Install n8n on your server

n8n is a visual workflow automation tool. It installs free on every plan and runs inside your dashboard. KVM 2 (2 vCPU / 8 GB) gives busy workflows room to grow.

Install it

1. Picked n8n at checkout? It installs by itself as soon as your server is ready. Open Servers and pick your server: the top of its Overview shows the install and a Get started list.
2. Otherwise, on your server's Overview press Install (free) on the n8n card (on a server you set up as just a server, press Want an app? Install one free first). The server must be running. You then land on n8n's tab, which shows the progress. The first app on a server also prepares it, so the progress says "Preparing your server" for a minute before the install starts. The whole install takes a few minutes.
3. n8n starts by itself when the install is done.

Open it

The running app opens in its own tab in the server menu. Use Open in new tab for a full window. n8n lives at your server's app address:

https://vmN-app.box.scalemaxcloud.com

Swap vmN for your server's name. The address is HTTPS and sits behind your ScaleMax Cloud login: open it from the dashboard and you are already signed in. Anyone else gets the sign-in page.

First login

On the first visit, n8n asks you to create the owner account: email, name and password. That account controls every workflow and credential, so use a strong, unique password. Only you can reach this page, because it needs your dashboard login first.

Webhooks

Webhook and form URLs are public, so other services can call them without your dashboard login. n8n already uses the app address when it shows them:

https://vmN-app.box.scalemaxcloud.com/webhook/<your-path>
https://vmN-app.box.scalemaxcloud.com/form/<your-path>

Paths under /webhook/, /webhook-test/, /webhook-waiting/, /form/, /form-test/ and /form-waiting/ work without a login. Everything else, the editor included, needs it. Webhooks answer only while n8n is the active app.

Back up your workflows

Workflows, credentials and settings live in the Docker volume scalemax_n8n_data, mounted at /home/node/.n8n. Your server's scheduled backups copy the whole disk, volume included, to offsite storage in Finland (see Backups and snapshots). For a copy of n8n alone, press Stop in the dashboard, archive the volume over SSH, then press Start n8n in n8n's tab. docker volume ls lists the volume, and the Compose file is in /opt/scalemax/n8n.

docker run --rm -v scalemax_n8n_data:/data -v /root:/backup alpine \
  tar czf /backup/n8n-data-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /data .

The archive lands in /root. Copy it off the server with scp -P <ssh-port> if you want a copy of your own.

Switching apps

One app runs on a server at a time. To change it, press Switch app on your server's Overview, or Switch to another app under Settings in n8n's tab, and pick the new app. You then choose one of two things:

• Replace n8n with the new app: n8n and all its data (workflows, saved credentials and run history) are permanently deleted from this server, then the new app installs, in about 3 to 5 minutes. You type n8n to confirm first, and it can't be undone. Back up your workflows first (above) if you want to keep them.
• Keep n8n and set up the other app yourself, with its guide. The dashboard adds no tab for that app and never touches it.

A server set up before one app per server can have several apps installed. There, switching to one that is already installed deletes nothing: n8n is paused with its data kept, and you can switch back. Replacing them with an app that is not installed deletes all of them, and you type delete to confirm. Stop pauses n8n too and keeps its data; Start n8n runs it again.

The n8n image

Servers built from the n8n image at checkout already run an n8n of their own. It is a separate n8n from the one the dashboard installs, with its own workflows: installing n8n from your server page leaves it alone, and the app card at the top of the server's Overview says so. When you pick n8n under What do you want to run? at checkout, the n8n image is not offered, so you get one n8n. The image's n8n runs in Docker with its Compose file in /opt/n8n and the editor on port 5678 inside the server.

On a Dedicated IPv4 (KVM 4 and KVM 8), every port reaches the server, so it answers at http://<your-ip>:5678.

On a shared IPv4 (KVM 1, KVM 2 and custom sizes), only your 20 forwarded ports reach the server, and port 5678 is not one of them. Publish it on one of your forwarded ports instead (see Ports and networking): edit /opt/n8n/docker-compose.yml and change "5678:5678" to your port, for example "20001:5678", then:

cd /opt/n8n
docker compose up -d

It is then at http://vmN.box.scalemaxcloud.com:20001, with your own server name and port. To use your own domain and HTTPS, follow Domain and HTTPS and set WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/ in the Compose environment so webhook links use your domain. Its workflows live in the volume n8n_n8n_data; back it up the same way as above, with that volume name.