N8N 2.0 Docker Setup Tutorial

LTS_Tom · December 12, 2025, 1:42pm

If you don’t have Docker setup already I have a tutorial here

The Docker Compose file on my github

compose.yaml

main

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
    volumes:
      # Host path for Postgres data
      - ./data/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER} -d ${POSTGRES_DB}"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 10

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: always

This file has been truncated. show original

The .env file on my GitHub

github.com/lawrencesystems/n8n

.env

main

POSTGRES_USER=n8n
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=some-reasonable-alpha-numeric-password
POSTGRES_DB=n8n

# Master key used to encrypt sensitive credentials that n8n stores
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=change_me_to_a_long_random_alpha_numeric_string

# Shared secret between n8n containers and runners sidecars
N8N_RUNNERS_AUTH_TOKEN=change_me_to_a_long_random_alpha_numeric_string

You can use curl to get the files

curl -o .env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lawrencesystems/n8n/refs/heads/main/.env
curl -o compose.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lawrencesystems/n8n/refs/heads/main/compose.yaml

For simplicity I prefer bind mounts so all the data stays within the directory so we need to create those so they will have the proper permissions.

mkdir -p data/n8n local-files

Then run docker compose up to start the container and watch the output. You could start it with the -d for detached mode but I prefer to watch for errors the first time I run it and modern docker allows you to press D to detach.

Nginx Proxy Manager Tutorial

giddybeige · December 13, 2025, 1:13pm

The video has a note that n8n isn’t using a classic OSI license, but doesn’t elaborate further. What’s missing from n8n’s license vs a proper open-source project?

I’m currently using node-red, but I’ll admit it doesn’t have quite as many integrations & polish as n8n seems to have.

LTS_Tom · December 13, 2025, 6:07pm

They have page detailing out the license: Sustainable Use License | n8n Docs

Because they offering hosting and some other features as a way to sustain the project their license has clauses that stop people from competing with them in that way. So the code is open and free for you to use, but you can not setup a hosting option and resell it to others.

Here are the traditional OSI approved Licenses Licenses – Open Source Initiative

kevdog · December 14, 2025, 3:57am

Really nice tutorial and nice docker compose files. My only question in your docker compose is what is purpose of the n8n-worker, n8n-runners-main and n8n-runners-worker services? Clearly they are for task running, but they seem to be pulling duplicate images. Thanks

LTS_Tom · December 14, 2025, 2:25pm

As I think understand it (I am not an n8n expert) In n8n 2.x, execution is split into control and execution:

n8n (main)
→ UI, API, workflow orchestration, credentials, webhooks
n8n-runners (execution layer)
→ actually runs workflow steps in isolated workers

This separation allows:

horizontal scaling
better security isolation
crash containment

I think the worker is still there for backwards compatibility

JSylvia007 · December 23, 2025, 3:28pm

Hey @LTS_Tom - Wanted to stop by here and say THANKS again for another awesome video… The files for this one, however, have changed quite a bit since the video, and I’m struggling to get it going. In the ENV file… Are the username and passwords supposed to be different, because if I use 2 different postgres usernames I can’t get anything to work. If I set both variables to the same username and same password, then the system starts. Note that there are a couple typos in the compose.yaml also that need to be fixed.

LTS_Tom · December 23, 2025, 4:03pm

I am working today to review and fix the changes. Matt Fox had made changes that seems to have broke this so I am reverting back to the original and testing.

LTS_Tom · December 23, 2025, 5:18pm

Sorry for the issues, I reverted it back to the version in the video, tested it on a new clean server and it worked as expected. If you have any other issues let me know.