Deploy and Host n8n + Postgres on Railway

About Hosting

Railway provides a streamlined platform for deploying web applications and databases. This template runs n8n — the popular workflow automation platform with 400+ integrations — on Railway with a PostgreSQL database. n8n's official Docker image is pinned to a stable version, so deploys are reproducible and updates are a one-line bump.

Why Deploy

Deploying this template gives you a self-hosted automation platform in minutes:

Workflow automation — build no-code/code workflows with 400+ integrations (HTTP, webhooks, AI, Slack, Gmail, and more)
Postgres-backed — workflows, credentials, and execution history stored in PostgreSQL 16 instead of the default SQLite, ready for production
Zero manual setup — database migrations run automatically on boot; the Railway deploy wizard prompts for the encryption key
Cheap to run — the n8n service supports sleep (serverless) when idle; the Postgres service stays warm

Common Use Cases

Automation server — centralize integrations, webhooks, and scheduled jobs for your SaaS
AI workflows — connect LLM nodes with your data and APIs (n8n has native AI/agent nodes)
Team productivity — notifications, syncs, and internal tooling without writing glue code
Self-hosted alternative — replace hosted automation tools with your own instance and data control

Dependencies for

This template requires:

Deployment Dependencies

PostgreSQL 16 — add the Postgres service in the Railway dashboard; the template maps DB_* variables automatically
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY — required to encrypt stored credentials; generate with openssl rand -hex 16 (the deploy wizard will prompt you)
n8n 2.33.x image pinned in the Dockerfile (bump the tag to update)

Getting Started

Click Deploy on Railway
In the deploy wizard, provide N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY (or generate one with openssl rand -hex 16)
Add a Postgres service — Railway injects the connection variables automatically
Open the generated domain and create your n8n account

Next Steps

Webhooks — set WEBHOOK_URL to https://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}/ so webhook URLs are reachable
Custom domain — add one to your n8n service and set N8N_HOST
Sleep (serverless) — enable sleep on the n8n service so it pauses when idle; Postgres stays awake

License

n8n is fair-code (Sustainable Use License). This template's wrapper and configuration are MIT.