Self-host n8n in France, with its PostgreSQL database, from your AI agent

Prerequisites

• A new instance, or your workflows exported from your current n8n.
• Your AI agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Gemini CLI.

Step 1: Ask your agent for n8n

Your agent adds while’s MCP server itself. If it asks you to, restart it. On the first call to while, a page opens in your browser. In Claude Code, if it doesn’t open, type /mcp, choose while, then Authenticate. On that page, choose “A new app”, then click Authorize.

Step 2: Create your n8n account

Your agent gives you your instance’s address, for example https://n8n.while.cloud. Open it right away: the first visitor creates the owner account. You then create your first workflows there.

What your agent does

n8n doesn’t read its database address as a single URL: it expects the host, port, name, user and password in its own variables¹. So your agent writes a Dockerfile on the official n8n image, and a small startup script that derives those variables from the database’s:

FROM docker.io/n8nio/n8n:latest
USER root
COPY --chmod=755 entry.sh /entry.sh
USER 1000:1000
ENTRYPOINT ["/entry.sh"]

#!/bin/sh
# Gives n8n while's PostgreSQL database, variable by variable.
set -e
u="${DB_MAIN_URL#*://}"
rest="${u#*@}"
hostport="${rest%%/*}"
db="${rest#*/}"
db="${db%%\?*}"
host="${hostport%%:*}"
port="${hostport##*:}"
[ "$port" = "$hostport" ] && port=5432
export DB_TYPE=postgresdb
export DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST="$host"
export DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT="$port"
export DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE="$db"
export DB_POSTGRESDB_USER="$DB_MAIN_USER"
export DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD="$DB_MAIN_PASSWORD"
export N8N_PORT="${PORT:-5678}"
exec /docker-entrypoint.sh "$@"

Then while.yaml:

apiVersion: while/v1
project: n8n
services:
  - name: n8n
    dockerfile: Dockerfile
    port: 5678
    health:
      path: /healthz
      initial_delay_seconds: 20
    resources:
      cpu: 500m
      memory: 768Mi
    scale:
      min: 1
      max: 1
    sleep: never
    env:
      N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY: { secret: N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY }
      N8N_PROXY_HOPS: 1
      N8N_PROTOCOL: https
      N8N_HOST: n8n.while.cloud
      WEBHOOK_URL: https://n8n.while.cloud/
      N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL: https://n8n.while.cloud/
network:
  egress: all
databases:
  - name: main

n8n keeps its workflows, its encrypted credentials and its executions in the PostgreSQL database. It runs as a single instance, always awake, to start its scheduled workflows and receive its webhooks at the public address your agent gives it². The key that encrypts your credentials is a secret your agent sets in while³. N8N_PROXY_HOPS tells n8n it answers behind while’s HTTPS entry point, and the /healthz route tells while that n8n is ready⁴.

egress: all opens the internet to n8n: its workflows call your tools and your APIs, and n8n reaches its own services, like api.n8n.io. A person in your organization approves that opening on the first deployment.

Bring over your workflows

Your agent imports your exported workflows. You enter your credentials again in n8n: they stay encrypted by your key.

Put n8n on your domain

Your agent declares the domain and updates the webhook address. You add the DNS records it gives you, and the HTTPS certificate follows.

Put your workflows back the way they were yesterday

Your agent prepares the restore, and you approve it: a safety backup is taken first.

Upgrade to the latest version of n8n

Your agent deploys the latest n8n image. If the new version disappoints, it rolls back to the previous one.

In the docs: PostgreSQL databases and Variables and secrets.

Next steps

• Restore your database to a precise moment
• Put your app on your own domain
• Deploy a Docker container