Skip to content

User management SMTP, and two-factor authentication 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.

Refer to User management for more information on setting up user management and emails.

Variable Type Default Description
N8N_EMAIL_MODE String smtp Enable emails.
N8N_SMTP_HOST String - your_SMTP_server_name
N8N_SMTP_PORT Number - your_SMTP_server_port
N8N_SMTP_USER String - your_SMTP_username
N8N_SMTP_PASS String - your_SMTP_password
N8N_SMTP_OAUTH_SERVICE_CLIENT String - If using 2LO with a service account this is your client ID
N8N_SMTP_OAUTH_PRIVATE_KEY String - If using 2LO with a service account this is your private key
N8N_SMTP_SENDER String - Sender email address. You can optionally include the sender name. Example with name: n8n <contact@n8n.com>
N8N_SMTP_SSL Boolean true Whether to use SSL for SMTP (true) or not (false).
N8N_SMTP_STARTTLS Boolean true Whether to use STARTTLS for SMTP (true) or not (false).
N8N_UM_EMAIL_TEMPLATES_INVITE String - Full path to your HTML email template. This overrides the default template for invite emails.
N8N_UM_EMAIL_TEMPLATES_PWRESET String - Full path to your HTML email template. This overrides the default template for password reset emails.
N8N_UM_EMAIL_TEMPLATES_WORKFLOW_SHARED String - Overrides the default HTML template for notifying users that a workflow was shared. Provide the full path to the template.
N8N_UM_EMAIL_TEMPLATES_CREDENTIALS_SHARED String - Overrides the default HTML template for notifying users that a credential was shared. Provide the full path to the template.
N8N_UM_EMAIL_TEMPLATES_PROJECT_SHARED String - Overrides the default HTML template for notifying users that a project was shared. Provide the full path to the template.
N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_JWT_SECRET String - Set a specific JWT secret. By default, n8n generates one on start.
N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_JWT_DURATION_HOURS Number 168 Set an expiration date for the JWTs in hours.
N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_JWT_REFRESH_TIMEOUT_HOURS Number 0 How many hours before the JWT expires to automatically refresh it. 0 means 25% of N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_JWT_DURATION_HOURS. -1 means it will never refresh, which forces users to log in again after the period defined in N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_JWT_DURATION_HOURS.
N8N_MFA_ENABLED Boolean true Whether to enable two-factor authentication (true) or disable (false). n8n ignores this if existing users have 2FA enabled.
N8N_INVITE_LINKS_EMAIL_ONLY Boolean false When set to true, n8n will only deliver invite links via email and will not expose them through the API. This option enhances security by preventing invite URLs from being accessible programmatically, or to high privileged users.

Instance owner using environment variables#

Set N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_MANAGED_BY_ENV to true to pre-provision the instance owner from environment variables. See Manage instance settings using environment variables for how the activation pattern works.

Variable Type Default Description
N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_MANAGED_BY_ENV Boolean false Set to true to manage the instance owner from environment variables. When true, n8n overwrites the instance owner details below on every startup, locks the UI control for that user, and rejects API writes.
N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_EMAIL String - Email address for the instance owner.
N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_FIRST_NAME String - First name for the instance owner.
N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_LAST_NAME String - Last name for the instance owner.
N8N_INSTANCE_OWNER_PASSWORD_HASH String - Bcrypt hash of the instance owner's password. Setting a plaintext password breaks login.
This page was