Database environment variables

File-based configuration

You can add _FILE to individual variables to provide their configuration in a separate file. Refer to Keeping sensitive data in separate files for more details.

By default, n8n uses SQLite. n8n also supports PostgreSQL. n8n removed support for MySQL and MariaDB in v1.0.

This page outlines environment variables to configure your chosen database for your self-hosted n8n instance.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_TYPE /_FILE	Enum string: sqlite, postgresdb	sqlite	The database to use.
DB_TABLE_PREFIX	*	-	Prefix to use for table names.

PostgreSQL

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE /_FILE	String	n8n	The name of the PostgreSQL database.
DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST /_FILE	String	localhost	The PostgreSQL host.
DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT /_FILE	Number	5432	The PostgreSQL port.
DB_POSTGRESDB_USER /_FILE	String	postgres	The PostgreSQL user.
DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL password.
DB_POSTGRESDB_POOL_SIZE /_FILE	Number	2	Control how many parallel open Postgres connections n8n should have. Increasing it may help with resource utilization, but too many connections may degrade performance.
DB_POSTGRESDB_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT /_FILE	Number	20000	Postgres connection timeout (ms).
DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA /_FILE	String	public	The PostgreSQL schema.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CA /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL certificate authority.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CERT /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL certificate.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_KEY /_FILE	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL key.
DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED /_FILE	Boolean	true	If n8n should reject unauthorized SSL connections (true) or not (false).

SQLite

Variable	Type	Default	Description
DB_SQLITE_VACUUM_ON_STARTUP	Boolean	false	Runs VACUUM operation on startup to rebuild the database. Reduces file size and optimizes indexes. This is a long running blocking operation and increases start-up time.