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npm#

You can try n8n without installing it using npx.

From the terminal, run:

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npx n8n

This command will download everything that is needed to start n8n. You can then access n8n and start building workflows by opening http://localhost:5678.

If you want to install n8n globally, use npm:

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npm install n8n -g

After the installation, start n8n by running:

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n8n
# or
n8n start

Keep in mind

Windows users remember to change into the .n8n directory of your Home folder (~/.n8n) before running n8n start.

n8n with tunnel#

Danger

This is only meant for local development and testing. Do not use it in production.

To be able to use webhooks for trigger nodes of external services like GitHub, n8n has to be reachable from the web. To make that easy, n8n has a special tunnel service which redirects requests from our servers to your local n8n instance.

Start n8n with --tunnel by running:

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n8n start --tunnel

Windows troubleshooting#

If you are experiencing issues running n8n with the typical flow of:

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npx n8n

Requirements#

Please ensure that you have the following requirements fulfilled:

  • Install latest version of NodeJS
  • Install Python 2.7 (It is okay to have multiple versions installed on the machine)
  • Windows SDK
  • C++ Desktop Development Tools
  • Windows Build Tools

Install build tools#

If you haven't satisfied the above, follow this procedure through your PowerShell (run with administrative privileges). This command installs the build tools, windows SDK and the C++ development tools in one package.

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npm install --global --production windows-build-tools

Configure npm to use Python version 2.7#

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npm config set python python2.7

Configure npm to use correct msvs version#

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npm config set msvs_version 2017 --global

mmmagic npm package when using MSbuild tools with Visual Studio#

While installing this package, node-gyp is run and it might fail to install it with an error appearing in the ballpark of:

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gyp ERR! stack Error: spawn C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\**Enterprise**\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe ENOENT

It is seeking the MSBuild.exe in a directory that does not exist. If you are using Visual Studio Community or vice versa, you can change the path of MSBuild with command: 

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npm config set msbuild_path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\**Community**\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"

Attempt to install package again after running the command above.