How to Set Up a Free Self-Hosted n8n AI Automation on Google Cloud

For those who are not familiar with n8n, it is a workflow automation tool that allows users to connect apps, automate tasks, and build custom integrations with no-code and low-code options.

Here are a few automation examples using n8n:

• Lead Capture & CRM Update – Automatically collect leads from a form and add them to HubSpot or Salesforce.
• Social Media Auto-Posting – Schedule and post content across Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
• Email Marketing Automation – Sync new subscribers from a website to Mailchimp and send a welcome email.
• AI-Powered Content Generation – Use OpenAI to generate text and send it to a Google Sheet or blog.
• E-commerce Order Processing – Notify Slack when a new Shopify order is placed and update Google Sheets.
• Customer Support Ticketing – Create a Zendesk ticket automatically when a user submits a support request.
• Data Scraping & Reporting – Extract data from websites and generate automated reports in Notion or Google Docs.

What can n8n do?

N8N AI

Secure and AI-native workflow automation tool for technical people. Insert code when you need it. Full source code and self-host available. Try it now.

Explore the AI Apps UniverseMr Tech King

If you have not created a free VM instance from any cloud provider, refer to this Google Cloud tutorial.

Full Youtube Video Tutorial:

1.Update VM & Install Required Dependencies

The steps may differ based on the Linux distribution. For detailed instructions, refer to the Docker documentation.

For Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

For Debian 12:

sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
sudo apt update

sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc > /dev/null
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian bookworm stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update

2. Install Docker & Docker-Compose

For Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

For Debian 12:

sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

3. DNS setup

Add A Record to route the subdomain accordingly:
[Optional] You can refer to this Hostinger Guide.

Type: A
Name: n8n (or the desired subdomain)
IP address: <IP_OF_YOUR_SERVER>

4. Create a Docker Compose file

1. Create a docker-compose.yml file.

sudo vi docker-compose.yml

2. Paste the following in the file:

version: "3.7"

services:
  traefik:
    image: "traefik"
    restart: always
    command:
      - "--api=true"
      - "--api.insecure=true"
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entryPoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.tlschallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.email=${SSL_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - traefik_data:/letsencrypt
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro

  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5678:5678"
    labels:
      - traefik.enable=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.rule=Host(`${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}`)
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.entrypoints=web,websecure
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls.certresolver=mytlschallenge
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLRedirect=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSSeconds=315360000
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.browserXSSFilter=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.contentTypeNosniff=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.forceSTSHeader=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLHost=${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSIncludeSubdomains=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSPreload=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.middlewares=n8n@docker
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

volumes:
  traefik_data:
    external: true
  n8n_data:
    external: true

3. Press Esc, then type the below to write and quit.

:wq

5. Create an Environment file.

1. Create an .env file.

sudo vi .env

2. Paste the following in the file and change it accordingly.

# The top level domain to serve from
DOMAIN_NAME=MrTechKing.com

# The subdomain to serve from
SUBDOMAIN=n8ndemo

# DOMAIN_NAME and SUBDOMAIN combined decide where n8n will be reachable from
# above example would result in: https://n8ndemo.MrTechKing.com

# Optional timezone to set which gets used by Cron-Node by default
# If not set New York time will be used
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Singapore/Singapore

# The email address to use for the SSL certificate creation
SSL_EMAIL=tong@mrtechking.com

3. Press Esc, then type the below to write and quit.

:wq

6. Create a data folder

Create the Docker volume that's defined as n8n_data. n8n will save the database file from SQLite and the encryption key in this volume.

sudo docker volume create n8n_data

Create a volume for the Traefik data, This is defined as traefik_data.

sudo docker volume create traefik_data

7. Start Docker Compose

Start n8n docker container:

sudo docker compose up -d

To stop the n8n docker container:

sudo docker compose stop

8. Setup Credential

Now your n8n will be reachable using your custom https://n8n.yourwebsite.com. n8n will only be reachable using https and not using http.

*Take note: It might not work immediately after the docker container starts running. Go get a coffee and give it a 2-10 minute wait and refresh again.

Set your email, name, and password to enter the dashboard.

9. Done

Let's build an awesome AI workflow now and change your life. 🚀

10. How to Update n8n?

It's important to keep your n8n version up to date. This ensures you get the latest features and fixes.

How to Update n8n using Docker Compose?

Updating n8n with Docker Compose is essential for the latest features and security. In this guide, we’ll show you how to easily pull the latest image, update your containers, and keep your workflows running smoothly.

Explore the AI Apps UniverseMr Tech King

Additional Command

Show Running Containers id only:

sudo docker ps -q

If you want to see logs from all running containers, use:

sudo docker compose logs

Use this command to view logs for a running or stopped container:

sudo docker logs <container_id or container_name>

If you want to continuously stream logs, use:

sudo docker logs -f <container_id or container_name>