
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)


Uptime-Kuma is a lightweight status and monitoring dashboard suited for homelabs or lean production clusters. Below is a minimal, repeatable setup to run it behind an ingress with TLS.

### Helm Chart

A maintained chart is available: [dirsigler/uptime-kuma-helm](https://github.com/dirsigler/uptime-kuma-helm), from [`@dirsigler`](https://github.com/dirsigler/uptime-kuma-helm).

```bash
helm repo add uptime-kuma https://helm.irsigler.cloud
helm repo update
helm upgrade my-uptime-kuma uptime-kuma/uptime-kuma \
  --install \
  --namespace monitoring \
  --create-namespace \
  -f values.uptime-kuma.yaml
```

### Preview

The following screenshot shows how Uptime-Kuma presents monitoring data for this blog (`blog.t1m.me`).

![Uptime-Kuma dashboard for blog.t1m.me](/static/assets/uptime-kuma-dashboard.png)

### Example values

Sanitize hosts/secrets for the target environment. This example runs as a `ClusterIP` behind `nginx` and cert-manager.

```yaml
ingress:
  enabled: true
  ingressClassName: public
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: public
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/enable-cors: "true"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/cors-allow-origin: "https://<your-domain>"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/cors-allow-methods: "GET, OPTIONS"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/cors-allow-headers: "Content-Type"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/cors-allow-credentials: "false"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "3600"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "3600"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/server-snippets: |
      proxy_buffering off;
      proxy_cache off;
  hosts:
    - host: status.<your-domain>
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix
  tls:
    - secretName: uptime-kuma-tls
      hosts:
        - status.<your-domain>

persistence:
  enabled: true
  size: 5Gi

service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 3001

env:
  TZ: Europe/Berlin
```

A helper script is available for quick install and values generation:

- Download: [`setup_uptime_kuma.sh`](https://github.com/tbscode/tims-blog-posts/blob/main/assets/setup_uptime_kuma.sh)
- Make executable and run with env vars:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tbscode/tims-blog-posts/refs/heads/main/assets/setup_uptime_kuma.sh -o setup_uptime_kuma.sh
chmod +x setup_uptime_kuma.sh
KUBECONFIG=./kubeconfig.yaml HOST="status.<your-domain>" ./setup_uptime_kuma.sh
```

Notes:

- Keep persistence on; monitors would otherwise need reconfiguration after pod restarts.
- On Microk8s, ensure `ingress` and `cert-manager` are enabled and a `ClusterIssuer` named `letsencrypt-prod` exists.
- The app becomes reachable at `https://status.<your-domain>` after DNS is set.

That’s it—small, stable, and easy to back up. Perfect for keeping a quiet eye on your stack.


### Alerts and hardening

- Enable certificate expiration notifications. Even with cert-manager in place (see the Kubernetes setup post), missed renewals often indicate underlying cluster health issues.
- Configure Twilio SMS alerts to receive notifications when an endpoint goes down and when it recovers. The following screenshot shows a brief incident where a page returned 503 and then back to 200 (minimal downtime during a controlled server migration):

![Incident timeline 503→200](/static/assets/kuma-uptime-incident-503-200.png)

- Enable 2FA for the admin account.

![Uptime-Kuma 2FA](/static/assets/2fa-uptime-kuma.png)

- Set up automated backups. Creating a daily full copy of `/app/data` and keeping a sensible retention schedule is recommended.




Tiny guide to deploy Uptime-Kuma on a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster using a maintained Helm chart.

Self-Hosted Uptime Monitoring on Kubernetes with Uptime-Kuma


A quick, repeatable way to run WordPress on Kubernetes using the maintained TrueCharts chart. Small footprint, TLS via cert-manager, and a clean ingress.

### Chart

The TrueCharts WordPress chart ships via OCI and builds on the TrueCharts common library for consistent values and sane defaults.

- Chart page: [truecharts.org/charts/stable/wordpress](https://truecharts.org/charts/stable/wordpress/)

```bash
helm install wp oci://oci.trueforge.org/truecharts/wordpress \
  --namespace blogging \
  --create-namespace \
  -f values.wordpress.yaml
```

### Example values

Sanitize domains, credentials, and secret names for the target setup.

```yaml
ingress:
  main:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: public
    annotations:
      cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "0"
    hosts:
      - host: wp.<your-domain>
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
    tls:
      - hosts: [wp.<your-domain>]
        secretName: wp-<your-domain>-tls

wordpress:
  user: "<admin-username>"
  pass: "<strong-password>"

workload:
  main:
    replicas: 1
    podSpec:
      containers:
        main:
          env:
            WORDPRESS_EXTRA_WP_CONFIG_CONTENT: |
              define('WP_HOME','https://wp.<your-domain>');
              define('WP_SITEURL','https://wp.<your-domain>');

resources:
  requests:
    cpu: "500m"
    memory: "1Gi"
  limits:
    cpu: "4"
    memory: "8Gi"
```

Notes:

- Ensure `ingress` and `cert-manager` are installed and a `ClusterIssuer` named `letsencrypt-prod` exists.
- Set DNS for `wp.<your-domain>` to the ingress IP. After install, visit `https://wp.<your-domain>`.
- TrueCharts maintains a broad catalog and a shared common chart, providing consistent configuration across apps; the WordPress chart is kept up-to-date and is straightforward to automate.




Set up WordPress on a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster using the TrueCharts Helm chart.

Ingress

Self-Hosted n8n on Kubernetes (Helm chart)

Self-Hosted Uptime Monitoring on Kubernetes with Uptime-Kuma

WordPress on Kubernetes with TrueCharts (short guide)