← Back to Home Lesson 2

Setting Up n8n

Options for Running n8n

Option 1: Cloud (Easiest)

• n8n.cloud — Managed hosted version
• Free tier available
• Quickest to start

Option 2: Self-Hosted (Recommended)

• Run on your own server
• Full control, no data leaves your infrastructure
• Can use Docker, npm, or binaries

Self-Hosted Setup (Docker)

docker run -d \
  --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  n8nio/n8n

Then access at http://localhost:5678

Self-Hosted Setup (Railway/Render)

Want it hosted but not on your machine?

1. Railway — Great for n8n, free tier available
2. Render — Also works well
3. DigitalOcean — Droplet with 1-click n8n

Essential n8n Concepts

Nodes

Building blocks that perform actions:

• Trigger nodes — Start workflows (webhook, schedule)
• Action nodes — Do things (send email, write to DB)
• AI nodes — LLM, embeddings, chunking

Workflow Structure

[Trigger] → [Process] → [AI] → [Output]

Webhooks

• Test webhook — For development
• Production webhook — Live endpoint
• HTTP Method: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE

Your First Workflow

1. Click "+" to add a node
2. Search for "Manual" (manual trigger)
3. Add an HTTP Request node
4. Connect to any API
5. Click "Test workflow"

Next: Lesson 3: Claude API Integration →