
Alexander is a writer, traveler, and serial digital entrepreneur. He’s the founder of the Tushi, the Gen X personal growth newsletter Further, and offers small business advice at Unemployable.

Twitter

Linkedin

Facebook

Director and Chief Evangelist

Alexander Hipp


Anil is a content-obsessed marketer who loves driving organic traffic for outstanding companies. He is also the creator of Hack the Content, co-host of The Runner, and owner of several digital commerce sites.

Managing Partner

Anil Vugels


Monika is a writer, musician, and content strategist with a passion for language. When she isn’t helping clients, you can find her writing songs, hiking in a northern forest, or furiously journaling.

Director of Operations

Ann Monika

Programmer / Founder / Student

Tim Schupp


n8n is a flexible, open-source workflow automation tool that runs well on a small self-hosted cluster. Below is a lean, production-minded setup using a maintained Helm chart. This mirrors my usual pattern: keep it simple, make it reproducible, and put it behind ingress with TLS.

### Helm chart

Maintained chart: [`8gears/n8n-helm-chart`](https://github.com/8gears/n8n-helm-chart) — solid defaults, clear values, and active maintenance by the 8gears team. Kudos to the authors and maintainers for keeping queue mode, probes, lifecycle hooks, and ingress settings tidy and well-documented.

> If you’re new to Kubernetes on a VPS, see my Microk8s setup first: [/blog/microk8s-on-vps](/blog/microk8s-on-vps)

### Example values

Sanitize hosts and secrets for your environment. This example uses `ClusterIP` with `nginx` and `cert-manager`.

```yaml
image:
  repository: n8nio/n8n
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: "nginx"
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: "nginx"
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: "letsencrypt-prod"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "50m"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol: "HTTP"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect: "true"
  hosts:
    - host: n8n.t1m.me
      paths:
        - "/"
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - n8n.t1m.me
      secretName: n8n-example-com-tls
main:
  replicaCount: 1
  deploymentStrategy:
    type: Recreate
  service:
    type: ClusterIP
    port: 5678
  config:
    n8n:
      host: "n8s.<your-domain>"
      protocol: "https"
      port: 5678
      editor_base_url: "https://n8s.<your-domain>"
      webhook_url: "https://n8s.<your-domain>"
      secure_cookie: "true"
      proxy_hops: 1
      log_level: "info"
      diagnostics_enabled: "false"
    db:
      type: "sqlite"
  secret:
    n8n:
      encryption_key: "<SUPER_LONG_SECURE_KEY>"
scaling:
  enabled: false
  worker:
    replicaCount: 0
  webhook:
    enabled: false
    replicaCount: 0
```

Notes:
- For quick single-node or hobby deployments, `sqlite` is fine. For multi-node or longevity, pick Postgres.
- Set `encryption_key` to a long, random value. Rotating it will invalidate existing encrypted credentials.
- If you want queue mode, enable `scaling.enabled` and configure Redis (internal `valkey` or external Redis) as per the chart docs.

### Install/upgrade commands

Run with your `kubeconfig.yaml` and a dedicated namespace:

```bash
KUBECONFIG=./kubeconfig.yaml kubectl create ns n8n
KUBECONFIG=./kubeconfig.yaml helm uninstall n8n -n n8n
KUBECONFIG=./kubeconfig.yaml helm upgrade --install n8n oci://8gears.container-registry.com/library/n8n --namespace n8n -f n8n-values.yaml
```

After the release becomes `READY`, n8n should be reachable at `https://n8s.<your-domain>` (or your configured host).

### Hardening checklist

- Switch to Postgres for production and enable persistent volumes.
- Keep `secure_cookie: true` and TLS on end-to-end; n8n stores credentials for integrations.
- Limit ingress access (e.g., IP allowlists) if you only need the editor from trusted networks.
- Set `N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_DISABLED=false` and create dedicated users; enable 2FA on your IdP if applicable.

### About the chart authors

The chart is maintained by the 8gears team and contributors. The repository is here: [`8gears/n8n-helm-chart`](https://github.com/8gears/n8n-helm-chart). They’ve done a great job exposing n8n’s core options (readiness/liveness probes, deployment strategies, webhook and worker modes, and Redis/Valkey integration) in a clean values structure.

That’s it—small, clean, and easy to back up. Perfect fit for a self-hosted automation hub.


Minimal, repeatable setup to run n8n with TLS behind nginx ingress using the 8gears Helm chart.

Self-Hosted n8n on Kubernetes (Helm chart)


- [the python script](https://github.com/tbscode/tims-blog-posts/blob/main/assets/send_slack_message.py)

Need to notify your team about deployment status on Slack? Automate the process using the slack_sdk Python package with GitHub Actions. Here's how to set it up step by step:

### Creating Your Slack App for Notifications

1. **Create a Slack App**: Go to the [Slack API](https://api.slack.com/apps) section, select 'Create New App', input a name, and choose your workspace.

2. **Set Permissions**: In the Slack app settings, navigate to 'Features' > 'OAuth & Permissions'. Under 'Scopes', add `chat:write` for your bot to send messages. Once you save changes, click 'Install to Workspace'.

3. **Retrieve Your Slack Bot Token**: After installing the app to your workspace, grab your 'Bot User OAuth Token' from the 'OAuth & Permissions' page. Securely store this token as it will be used to authenticate your GitHub Actions script.

### Setting Up GitHub Actions to Send Slack Notifications

First, include your Slack API token as a secret in your GitHub repository:

1. In your GitHub repo, go to 'Settings', then 'Secrets'.
2. Select 'New Repository Secret', and add your Slack API token under `SLACK_API_TOKEN`.

Now, integrate the `send_slack_message.py` script with your deployment process:

```python
# send_slack_message.py
import os
from slack_sdk import WebClient

client = WebClient(token=os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"])

response = client.chat_postMessage(
    channel=os.environ["CHANNEL_ID"],
    mrkdwn=True,
    text=os.environ["MESSAGE"],
)

print(response["message"]["text"])
```

Add a GitHub Actions step in your workflow to execute the notification script:

```yaml
jobs:
  deployment:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      # ... previous steps for deployment ...
      
      - name: Notify Slack Channel
        env:
          SLACK_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SLACK_API_TOKEN }}
          CHANNEL_ID: 'your-channel-id'
          MESSAGE: "*Deployment Update*\nImage: ${{ steps.build.outputs.IMAGE_URL }}\nURL: ${{ steps.deploy.outputs.WEBSITE_URL }}"
        run: |
          pip install slack_sdk
          wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tbscode/tims-blog-posts/main/assets/send_slack_message.py | python3 -
```

Replace `your-channel-id` with the actual Slack channel ID where you wish to send notifications. 

> Replace the script url with a self hosted fork of [send_slack_message.py](https://github.com/tbscode/tims-blog-posts/blob/main/assets/send_slack_message.py)

Remember to update the `MESSAGE` variable with relevant details for your deployment, such as image URL or site URL.

Executing the GitHub Action with these configurations will automatically send your predefined message to the designated Slack channel, informing your team about the latest deployment status.

Your GitHub Actions workflow now works seamlessly with Slack for real-time notifications!

Set up Slack notifications for deployments using GitHub Actions and the Python slack_sdk package, keeping your team updated automatically.

Automation

Self-Hosted n8n on Kubernetes (Helm chart)

Send Slack Notifications on Deployments with GitHub Actions