Exploring n8n Integration with Thoughtly: Outline and Next Steps
I am looking into n8n, but it doesn't support thoughtly in official capacity, how are you planning to do this? you can give me a brief outline, and I'd like to play around with it.
Magnus··You can integrate towards it yourself. It can handle webhooks in both ways. The biggest, no HUGE, problem with using N8N (if you self-host it on a server where you have other hosts too), is that you can't set HTTPS to access N8N. This can be achieved with virtual hosts in Apache, but not with Docker if you use that in the same server. The only way to be able to handle that is if you let a reverse proxy handle all traffic in and out, but that would affect your other hosts that you run. Docker works on a network layer, while Apache handles it on the application layer. This is why it doesn't work. So it's not N8N that is the problem itself, it's Dockers inability to tie traffic to a specific domain name, like Apache does. So if you do this, use N8N as a subscribed service.
- Magnus··
MY GOD! You have succeeded? I am on my third week struggling with this. My server is a VPS on my own HW. It runs Debian 12 and is a LAMP managed by the ISPconfig3 panel (which is just a GUI on top of the software that is used by LAMP). It runs Apache2 and not nginx. I have several sites running as virtual hosts under LAMP. The server has Docker and Docker compose installed. N8N is using Postgres in my case. The Docker container makes it possible to run N8N on nginx, despite that the server is an Apache2 server. I have tried to set up N8N on different ports, but no luck so far. It's been a nightmare and I have still not succeeded. Do you by any chance have some document that describes the installation?
Tony K··I haven't used lamp, but am using nginx reverse proxy. Can jump on a call, but I used the n8n documentation AND I used chatgpt for some of the system config and Linux side of things.
- Tony K··
I'm sure the Apache side of the lamp can handle the reverse proxy
- Magnus··
I have asked Google Gemini a LOT. Often different answers to the same question. The level of hallucination and political correctness in Google Gemini is huge. 🙂 I don't mind using Nginx Proxy Manager. In fact, I have tried that too, also as a Docker container. It didn't go well. Same problem with that. It wasn't possible to get it to run HTTPS despite that I set up the API for a DNS challenge towards NameCheap (which is handling the DNS). I'll check this. Thanks!
- Tony K··
I use certbot for my SSL. You have to configure your reverse proxy to accept the challenge and issue the cert
- Magnus··
Yep and it does, the problem is that Nginx Proxy Manager in itself can't issue the certificates to itself, although that should (!) be possible. Under ISPconfig3, acme.sh is used for requesting the certs.
- Tony K··
So your external IP is your server and you need to setup your reverse proxy to listen to the n8n instance IP. I think default port is 4567? I can't remember right now
- Magnus··
5678 for N8N, for Nginx PM this is also configurable.
- Tony K··
Oh interesting. I didn't know that the proxy manager can issue certs by itself. I have to set it up once and then it auto renews with certbot
- Magnus··
Most registrars which also provide DNS services, have an API to which you can connect and setup under "DNS challenge". Once you do that, the NPM will request the certificates on behalf on the hosts "inside" of NPM. In NPM you can apparently, according to Google Gemini 🙂 , set things up so that NPM issues its own certificate too.
- Tony K··
Good to know. I've got it setup pretty good for how I use it, but genuinely interesting information!
- Magnus··
You are absolutely correct. I mean, your installation is working, while mine is not 🙂
Dan··You guys are free to join https://whop.com/brain You will get the n8n how to that I'm using, it's all described there. You can join for free