Self-Hosted Automation: n8n, Node-RED and Huginn for Workflow Automation

Zapier and Make (formerly Integromatic) charge per-task fees that scale quickly, and they require sending all your data through their cloud infrastructure. Self-hosted automation platforms give you unlimited workflow executions, complete data privacy, and the ability to integrate with internal services that cloud automation tools cannot reach. Three open-source platforms dominate this space: n8n (visual workflow builder, closest to Zapier), Node-RED (flow-based programming, IoT focused), and Huginn (agent-based system, web scraping and monitoring).

Platform Comparison

Docker Deployment: n8n

# docker-compose.yml for n8n
version: "3.8"
services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:latest
    container_name: n8n
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=automation.example.com
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://automation.example.com/
      - N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${ENCRYPTION_KEY}
      - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=n8n-db
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE=168  # Hours (7 days)
      - N8N_METRICS=true
      # SMTP for error notifications
      - N8N_EMAIL_MODE=smtp
      - N8N_SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
      - N8N_SMTP_PORT=587
      - [email protected]
      - N8N_SMTP_PASS=${SMTP_PASSWORD}
      - [email protected]
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    depends_on:
      - n8n-db

  n8n-db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: n8n-db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=n8n
      - POSTGRES_USER=n8n
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - n8n_db:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  n8n_db:

Docker Deployment: Node-RED

# docker-compose.yml for Node-RED
version: "3.8"
services:
  node-red:
    image: nodered/node-red:latest
    container_name: node-red
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York
      - NODE_RED_CREDENTIAL_SECRET=${CREDENTIAL_SECRET}
    volumes:
      - node_red_data:/data
    ports:
      - "1880:1880"
    # For hardware access (GPIO, USB, serial)
    # privileged: true
    # devices:
    #   - /dev/ttyUSB0:/dev/ttyUSB0

volumes:
  node_red_data:

Securing Node-RED

// settings.js - authentication configuration
// Generate password hash: node-red admin hash-pw
module.exports = {
    adminAuth: {
        type: "credentials",
        users: [{
            username: "admin",
            password: "$2b$08$HASHED_PASSWORD_HERE",
            permissions: "*"
        }]
    },
    // HTTPS configuration
    https: {
        key: require("fs").readFileSync('/data/certs/privkey.pem'),
        cert: require("fs").readFileSync('/data/certs/fullchain.pem')
    },
    // Disable admin UI in production (API-only mode)
    // httpAdminRoot: false,
    credentialSecret: process.env.CREDENTIAL_SECRET
}

Docker Deployment: Huginn

# docker-compose.yml for Huginn
version: "3.8"
services:
  huginn:
    image: ghcr.io/huginn/huginn:latest
    container_name: huginn
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - DOMAIN=huginn.example.com
      - PORT=3000
      - DATABASE_ADAPTER=postgresql
      - DATABASE_HOST=huginn-db
      - DATABASE_NAME=huginn
      - DATABASE_USERNAME=huginn
      - DATABASE_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - HUGINN_SEED_USERNAME=admin
      - HUGINN_SEED_PASSWORD=${ADMIN_PASSWORD}
      - SMTP_DOMAIN=example.com
      - SMTP_SERVER=smtp.example.com
      - SMTP_PORT=587
      - [email protected]
      - SMTP_PASSWORD=${SMTP_PASSWORD}
      - [email protected]
    volumes:
      - huginn_data:/app/data
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    depends_on:
      - huginn-db

  huginn-db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: huginn-db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=huginn
      - POSTGRES_USER=huginn
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - huginn_db:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  huginn_data:
  huginn_db:

Practical Workflow Examples

n8n: GitHub Issue to Slack Notification

// n8n workflow JSON (importable)
{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "GitHub Trigger",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.githubTrigger",
      "parameters": {
        "owner": "my-org",
        "repository": "my-repo",
        "events": ["issues"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Filter New Issues",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.if",
      "parameters": {
        "conditions": {
          "string": [{
            "value1": "={{ $json.action }}",
            "operation": "equals",
            "value2": "opened"
          }]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Slack Notification",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.slack",
      "parameters": {
        "channel": "#dev-alerts",
        "text": "New issue: {{ $json.issue.title }}\n{{ $json.issue.html_url }}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Node-RED: Temperature Monitoring Flow

