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N8N

Workflow automation platform with visual editor.

Overview

Property Value
Namespace n8n
Type HelmRelease
Layer Application (Layer 5)
Dependencies PostgreSQL Cluster, Redis Sentinel
Access http://n8n.local

Purpose

N8N is a workflow automation tool that allows building complex automations visually, integrating with 400+ services.

Features

  • Visual Workflow Builder - Drag-and-drop interface
  • 400+ Integrations - Pre-built connectors
  • Webhook Triggers - HTTP-triggered workflows
  • Scheduling - Cron-based execution
  • Code Nodes - Custom JavaScript/Python
  • Self-hosted - Full data control

Architecture

graph LR
    subgraph Triggers
        WH[Webhooks]
        CRON[Schedule]
        MAN[Manual]
    end

    subgraph N8N
        MAIN[N8N Server]
        WORK[Workers]
    end

    subgraph Storage
        PG[PostgreSQL]
        RD[Redis]
    end

    WH --> MAIN
    CRON --> MAIN
    MAN --> MAIN
    MAIN --> WORK
    MAIN --> PG
    WORK --> RD

Access

http://n8n.local

kubectl port-forward -n n8n svc/n8n 5678:5678

Then visit http://localhost:5678

Use Cases

Use Case Example
Data sync Sync data between systems
Notifications Send alerts based on events
ETL Extract, transform, load data
Monitoring Check service health, alert on issues
Automation Automate repetitive tasks

Database

N8N stores:

  • Workflow definitions
  • Execution history
  • Credentials (encrypted)
  • User accounts

Database: n8n in PostgreSQL cluster

Configuration

Key environment variables:

Variable Description
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY Credential encryption
DB_TYPE postgresdb
DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST PostgreSQL service
QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_HOST Redis for queue

Verification

# Check pod status
kubectl get pods -n n8n

# Check logs
kubectl logs -n n8n deploy/n8n

# Check database connection
kubectl exec -it -n n8n deploy/n8n -- n8n db:migrations:list

Troubleshooting

Cannot access UI

# Check pod is running
kubectl get pods -n n8n

# Check service
kubectl get svc -n n8n

# Check ingress
kubectl get ingressroute -n n8n

Workflows not executing

# Check worker logs
kubectl logs -n n8n deploy/n8n

# Check Redis connection
kubectl exec -it -n n8n deploy/n8n -- redis-cli -h redis-sentinel-master.redis-sentinel ping

Database connection issues

# Verify PostgreSQL is running
kubectl get cluster -n cnpg-system

# Check N8N database exists
kubectl exec -it postgresql-cluster-1 -n cnpg-system -- psql -U postgres -c "\l" | grep n8n