[Support] tmchow - n8n workflow automation - Page 4 - Docker Containers

March 9, 20251 yr

On 3/5/2025 at 12:50 PM, Braulio Dias Ribeiro said:

3) With everything installed, go to the "Docker" tab and at the bottom of the page click on "ADD NEW STACK"

Name it "N8n" and specify the appdata path "/mnt/user/appdata/n8n"

Right click on the created stack and "Edit Stack"

Compose File

Copy and paste the stack and modify it with your data and "Save Changes"

Click in "Compose UP"

Congratulations

I am trying this now. I will let you know if I can get it working. I will also install the n8n Docker image.

thank You

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March 23, 20251 yr

On 3/9/2025 at 9:04 AM, Yoda_1204 said:

I am trying this now. I will let you know if I can get it working. I will also install the n8n Docker image.

thank You

So I did not get this working. I will try it again from scratch.

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March 25, 20251 yr

I've setup n8n package on unraid and created workflows, but when I stopped the array and rebooted, I lost my workflows and couldn't start n8n until I've run the chown command 1000:1000. How do I fix this.

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May 15, 20251 yr

Hi Folks! Is there a way to install python or other libraries inside the container to be able to run local scripts for automation?

Because so far I notice with the default n8n docker image for Unraid does not seem to have yum, apt-get, dnf nor even microdnf.

Edited May 15, 20251 yr by tamalero

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May 15, 20251 yr

15 hours ago, tamalero said:

Hi Folks! Is there a way to install python or other libraries inside the container to be able to run local scripts for automation?

Because so far I notice with the default n8n docker image for Unraid does not seem to have yum, apt-get, dnf nor even microdnf.

Not really... Look into docker mods. But docker mods can break things and don't always work ..

Your better off installing Python for unRAID and using the host user script and a Python venv leverage docker cli to execute a shared Python venv path

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May 26, 20251 yr

On 5/15/2025 at 7:22 PM, bmartino1 said:

Not really... Look into docker mods. But docker mods can break things and don't always work ..

Your better off installing Python for unRAID and using the host user script and a Python venv leverage docker cli to execute a shared Python venv path

But the reason for using like command node to call on a python script is to get the results back to the flow, is there a way to do that any other way running the script outside of n8n?

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May 26, 20251 yr

9 hours ago, orlando500 said:
But the reason for using like command node to call on a python script is to get the results back to the flow, is there a way to do that any other way running the script outside of n8n?

You would have to use a python docker and have the other connect and talk to it...

N8N is weird to me and I jumped in only to assist with the docker compose and verifications. What it does and how it works is out of scope for me, as I have no interest in running n8n automations...

without building your own docker that installs it... I'm not sure how you should proceed...

#############
To implement and run Python scripts within your n8n workflows on Unraid, even though the official n8n Docker container doesn't include Python or package managers, you can still integrate Python in your automation flows by running Python outside the container and communicating with n8n. Here's how you can do it properly, depending on your goals.

I have some recommendation / options...

Which I hinted at with using the host and python venv...

Option 1: Use Python on the Host (Unraid) and Connect via Webhook / Execute Command

Install Python on your Unraid host (via NerdPack or manually if needed).
Create a Python virtual environment for clean dependencies:

install unraid python plugin...

python3 -m venv /mnt/user/appdata/python_envs/myenv

source /mnt/user/appdata/python_envs/myenv/bin/activate

pip install whatever-you-need

Use an n8n Execute Command Node to call a Python script on the host:

?make docker path how you have the venv and script talk is on you...

/mnt/user/appdata/python_envs/myenv/bin/python3 /mnt/user/appdata/myscripts/myscript.py

--Docker exe coamnds form host to access interal dockers with python...

4. Capture the output (stdout) from the script and return it back to the n8n flow.

If the n8n container doesn’t have access to the host's Python or file paths, you must mount those directories as shared volumes in your Docker run/compose for n8n:

Copose example ca tempate - add varables...

volumes:

- /mnt/user/appdata/myscripts:/scripts

- /mnt/user/appdata/python_envs:/venvs

##############

or option 2:

Option 2: Use a Separate Lightweight Python Docker Container

Run your Python script in a dedicated container and trigger it from n8n:

Set up a container using an image like python:3.11-slim:
example comand
docker run -d --name pyhelper -v /mnt/user/appdata/myscripts:/scripts python:3.11-slim tail -f /dev/null
Use n8n's Execute Command Node to run a Docker command like:
Example command
docker exec pyhelper python /scripts/myscript.py
Capture the script’s output and pipe it back into your flow.

*This should... This isolates Python from n8n, so there's no risk of breaking the n8n container.

....

Option 3: Use Webhook Node with a Custom Python API

If your Python script is long-running or needs more structure:

Wrap the script in a lightweight Flask or FastAPI server.
Deploy it in a separate container or directly on Unraid.
Call it from n8n via the HTTP Request node and pass data via JSON.

