Secrets & hardening
The deploy flow lives in SKILL.md; this file is the security depth it points to.
Generating secrets (on the target box)
Generate each value on the server and write it into .env, replacing the matching
REPLACE_WITH_… placeholder — generating without substituting leaves the literal placeholder
as the password, and Postgres/n8n then fail to connect. Never reuse values across instances.
cd <DATA_FOLDER>
# Encryption key — encrypts all stored credentials. REQUIRED, both modes.
openssl rand -base64 32
# Queue mode also needs two Postgres passwords:
openssl rand -base64 24 # POSTGRES_PASSWORD (superuser)
openssl rand -base64 24 # POSTGRES_NON_ROOT_PASSWORD (the user n8n connects as)Substitute each into .env (edit it directly, or for a fresh .env with no special chars in
the value, e.g.):
KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
# write it in place of the placeholder (use a delimiter that won't clash with base64's / and +)
sed -i "s|^N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=.*|N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${KEY}|" .env
# repeat for POSTGRES_PASSWORD / POSTGRES_NON_ROOT_PASSWORD in queue modeThen confirm nothing was missed and lock the file down:
grep REPLACE_WITH_ .env # must print NOTHING before you launch
chmod 600 .envThe encryption key (N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY) — read this twice
- It encrypts every credential n8n stores. Lose it or change it and all saved credentials become undecryptable — effectively a reset.
- Set it explicitly before the first start. If you start n8n once without it, n8n
auto-generates one into the
n8n_datavolume (~/.n8n/config); adding a different key later breaks decryption. The templates set it from.env, so do step 4 before step 6. - Queue mode: the exact same key must reach the main process and every worker. The
x-n8nanchor in the queue compose guarantees this — don't override it per-service. - Back it up off the box (password manager / secrets vault). A database backup is useless
without the matching key. To recover the auto-generated one if you ever need it:
docker compose exec n8n cat /home/node/.n8n/config. - Never "rotate" the key by just editing
.env— that's the lose-it-or-change-it failure above. Real rotation is a formal, one-way feature (UI: Settings → Data Encryption Keys, behind theN8N_ENV_FEAT_ENCRYPTION_KEY_ROTATIONflag; full DB backup required first; records re-encrypt lazily): https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/security/rotate-encryption-keys.
Hardening checklist
Most of these are already baked into the assets/ templates (marked ✓). The rest are optional
toggles to apply based on the user's needs.
| Setting | Templates | Why |
|---|---|---|
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY set explicitly |
✓ | Key lives in your secret store, not just a volume |
N8N_SECURE_COOKIE=true + N8N_PROXY_HOPS=1 + N8N_PROTOCOL=https |
✓ | Login cookie only over HTTPS; n8n trusts Caddy's X-Forwarded-*. (Get these wrong and secure-cookie can lock you out.) |
WEBHOOK_URL / N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL = the public HTTPS URL |
✓ | Otherwise n8n hands out http://localhost:5678/... webhook & OAuth-callback URLs |
N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false |
✓ | Turns off anonymous telemetry (side effect: also disables the Code node's "Ask AI"). For full outbound isolation (update pings, template fetches) see https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/basic-configuration/configuration-examples/isolate-n8n |
N8N_BLOCK_ENV_ACCESS_IN_NODE=true |
✓ | Code-node/expressions can't read process.env (your container secrets). Relax only if a workflow genuinely needs an env var. |
N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE set explicitly |
✓ | Default keeps binary data in memory. Single → filesystem (files to disk, not RAM/SQLite). Queue → database (filesystem is unsupported in queue mode; S3/Azure need Enterprise) — see QUEUE_MODE.md |
Execution-data pruning (EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE + _MAX_AGE + _PRUNE_MAX_COUNT) |
✓ | Caps disk/DB growth and how long run data (which can contain PII) is retained |
| Internal ports never published (5678/5432/6379) | ✓ | Only Caddy is internet-facing |
N8N_ENFORCE_SETTINGS_FILE_PERMISSIONS=true |
optional | Forces 0600 on the settings file in ~/.n8n (default false) |
N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true |
✓ | Moves Code-node execution into a task runner (no-op on n8n ≥ 2.0, where runners are always on). The default internal mode is a separate process, not hard isolation — for real isolation run an external sidecar runner (N8N_RUNNERS_MODE=external + broker/auth-token vars): https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/set-up-task-runners, hardening: https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/security/harden-task-runners |
NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_EXTERNAL left unset |
✓ | Blocks importing arbitrary npm modules in the Code node. To allow specific ones: set a comma list (e.g. axios,lodash) — never * on a multi-user box. With task runners enabled, set it on the runner process/container, not the main n8n: https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/basic-configuration/configuration-examples/enable-modules-in-code-node |
N8N_SSRF_PROTECTION_ENABLED=true |
optional | Off by default (newer n8n only). Stops HTTP-type nodes from reaching loopback/private/link-local ranges — i.e. Docker-network neighbors like postgres:5432 and cloud metadata IPs. Enable on multi-user boxes; allowlist genuinely-needed internal hosts via N8N_SSRF_ALLOWED_HOSTNAMES/_ALLOWED_IP_RANGES: https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/security/enable-ssrf-protection |
NODES_EXCLUDE |
optional | Execute Command is already blocked by default (setting NODES_EXCLUDE=[] would re-enable it). To block more, JSON-array syntax: NODES_EXCLUDE=["n8n-nodes-base.readWriteFile"] — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/security/block-specific-nodes |
N8N_PUBLIC_API_DISABLED=true |
optional | Turn the public REST API off if unused (commented in the single template); pair with N8N_PUBLIC_API_SWAGGERUI_DISABLED=true to also drop the API playground |
| OS firewall: only 22/80/443 | apply in step 5 | ufw allow OpenSSH && ufw allow 80 && ufw allow 443 && ufw enable |
| Owner account + 2FA | hand-off | Whoever completes the owner-setup form first claims the instance — do it before sharing the URL. Enable 2FA (per-user 2FA is free; org-wide enforcement via N8N_MFA_ENFORCED_ENABLED needs a paid plan). Automated deploys can pre-provision the owner by env (n8n ≥ 2.17: N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_MANAGED_BY_ENV + email + bcrypt password hash): https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/user-management |
SMTP (N8N_EMAIL_MODE=smtp + N8N_SMTP_*) |
multi-user | Without SMTP, invite links must be copied manually and users cannot self-serve password resets: https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/basic-configuration/use-environment-variables/user-management-and-2fa |
CREDENTIALS_OVERWRITE_ENDPOINT_AUTH_TOKEN set (if using overwrites) |
CREDENTIAL_OVERWRITES.md |
Only if you enable CREDENTIALS_OVERWRITE_ENDPOINT. With an empty token n8n installs no auth middleware and the route accepts the first POST from anyone, then latches — whoever gets there first owns the OAuth app your users consent to. |
| Keep host + image updated | DAY2.md |
Patch the OS; update the n8n image deliberately |
Don't-leak rules (client safety)
- Fresh secrets per box — never carry an encryption key, DB password, or
.envfrom one client's instance to another. - No secrets in committed files —
.envonly (600), referenced as${VAR}. Scan any file you're about to commit: it must contain zero real keys, tokens, passwords, or client domains. - Redact when inspecting — when reading a
.envto debug, mask values (sed -E 's/=.*/=<redacted>/'); never paste raw secret values into chat or logs. - The Caddyfile and compose templates are domain-free (the domain comes from
.env), so they're safe to keep in version control; a.envis not.