134 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
134 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
# n8n - Workflow Automation
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n8n is a free node based "Open Source" (with Commons Clause)
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Workflow Automation Tool. It can be self-hosted, easily extended, and
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so also used with internal tools.
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<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n8n-io/n8n/master/docs/images/n8n-screenshot.png"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n8n-io/n8n/master/docs/images/n8n-screenshot.png" width="550" alt="n8n.io - Screenshot"></a>
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Is still in beta so can not guarantee that everything works perfectly. Also
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is there currently not much documentation. That will hopefully change soon.
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## Demo
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A short demo (< 3 min) which shows how to create a simple workflow which
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automatically sends a new Slack notification every time a Github repository
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received or lost a star:
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePdcf0yaz1c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePdcf0yaz1c)
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## Start n8n in Docker
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```
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docker run -it --rm \
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--name n8n \
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-p 5678:5678 \
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n8nio/n8n
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```
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You can then access n8n by opening:
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[http://localhost:5678](http://localhost:5678)
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## Start with tunnel
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To be able to use webhooks which all triggers of external services like Github
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rely on n8n has to be reachable from the web. To make that easy n8n has a
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special tunnel service which redirects requests from our servers to your local
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n8n instance.
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To use it simply start n8n with `--tunnel`
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```
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docker run -it --rm \
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--name n8n \
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--init \
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-p 5678:5678 \
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-v ~/.n8n:/root/.n8n \
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n8nio/n8n \
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n8n start --tunnel
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```
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## Persist data
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The workflow data gets by default saved in an SQLite database in the user
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folder (`/root/.n8n`). That folder also additionally contains the
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settings like webhook URL and encryption key.
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```
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docker run -it --rm \
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--name n8n \
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-p 5678:5678 \
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-v ~/.n8n:/root/.n8n \
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n8nio/n8n
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```
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### Start with other Database
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By default n8n uses SQLite to save credentials, past executions and workflows.
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n8n however also supports MongoDB and PostgresDB. To use them simply a few
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environment variables have to be set.
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It is important to still persist the data in the `/root/.n8` folder. The reason
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is that it contains n8n user data. That is the name of the webhook
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(in case) the n8n tunnel gets used and even more important the encryption key
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for the credentials. If none gets found n8n creates automatically one on
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startup. In case credentials are already saved with a different encryption key
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it can not be used anymore as encrypting it is not possible anymore.
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#### Use with MongoDB
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Replace the following placeholders with the actual data:
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- MONGO_DATABASE
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- MONGO_HOST
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- MONGO_PORT
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- MONGO_USER
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- MONGO_PASSWORD
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```
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docker run -it --rm \
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--name n8n \
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-p 5678:5678 \
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-e DB_TYPE=mongodb \
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-e DB_MONGODB_CONNECTION_URL="mongodb://<MONGO_USER>:<MONGO_PASSWORD>@<MONGO_SERVER>:<MONGO_PORT>/<MONGO_DATABASE>" \
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-v ~/.n8n:/root/.n8n \
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n8nio/n8n \
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n8n start
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```
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A full working setup with docker-compose can be found [here](../../compose/withMongo/README.md)
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#### Use with PostgresDB
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Replace the following placeholders with the actual data:
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- POSTGRES_DATABASE
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- POSTGRES_HOST
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- POSTGRES_PASSWORD
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- POSTGRES_PORT
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- POSTGRES_USER
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```
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docker run -it --rm \
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--name n8n \
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-p 5678:5678 \
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-e DB_TYPE=postgresdb \
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-e DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=<POSTGRES_DATABASE> \
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-e DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=<POSTGRES_HOST> \
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-e DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=<POSTGRES_PASSWORD> \
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-e DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=<POSTGRES_PORT> \
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-e DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=<POSTGRES_USER> \
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-v ~/.n8n:/root/.n8n \
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n8nio/n8n \
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n8n start
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```
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## License
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n8n is licensed under **Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause**
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