Example (Flask):

python script example with flask

from flask import Flask, request, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/run', methods=['POST'])

def run_script():

input_data = request.json

result = do_something(input_data)

return jsonify(result)

Otherwise make your own docker with n8n...

Not Recommended

Modifying the official n8n container with Python via Docker Mods: Not stable or future-proof.
Installing Python manually inside n8n’s container: It’s built on Alpine with no package manager included. You’d need to rebuild and maintain your own custom image.

Let's build a custom Dockerfile that extends the official n8n Docker image and installs Python (e.g. Python 3.11) inside it.

# Use the official n8n image as the base

FROM n8nio/n8n:latest

# Switch to root to install packages

USER root

# Install Python 3 and pip via Alpine's package manager

RUN apk add --no-cache \

python3 \

py3-pip \

py3-virtualenv \

build-base \

libffi-dev \

openssl-dev \

musl-dev \

gcc \

make

# Optional: Upgrade pip and install common Python packages

RUN pip install --upgrade pip && \

pip install requests numpy pandas

# Restore default user

USER node

# Set working directory

WORKDIR /data

# Entry point is unchanged, uses n8n's default

docker build -t n8n-python-custom .

docker run -d \

--name n8n-python \

-p 5678:5678 \

-v /mnt/user/appdata/n8n:/home/node/.n8n \

-v /mnt/user/appdata/myscripts:/scripts \

n8n-python-custom

....

How you handle that and how you interact with it is on you... I can only say its possible but since I'm not running n8n, nor needing python with n8n I can't test and can only give guidleines...

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July 14, 2025Jul 14

Just installed the app but it's returning this error from docker logs:

No encryption key found - Auto-generating and saving to: /home/node/.n8n/config

Error: Command "start" not found

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July 16, 2025Jul 16

On 7/15/2025 at 1:24 AM, L1nz said:
Just installed the app but it's returning this error from docker logs:
No encryption key found - Auto-generating and saving to: /home/node/.n8n/config
Error: Command "start" not found

I get the same error. any solution to this error?

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July 17, 2025Jul 17

3 hours ago, Jonae said:
I get the same error. any solution to this error?

chown -R 1000:1000 /mnt/user/appdata/n8n

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July 17, 2025Jul 17

Can anyone offer some insight in what we should have in the webhook tunnel value?

Should it be the IP of the unraid box itself here if I'm running it in Bridge mode?

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July 17, 2025Jul 17

17 hours ago, Crocs said:
chown -R 1000:1000 /mnt/user/appdata/n8n

it worked, thanks

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July 22, 2025Jul 22

On 10/7/2024 at 10:47 PM, bigmicka said:

The solution to this is given on the last line. Create a new environment variable in the docker config.

Click

Add these details

Save and apply.

Thank you for this. For some reason I had it in my head that I needed to add this to the config file, and it wasn't working. This was the solution.

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July 23, 2025Jul 23

hello guys,

i like to get the data store enabled but the N8N_FEATURE_FLAG_DATA_STORE Variable seem to not change anything. What do i miss?

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July 24, 2025Jul 24

HI Guys
I see this version is only 1.103.2 i have tried adding n8nio/n8n:latest or n8nio/n8n:stable but that breaks my install.
What is the current best way to upgrade to a newer version as i am having issues with code node

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July 25, 2025Jul 25

Having read this forum thread completely to find the best way to install n8n, just to learn the whole documentation around it is the best possible mess i ever witnessed in all my time using unraid.

Can someone please explain if the installation works with the version out of unraid's app repository or if it needs to be installed from inside the Docker app?

Thank you

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July 31, 2025Jul 31

On 7/25/2025 at 2:49 PM, Gekko said:
Having read this forum thread completely to find the best way to install n8n, just to learn the whole documentation around it is the best possible mess i ever witnessed in all my time using unraid.
Can someone please explain if the installation works with the version out of unraid's app repository or if it needs to be installed from inside the Docker app?
Thank you

Hello, I installed it using the official n8nio template.

Updated the timezone to match my timezone.

It wasn't starting, was loopbooting.

I had this error:

No encryption key found - Auto-generating and saving to: /home/node/.n8n/config

Error: Command "start" not found.

There was two issues:

1st I installed it in:

/mnt/cache/appdata/n8n

instead of:

/mnt/user/appdata/n8n

2nd is the created folder had permissions issues on the n8n appdata folder.

I fixed it with Unraid UI and re-installed the template. It worked.

Then I got the warning "however you are either visiting this via an insecure URL, or using Safari." on the n8n UI.

Click the n8n container icon and select Edit.

Add N8N_SECURE_COOKIE variable.
Set its value to false.
Click Apply at the bottom of the page.

The warning will disappear, and you will be able to log in and use n8n normally.

Don't forget to turn it back to true it once the app is reverse-proxied.

Edited July 31, 2025Jul 31 by Slasheal

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