n8n on Upsun

Deploy n8n — the open-source workflow automation tool — on Upsun in minutes. No infrastructure management, no DevOps overhead, just powerful automation with a drag-and-drop interface.

Related article: NoCode with Upsun: Supercharge Your Automation with Zero Code

What's included

Component	Details
Runtime	Node.js 22
n8n packages	n8n (latest) + n8n-nodes-mcp (MCP community nodes)
Persistent storage	.n8n/ (workflows, credentials, DB) and .cache/
SMTP	Pre-configured for Upsun's built-in SMTP relay (port 25)
Task Runners	Enabled via N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED
HTTPS	Automatic — HTTP requests are redirected to HTTPS

Prerequisites

• An Upsun account
• The Upsun CLI installed
• Git installed locally

Deploy

1. Clone this repository

git clone <this-repo-url>
cd n8n

2. Create an Upsun project

upsun project:create

Follow the CLI prompts to set up your project and link it to this repository.

3. Push to Upsun

git add .
git commit -m "Initial n8n deployment"
upsun push

After deployment completes, grab your live URL:

upsun environment:url --primary

Open the URL in your browser and create your n8n account.

Configuration overview

All Upsun configuration lives in .upsun/config.yaml.

Key points

• Dynamic port binding — n8n needs to listen on the port assigned by Upsun. Since variables.env doesn't support referencing other variables, the hooks.build step writes N8N_PORT=$PORT and N8N_LISTEN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0 into .environment, which is sourced at runtime.
• Mounts — The .n8n mount persists your workflows, credentials, and SQLite database across deployments. The .cache mount keeps temporary data out of the read-only filesystem.
• Request buffering disabled — Required for n8n's real-time features (webhooks, SSE, streaming).

Environment variables

You can set additional n8n environment variables via the Upsun CLI:

upsun variable:create --name env:N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY --value '<your-key>' --sensitive true

See the n8n environment variables reference for the full list.

Example use cases

A few real-world automations you can build with n8n:

• 📧 Email marketing — Sync new Airtable contacts to Mailchimp
• 💬 Slack alerts — Notify your team when a customer submits a form
• 📈 Social monitoring — Track mentions and store them in Notion
• 🗂️ File watchers — Upload new Dropbox files to Google Drive automatically
• 🤖 AI agents — Use MCP nodes (n8n-nodes-mcp) to connect AI tools to your workflows

Resources

• n8n documentation
• Upsun documentation
• Upsun CLI reference
• Demo project on GitHub
• Upsun Discord community

License

This project template is provided as-is. n8n itself is licensed under the Sustainable Use License.