// Node-RED flow JSON (importable)
[
  {
    "id": "mqtt-in",
    "type": "mqtt in",
    "topic": "sensors/temperature",
    "broker": "mqtt-broker-config"
  },
  {
    "id": "parse-json",
    "type": "json",
    "wires": [["threshold-check"]]
  },
  {
    "id": "threshold-check",
    "type": "switch",
    "property": "payload.temperature",
    "rules": [
      {"t": "gt", "v": "30", "vt": "num"}
    ],
    "wires": [["send-alert"]]
  },
  {
    "id": "send-alert",
    "type": "e-mail",
    "to": "[email protected]",
    "subject": "Temperature Alert: {{ payload.temperature }}C"
  }
]

Huginn: Website Change Monitor

# Huginn Agent configuration (JSON)
# Agent Type: WebsiteAgent
{
  "expected_update_period_in_days": 1,
  "url": "https://example.com/pricing",
  "type": "html",
  "mode": "on_change",
  "extract": {
    "price": {
      "css": ".pricing-card .price",
      "value": "string(.)"
    },
    "plan_name": {
      "css": ".pricing-card .plan-name",
      "value": "string(.)"
    }
  }
}

# Chained with EmailAgent to notify on changes:
{
  "subject": "Pricing change detected on example.com",
  "headline": "The following pricing changes were detected:",
  "expected_receive_period_in_days": 7
}

Webhook Integrations

Webhooks are the most common trigger for self-hosted automation. All three platforms support them:

# n8n webhook URL format:
# https://automation.example.com/webhook/your-workflow-id
# https://automation.example.com/webhook-test/your-workflow-id (for testing)

# Node-RED webhook (http-in node):
# https://nodered.example.com/your-endpoint

# Huginn webhook (WebhookAgent):
# https://huginn.example.com/users/1/web_requests/your-agent-id/your-secret

# Testing webhooks locally with curl:
curl -X POST https://automation.example.com/webhook/abc123 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"event": "deploy", "status": "success", "service": "web-app"}'

Scheduling and Cron

# n8n: Cron trigger node
# - Run every 5 minutes: */5 * * * *
# - Run daily at 9 AM: 0 9 * * *
# - Run on weekdays only: 0 9 * * 1-5

# Node-RED: Inject node with cron
# - Repeat: interval or cron expression
# - Supports seconds for high-frequency: */10 * * * * * (every 10 seconds)

# Huginn: Per-agent scheduling
# - check_every: "2h" (every 2 hours)
# - check_every: "1d" (daily)
# - schedule: "8pm" (specific time)

API Integrations

Common integrations available across platforms:

Monitoring Workflows

Your automation workflows are infrastructure; they need monitoring too:

# n8n exposes Prometheus metrics when N8N_METRICS=true
# Scrape at: http://n8n:5678/metrics
# Key metrics:
#   n8n_workflow_execution_total{status="success|error"}
#   n8n_workflow_execution_duration_seconds
#   n8n_active_workflows_total

# Monitor workflow health with a meta-workflow:
# 1. Cron trigger every hour
# 2. Query n8n API for recent execution errors
# 3. Alert via Slack/email if error rate exceeds threshold

# Node-RED health endpoint:
# GET http://node-red:1880/health
# Returns: {"status": "healthy"}

Which One Should You Choose?

• Choose n8n if you want the closest experience to Zapier/Make with a polished visual workflow builder, extensive built-in integrations, and good execution logging. Best for business automation, API orchestration, and teams transitioning from cloud automation tools.
• Choose Node-RED if your automation involves IoT devices, hardware, MQTT, or data transformation pipelines. Best for home automation, industrial IoT, and data processing workflows where the flow-based programming model is natural.
• Choose Huginn if you need web scraping, website monitoring, and IFTTT-style agent chains. Best for personal automation, content monitoring, and scenarios where you need to react to changes on the web.

Many self-hosters run both n8n and Node-RED: n8n for business-oriented API integrations (CRM, ticketing, notifications) and Node-RED for hardware and data pipeline automation. They complement rather than compete with each other.

Managing automation containers alongside the rest of your self-hosted stack is straightforward with tools like usulnet, which provides visibility into container health, resource usage, and logs across all your services.