Issues with n8n Docker deployment on Heroku platform

[Alice45]

I’m struggling to get n8n functioning properly on Heroku using Docker. It keeps crashing and I’m receiving H10 errors whenever I try to reach it.

Database setup command:

heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:hobby-dev --version=11 -a workflow-app

My Dockerfile:

FROM n8nio/n8n

Configuration in heroku.yml:

setup:
  config:
    APP_SUBDOMAIN: "workflow-app"
    DOMAIN_NAME: "herokuapp.com"
    NODE_ENV: "production"
    TIMEZONE: "America/New_York"
    N8N_HOST: "${APP_SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}"
    N8N_PORT: "${PORT}"
    N8N_PROTOCOL: "https"
    N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY: "myencryptionkey123"
    WEBHOOK_URL: "https://${APP_SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/"
    DATABASE_TYPE: "postgresdb"
    POSTGRES_HOST: "localhost"
    POSTGRES_DB: "workflow_db"
    POSTGRES_PORT: 5432
    POSTGRES_USER: "admin"
    POSTGRES_PASS: "password123"

build:
    docker:
        web: Dockerfile

Error logs I’m seeing:

2020-04-15T11:19:50.178271+00:00 app[web.1]: [WARN tini (3)] Tini is not running as PID 1
2020-04-15T11:19:50.179480+00:00 app[web.1]: su-exec: setgroups: Operation not permitted
2020-04-15T11:24:54.478493+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed"

What might be the cause of this deployment problem? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Pete_Magic]

H10 errors mean your app isn’t binding to the right port. Heroku assigns ports dynamically through the PORT environment variable, but n8n isn’t picking this up properly. I’ve hit this exact issue with n8n containers - the main problem is the container doesn’t listen on $PORT correctly. Check that N8N_PORT actually uses Heroku’s assigned port value. That tini warning also means your container’s init process is broken on Heroku’s runtime. Try adding a custom CMD in your Dockerfile that explicitly starts n8n with proper port binding. Your database won’t work either since you’re using hardcoded localhost instead of parsing Heroku’s DATABASE_URL.

[John_Fast]

The setgroups error is indeed a common issue when deploying n8n on Heroku. To resolve this, modify your Dockerfile by adding a --user flag or adjust the execution context to align with Heroku’s security configurations. Additionally, your PostgreSQL setup is flawed; instead of hardcoding the connection details, utilize the DATABASE_URL that Heroku provides automatically. The H10 error you’re experiencing may stem from both the permission issues and the database connection failure. Consider testing locally with heroku local to identify issues prior to deployment.

[Luke_Brilliant]

hey alice, your db config is pointing to localhost, but heroku needs the DATABASE_URL env var. that setgroups error usually means permission issues – try adding USER root to your dockerfile or switch to a different base image.