n8n

Install n8n from the App Store, create the owner account behind the setup lock, back up workflows and the encryption key, update it, and know its network limits.

Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 9 min read

n8n is a visual workflow automation tool, a self-hosted alternative to Zapier or Make: a trigger (a webhook, a schedule, a new email) starts a chain of steps that call APIs, transform data and send messages. Choose it when you automate work across online services and want no per-task fees and your data on your own server. This page covers installing it from the App Store, the first-time setup, backups, updates and what the container can and cannot reach.

Requirements

The memory limit counts toward the customer's package memory. Large workflows that hold many items or big files in memory may need more than 1 GB; see Troubleshooting.

Install n8n

As an administrator

1. Open App Store. If you see Docker is required, click Install Docker first and wait for the task to finish.

2. On the n8n card, click Install.

3. Fill in the dialog:

   Field	What to enter
   Domain	The domain the app answers on, without http://, for example n8n.example.com. A new website is created for it.
   Owner	The hosting account the app belongs to. Its package limits apply to the container.
   Free SSL (Let's Encrypt)	Leave on. The certificate is issued at the end of the install if the domain already points to the server.

4. Click Install. The task log shows the image download, the container start and finally n8n is available at http://<domain>.

5. If the log says SSL could not be issued yet, point the domain's A record to the server, then click Issue certificate on the website's SSL tab (see SSL certificates).

n8n has no extra install fields. ZoPanel sets these variables for you:

These variables cannot be edited from the panel. To use another time zone, set it per workflow in n8n (Workflow settings → Timezone).

As a customer

Customers install from App Store in their own panel when their package allows it. The top of the page shows the quota, for example "Your plan: 0 of 2 applications · memory 0 of 4096 MB." The Owner field is not shown: the app belongs to your account.

The administrator controls this in Packages → Docker apps (0 = none) and RAM (MB). n8n needs 1024 MB of the package memory. See Packages and limits.

First-time setup

A new n8n install is behind a setup lock: the first person to open n8n creates the owner account, so ZoPanel shows everyone else "This app is being set up" until you finish.

Important: wait until SSL is issued before you set up n8n. ZoPanel runs n8n with N8N_PROTOCOL=https, and n8n's login cookie only works over HTTPS.

1. Open the website (Websites → n8n.example.com) and go to the Docker tab. Wait until the status is running.
2. In the Setup lock is on card, click Open the app (only for me). A new tab opens your domain; this browser now gets through the lock (for 30 days).
3. The first start takes about half a minute. If the page shows that the site is busy or "n8n is starting up", wait; it reloads.
4. On the owner sign-up screen, enter your email, first and last name and a password (at least 8 characters, with a number and a capital letter), then click Next.
5. Answer or skip the short questionnaire. n8n may offer a free license key for some extra community features; this is optional.
6. Back on the Docker tab, click Setup finished — open to everyone. The lock is removed and webhooks start answering the public.

Note: while the lock is on, webhook calls from outside services also get the "being set up" page. Open the app to everyone before you test production webhooks.

Essential settings

• Users: open Settings → Users → Invite to add colleagues. n8n normally emails the invitation; ZoPanel's n8n has no SMTP settings for this, so copy the invitation link n8n shows and send it yourself. Password reset by email is not available, so keep your owner password in a password manager.
• Webhooks: production webhook URLs look like https://n8n.example.com/webhook/<path> and test URLs https://n8n.example.com/webhook-test/<path>. Activate a workflow to make its production URL answer.
• Credentials: API keys and passwords you save in Credentials are encrypted with N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY. Keep that key with your backups (see below).
• Sending email from workflows: the Send Email node can use any SMTP server. A mailbox created in the panel works: host = your mail server name, port 587 (STARTTLS) or 465 (SSL), the full address and its password.

What the container can reach

Every App Store container runs behind ZoPanel's container firewall:

What this means for n8n:

• A MySQL/MariaDB, Postgres or Redis node pointed at this server will not connect. localhost and 127.0.0.1 inside the container are the container itself, and the server's database ports are blocked from containers, even if Remote access is on. Use one of these instead:
  • put a small HTTPS endpoint on one of your websites (for example a PHP script that reads or writes the database with its own credentials) and call it with the HTTP Request node;
  • use a database on another server that accepts connections from this server's public IP.
• Calling your own websites by their public domain works, as does calling any public API.
• Services on a private network (an Ollama or database on a VPC address, a NAS at home) are not reachable.

Where data lives and backups

The app's data is in /var/lib/zopanel-apps/<instance>/, where <instance> is the domain with dots replaced by hyphens (n8n.example.com → n8n-example-com). The container is named zp-app-<instance>.

What ZoPanel backs up and what it does not:

• The Backups card on the website's Docker tab backs up the whole app folder, data and .env with the encryption key.
• Account backups and incremental backups cover the account's website folders, databases and mailboxes. They do not include /var/lib/zopanel-apps, so n8n's workflows and credentials are only in the app's own backups.
• The configuration backup (.zpb, see Disaster recovery) contains the panel database, which stores the app's settings and its generated variables, including the encryption key. It does not contain n8n's data.

To back up n8n, click Back up now on the Backups card. Administrators can also set a Schedule (Off, Every day or Every week; off by default) and how many copies to Keep (1–60, default 7), then click Save. Each backup archives /var/lib/zopanel-apps/<instance>/ into /var/backups/zopanel-apps/<instance>/YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz, a folder only root can read that does not count toward the account's disk quota. The container is paused (not stopped) for the few seconds of the copy, so the copy is consistent. Older copies beyond Keep are removed, and a failed scheduled backup sends administrators the Backup failed alert.

To restore, an administrator clicks Restore next to a backup (customers ask their provider). n8n is stopped and its data replaced with the archive; the current data is kept aside until the restored app starts, and put back if it does not. Changes made since the backup are lost. Each backup also has a delete button (administrators only), and deleting the app together with its files deletes its backups too.

These archives are not in account backups and stay on the same server. Copy important ones off it (for example with scp or rclone from /var/backups/zopanel-apps/<instance>/) and store them encrypted: they contain the encryption key. Restore an archive onto the same install; a new install on another server has its own encryption key, so move workflows and credentials there with the export below.

A portable export, which you can import into any n8n:

docker exec -u node zp-app-n8n-example-com n8n export:workflow --all --output=/home/node/.n8n/workflows.json
docker exec -u node zp-app-n8n-example-com n8n export:credentials --all --decrypted --output=/home/node/.n8n/credentials.json

The files appear in /var/lib/zopanel-apps/n8n-example-com/data/. The credentials file contains your secrets in plain text: move it somewhere safe and delete it from the server. Import them into another n8n with n8n import:workflow --input=… and n8n import:credentials --input=….

Customers cannot run these commands, but can click Back up now on the Docker tab; the schedule and restores are done by the provider. For a copy of your own, download important workflows from the editor (Download in the workflow menu).

Update n8n

1. Take a backup (Back up now on the Backups card). n8n migrates its database on start and an update cannot be undone from the panel.
2. On the website's Docker tab, click Update to latest (administrators only; customers ask their provider).
3. The task pulls the image in the current ZoPanel catalog and recreates the container. Data and the encryption key are kept. n8n is unavailable for the minute it takes to restart.

The catalog pins an exact n8n version (2.42.5), so Update to latest installs the version shipped with your ZoPanel release; newer n8n versions arrive with ZoPanel updates.

Troubleshooting

Related

• App Store and S3 storage
• What each app does
• Packages and limits
• Databases
• Backups
• n8n documentation and CLI commands