hermes-skills/skills/devops/docker-service-deployment/references/n8n-migration-webhook-fix.md

n8n Migration: WEBHOOK_URL + Workflow Webhook Fix

When migrating n8n from one domain to another, two things MUST be updated:

1. Environment Variable — .env

WEBHOOK_URL=https://NEW_DOMAIN/

This controls the base URL for all webhook nodes. Restart n8n after changing.

2. Existing Workflow Webhook URLs — PostgreSQL

n8n stores webhook URLs in the nodes JSON column of workflow_entity. After changing WEBHOOK_URL, existing workflows still have old URLs baked in. Update them directly:

UPDATE workflow_entity 
SET nodes = regexp_replace(
    nodes::text, 
    'https://old\.domain\.com', 
    'https://new.domain.com', 
    'g'
)::json;

Then restart n8n to reload workflows from the database.

Full Migration Steps

1. docker compose down on old server
2. tar czf n8n-data.tar.gz Postgres volume + n8n data volume
3. scp to new server
4. Update .env: N8N_HOST, N8N_PROTOCOL, WEBHOOK_URL to new domain
5. docker compose up -d on new server
6. Fix volume permissions: chown -R 1000:1000 on n8n data volume (node user inside container = UID 1000)
7. Update workflow webhook URLs via SQL above
8. Restart n8n: docker compose restart n8n
9. Verify: SELECT nodes::text LIKE '%old.domain.com%' FROM workflow_entity WHERE name LIKE '%workflow_name%'; → should return f

Common Pitfall

Sub-path routing (e.g., app1.domain.com/n8n/) breaks n8n because its SPA uses absolute asset paths (/assets/, /static/). Always use a dedicated subdomain (n8n.domain.com).