🛠️ n8n Secure Installer (Deprecated)

Warning

⚠️ DEPRECATION NOTICE

This repository and the global npm / bare-metal installation method are deprecated. Starting with n8n v3.0, self-hosted n8n exclusively requires a Docker-based deployment (e.g. Docker Compose), and running via npm or npx is no longer supported. For self-hosting n8n, please refer to the official n8n Docker Deployment Guide.

---

This script was designed to automate the installation of n8n as a systemd service on a Linux server, running under a dedicated system user n8n for enhanced security.

---

⚙️ What the Script Does

• Checks for Node.js (supported versions: v18–v22)
• Installs Node.js 21.x if needed
• Installs n8n globally via npm
• Creates system user n8n
• Generates .env file in /home/n8n/.n8n/.env
• Creates systemd service n8n.service
• Starts the service and enables autostart on system boot

---

📦 How to Use (Legacy)

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ChornyiDev/n8n-install.git ~/n8n-install

# 2. Change directory
cd ~/n8n-install

# 3. Run script as root or via sudo
sudo bash install-n8n.sh

⚠️ The script must be run with root privileges as it creates a user, installs packages, and configures the service.

---

✅ After Installation

• n8n will be running as a system service
• Running under the n8n user
• Configuration file: /home/n8n/.n8n/.env
• System service file: /etc/systemd/system/n8n.service

---

🔧 Service Management Commands

# Check status
sudo systemctl status n8n

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart n8n

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop n8n

# Enable autostart
sudo systemctl enable n8n

# Disable autostart
sudo systemctl disable n8n

# View logs in real-time
sudo journalctl -u n8n -f

# Edit configuration
nano /home/n8n/.n8n/.env

---

🌐 Access

After startup, n8n will be available at:

http://your-ip:5678

If you're using a reverse proxy or changing the configuration — update the .env file.

---

📅 Updating n8n

The repository includes a separate script update-n8n.sh that:

• checks the current n8n version
• updates via npm
• restarts the service only if the version has changed

🔧 Manual Update

sudo bash update-n8n.sh

🕛 Auto-update (optionally)

To set up automatic updates every Sunday at 12:00 via Crontab:

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "0 12 * * 0 /full/path/to/update-n8n.sh 2>> /var/log/n8n-update.log") | crontab -

Note: The log only records errors (stderr) in /var/log/n8n-update.log

---

📁 Structure

~/n8n-install/
├── install-n8n.sh     # main installation script
├── update-n8n.sh      # update script
├── example.env        # configuration example
├── README.md          # documentation
└── nginx/            
    └── n8n.conf      # initial nginx configuration

---

📜 License

MIT — use, modify, distribute.