT License.