🚀 How I Self-Hosted n8n on Oracle Cloud with Custom Subdomain & HTTPS

Setting up n8n on a budget? Here's how I got it running securely on Oracle Cloud Free Tier — complete with HTTPS, a custom subdomain, and zero open ports (thanks to Cloudflare Tunnel!). Let's walk through what worked, step by step.

🛠️ Prerequisites

Oracle Cloud Free Tier VM already set up (Ubuntu 22.04)
A domain (e.g., yourdomain.com)
Basic DNS management access (Cloudflare or similar)

👉 Don't have an Oracle VM yet? Follow this guide.

🧱 Step 1: Install Docker & Docker Compose

SSH into your Oracle instance and install Docker:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Verify:

docker --version

📦 Step 2: Run n8n with Docker

Create a folder and a docker-compose.yml:

mkdir ~/n8n && cd ~/n8n
nano docker-compose.yml

Paste this config:

version: "3"

services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=securepassword
      - WEBHOOK_TUNNEL_URL=https://n8n.yourdomain.com
    volumes:
      - ~/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n

Start it:

docker-compose up -d

🌐 Step 3: Point Subdomain to Oracle VM

Log into your DNS provider (e.g., Cloudflare) and add:

Type: A
Name: n8n
Value: <Oracle_VM_Public_IP>
TTL: Auto

You should now be able to access http://n8n.yourdomain.com:5678.

🔒 Step 4: Enable HTTPS with Nginx & Certbot

Install Nginx & Certbot:

sudo apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Create a config file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n

Paste:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name n8n.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Enable the config:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Get SSL:

sudo certbot --nginx -d n8n.yourdomain.com

Now, you can access n8n at https://n8n.yourdomain.com securely 🎉

🛡️ BONUS: Zero Port Access via Cloudflare Tunnel (Optional)

If you want maximum security, skip exposing any ports and use Cloudflare Tunnel.

Install cloudflared:

wget https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb

Authenticate:

cloudflared tunnel login

Create and route tunnel:

cloudflared tunnel create n8n-tunnel
cloudflared tunnel route dns n8n-tunnel n8n.yourdomain.com

Create ~/.cloudflared/config.yml:

tunnel: n8n-tunnel
credentials-file: /home/ubuntu/.cloudflared/n8n-tunnel.json

ingress:
  - hostname: n8n.yourdomain.com
    service: http://localhost:5678
  - service: http_status:404

Start the tunnel:

cloudflared tunnel run n8n-tunnel

Done — no ports exposed! You now access n8n securely via HTTPS.

✅ Conclusion

Here's what worked and what didn't:

Attempt	Result	Why We Didn't Use It / Chose It
Raw Oracle VM IP access	But no HTTPS	Not secure or production-ready
Nginx + Let's Encrypt (Certbot)	Works beautifully	Full control, HTTPS enabled
Cloudflare Tunnel	No open ports needed	Most secure and stealthy option
Ngrok for testing	Temporary, not scalable	Good for dev only
DNS config + subdomain	Works great	Makes access easy and branded

This is now a secure, production-ready setup with your own subdomain and HTTPS. Let me know if you need a follow-up on CI/CD or backups!

Happy automating 🤖✨

How I Self-Hosted n8n on Oracle Cloud with Custom Subdomain & HTTPS