How to Change the Base URL in n8n

The WEBHOOK_URL tells n8n what base URL to use when generating webhook URLs for trigger nodes. Without it, webhook URLs default to http://localhost:5678/webhook/..., which is unreachable from external services. Set WEBHOOK_URL to your public-facing domain including the protocol and a trailing slash. This value is used for all production webhook URLs shown in the Webhook node. Do not include a path unless n8n runs on a subpath.

1# docker-compose.yml
2environment:
3  - WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/
4
5# .env file
6WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/
7
8# Docker run command
9docker run -it --rm \
10  --name n8n \
11  -p 5678:5678 \
12  -e WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/ \
13  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
14  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

If you serve n8n from a subpath like https://example.com/n8n/ (instead of the root of a domain), you also need to set N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL. This tells the n8n editor where to load its frontend assets from. Without this, the editor tries to load JavaScript and CSS files from the domain root, which fails. Set it to the full URL including the subpath and a trailing slash. If n8n is served from the root of a domain, you do not need this variable.

1# Subpath deployment: n8n at https://example.com/n8n/
2environment:
3  - WEBHOOK_URL=https://example.com/n8n/
4  - N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL=https://example.com/n8n/
5  - N8N_PATH=/n8n/
6
7# Root domain deployment: n8n at https://n8n.example.com/
8# Only WEBHOOK_URL is needed
9environment:
10  - WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/

Your reverse proxy must forward all requests to n8n, including WebSocket connections for the editor's real-time updates. Configure it to pass the Host header, upgrade WebSocket connections, and proxy to n8n's internal port (5678 by default). If using HTTPS, the reverse proxy handles SSL termination while n8n runs on plain HTTP internally. Below is an example Nginx configuration for a root domain deployment.

1# Nginx configuration for n8n
2server {
3    listen 443 ssl;
4    server_name n8n.example.com;
5
6    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/n8n.example.com.pem;
7    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/n8n.example.com.key;
8
9    location / {
10        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
11        proxy_http_version 1.1;
12        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
13        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
14        proxy_set_header Host $host;
15        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
16        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
17        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
18        chunked_transfer_encoding off;
19        proxy_buffering off;
20        proxy_cache off;
21    }
22}

After setting the environment variables and restarting n8n, verify that URLs are generated correctly. Open a workflow with a Webhook trigger node and check that the displayed webhook URLs use your custom domain. Create a test OAuth credential and verify the redirect URL uses the correct domain. Open the browser developer console and check that no assets fail to load from the wrong domain. Finally, send a test webhook request to the production URL to confirm end-to-end connectivity.

1# Restart n8n to apply changes
2docker compose down && docker compose up -d
3
4# Test webhook URL is accessible
5curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
6  https://n8n.example.com/webhook/test-path
7
8# Should return 404 (no active workflow) not connection refused