This guide will walk you through the installation of n8n on Infomaniak, a powerful and extensible workflow automation solution.

Introduction

• Unlike tools like Zapier or Make, n8n, a “fair-code” workflow automation tool, can be self-hosted, giving you complete control over your data while connecting hundreds of services via an intuitive visual interface.

Installing n8n

Prerequisites

• A Node.js website (v22 recommended).
• Stop the Node.js application from your Node.js site dashboard before performing any technical operation.

To configure your hosting (via the Infomaniak Manager):

1. Click here to access your website management in the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the website in question:
   
3. If necessary, stop the application, then click on Manage advanced settings:
   
4. Click on the Node.js tab to access the settings.
5. Select a recent version (e.g., 24 or higher).

6. Enter the following command, replacing https://domaine.xyz with the actual address of your site:

   N8N_RELEASE_TYPE="stable" NODE_ENV="production" N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL="{{URL_6}}" WEBHOOK_URL="{{URL_7}}" GENERIC_TIMEZONE="Europe/Zurich" /srv/customer/node_modules/.bin/n8n start

7. Enter 5678 for the listening port.
8. Enable the "Set build command" checkbox.

9. Enter the following command:

   cd && npm install n8n@latest sqlite3

10. Click on Save:
    
11. Start the Build step by clicking the Start button under Application Build:
    
12. On the main page, click the Start (or Restart) button:
    
13. Wait a few minutes, then go to your site's URL (e.g. https://domain.xyz).
14. During your first login, n8n will ask you to create an owner account to secure your instance.

Your n8n instance is now up and running! You can start creating your automations.

If you encounter an error indicating that the port is already in use when starting:

1. Temporarily change the Node.js version in the settings (e.g., switch from v24 to v23) and save. This forces a complete shutdown of the processes.
2. Set the desired version (v24) again and save.
3. Restart the application.

Update n8n

It is recommended to regularly update your n8n instance to benefit from the latest features and security patches. Two methods are available:

Method 1: via the Infomaniak Manager (Recommended)

To update n8n, simply restart the application build process:

• First, check in the Advanced Settings that your build command uses the @latest tag:

  cd && npm install n8n@latest sqlite3

• Click the Start button under the Application Build section.
• Important: Do not delete the node_modules folder; the system will handle updating existing packages to their latest version:
  

Method 2: via an SSH connection

If you prefer to use the command line, you can update n8n directly from the Node.js environment:

1. Connect to your server via SSH.

2. Access the application directory and launch the update:

   cd /srv/customer
   npm update n8n

3. Once the operation is complete, restart the application from the Infomaniak Manager to apply the changes.