Self-Hosting n8n in 2026: Why (and How) to Reclaim Your Automation 🚀

In an era where "Cloud-First" often feels like "Subscription-First," self-hosting your automation is the ultimate power move. While platforms like OpenClaw specialize in autonomous agentic reasoning, n8n remains the gold standard for reliable, event-driven workflow automation. By self-hosting, you aren't just saving on execution costs; you're securing your data within your own perimeter. Why Self-Host in 2026? Data Sovereignty: Your API keys and sensitive payloads stay on your disk. No Execution Limits: Forget counting "tasks." Your server's CPU is the only limit. Local Integration: Directly interact with your local filesystems, internal databases, and private IoT devices without poking holes in your firewall. The "Production-Ready" Stack We will use Docker Compose with a PostgreSQL backend. This is significantly more robust than the default SQLite setup, especially if you plan to run heavy workflows or keep long execution histories. 1. Directory Structure mkdir -p ~/n8n-stack && cd ~/