n8n and Temporal Docker Compose Setup

Table of Contents

• Services
• Custom Docker Images
• Usage
  • Create environment file
  • Starting the services
  • Building custom images
  • Verifying services are running
  • Checking Service Health
  • Accessing the services
  • Stopping the services
• Data Persistence
• Service Ports
• Troubleshooting
• GitHub MCP Configuration
• Documentation
  • AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB)
  • OAuth2 Proxy Setup Guide

This repository contains a Docker Compose configuration to run n8n and Temporal services together.

Services

The setup includes:

• n8n: An automation tool that allows you to create workflows visually
• Temporal: A workflow orchestration platform with the following components:
  • Temporal server
  • Temporal UI
  • PostgreSQL (database)
  • OpenSearch (for visibility features)

Custom Docker Images

This project uses custom Docker images built from the following Dockerfiles:

• Dockerfile.n8n: Extends the official n8n image with custom configurations
• Dockerfile.temporal: Extends the official Temporal auto-setup image

Usage

Create environment file

Create a .env file in the root directory of the project with your environment variables:

cp .env.example .env

Then edit the .env file to set your specific configuration values.

Starting the services

You can start the services in two ways, depending on your environment:

1. Development

docker compose up -d

2. Production

docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Building custom images

Rebuild images after modifying the Dockerfiles:

docker compose build

Or to rebuild and start in one command:

docker compose down && docker compose build && docker compose up -d

Verifying services are running

Check that all containers are running:

docker compose ps

You should see containers for:

• n8n
• temporal
• temporal-ui
• temporal-postgresql
• opensearch

Checking Service Health

Use the provided script to verify that all services are accessible:

scripts/check_services.sh

This will check:

• n8n health endpoint
• Temporal UI web interface
• OpenSearch API
• Temporal server gRPC port
• PostgreSQL database connection

Example output:

Checking service availability...
Checking n8n at http://localhost:5678/healthz... ACCESSIBLE ✅ (HTTP 200)
Checking temporal-ui at http://localhost:8080... ACCESSIBLE ✅ (HTTP 200)
Checking opensearch at http://localhost:9200... ACCESSIBLE ✅ (HTTP 200)
Checking temporal at localhost:7233... ACCESSIBLE ✅
Checking postgresql at localhost:5432... ACCESSIBLE ✅

Service URLs:
- n8n: http://localhost:5678
- Temporal UI: http://localhost:8080
- OpenSearch: http://localhost:9200

Accessing the services

• n8n: http://localhost:5678
• Temporal UI: http://localhost:8080

You can verify the services are responding with:

# Check n8n is responding
curl -I http://localhost:5678

# Check Temporal UI is responding
curl -I http://localhost:8080

Stopping the services

docker compose down

To completely remove all data volumes:

docker compose down -v

Data Persistence

Data for all services is persisted using Docker volumes. The storage location depends on the environment:

• Development (default, using docker-compose.yml): Docker uses anonymous volumes for each service. These are managed by Docker and are not bound to any directory in your project. Data persists as long as the volume exists, but is not directly accessible from the project folder.

• Production (using docker-compose.prod.yml): Volumes are explicitly bound to host directories under /data/ for persistent storage and easier backup/restore.

Note:

• Removing volumes with docker compose down -v will delete all persisted data.

Service Ports

• n8n: 5678
• Temporal server: 7233 (gRPC API, not HTTP)
• Temporal UI / OAuth2 Proxy: 8080
• PostgreSQL: 5432
• OpenSearch: 9200

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues:

1. Check container logs:

   docker logs temporal
   docker logs automatization-n8n-1

2. Ensure all required ports are available on your system

3. Make sure Docker has sufficient resources allocated

GitHub MCP Configuration

To use GitHub-related functions with Cursor's Model Context Protocol (MCP), you need to configure a GitHub Personal Access Token:

1. Create the secrets directory if it doesn't exist:

   mkdir -p ~/.cursor/mcp

2. Copy or edit the .env file in this directory:

   cp mcp.env.example ~/.cursor/mcp/.env

3. Update your GitHub Personal Access Token to the ~/.cursor/mcp/.env:

   GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_token_here
   

4. Save the file and restart Cursor for the changes to take effect.

To get access to a GitHub Personal Access Token: Ask @killev or

1. Go to GitHub Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens
2. Generate a new token with appropriate permissions (repo, workflow, etc.)
3. Copy the token and add it to the .env file as shown above