Simple Docker Compose configuration to run n8n locally on macOS using OrbStack as a lightweight Docker Desktop alternative.

• OrbStack installed on macOS
• Docker Compose (included with OrbStack)

1. Clone this repository
2. Create a .env file with your SMTP credentials:

   [email protected]
   N8N_SMTP_PASS=your-app-password
   [email protected]
   

docker compose up -d

n8n will be available at http://localhost:5678

Run the Fish script to pull the latest image and update:

./update_n8n_docker.fish

docker compose down

• Port: 5678 (mapped to host)
• Data persistence: Uses Docker volume n8n_data
• Email: Configured for Gmail SMTP (credentials in .env)
• User management: Enabled (multi-user support)

• docker-compose.yml - Main Docker Compose configuration
• update_n8n_docker.fish - Update script that pulls latest image and cleans up
• .env - Environment variables (not in git - contains sensitive SMTP credentials)
• .gitignore - Protects sensitive files from being committed

• Data persists between container updates in the n8n_data volume
• The update script safely preserves your workflows and settings
• OrbStack provides better performance than Docker Desktop on macOS