Help! My N8N app won’t start on Heroku
I’m having trouble getting N8N to work on Heroku. I used the one-click deploy button from the docs. I set up the app name and filled in all the required fields. I even got SSL working with ACM. But now I’m stuck with an H10 error in the logs.
I tried updating the database config using the Heroku CLI, but no luck. Here’s a snippet from the logs:
Error: There was an error initializing DB
DatabaseError: no pg_hba.conf entry for host "52.211.32.179", user "USER", database "MYDATABASE", no encryption
Process exited with status 1
State changed from starting to crashed
The Heroku router is also showing H10 errors for all requests. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the app code since I didn’t change anything myself.
Has anyone run into this before? Is there a fix or maybe a different way to deploy N8N that’s more reliable? Any help would be awesome!
As someone who’s deployed N8N on various platforms, I can tell you Heroku can be tricky. Your H10 error suggests a connection issue between N8N and Postgres. Here’s what worked for me:
First, verify your DATABASE_URL in Heroku’s config vars. Sometimes it gets malformed. If that checks out, try provisioning a new Postgres instance and updating your config to use it. This solved a similar issue for me once.
Another thing to check is your app’s dyno formation. Make sure you have at least one web dyno running. You can adjust this in the Resources tab of your Heroku dashboard.
If all else fails, consider deploying N8N on a different platform like DigitalOcean or AWS. They offer more control over your environment, which can be crucial for apps like N8N that have specific dependencies.
Remember, persistence is key when troubleshooting deployment issues. Keep at it, and you’ll get it working!
hey mate, had the same issue last week. turns out heroku’s default postgres setup doesn’t play nice with n8n sometimes. try adding this buildpack: GitHub - heroku/heroku-buildpack-apt: Classic buildpack that installs APT packages. and then add ‘libpq-dev’ to your Aptfile. that fixed it for me. good luck!
I encountered a similar issue when deploying N8N on Heroku. The problem often stems from incorrect database configuration. Have you double-checked your DATABASE_URL in the Heroku config vars? It should be in the format postgresql://username:password@host:port/database. Also, ensure you’re using the latest Heroku Postgres add-on version compatible with N8N.
If that doesn’t work, try clearing your build cache and redeploying. You can do this by running ‘heroku repo:purge_cache -a your-app-name’ followed by a new git push. This sometimes resolves unexpected deployment issues.
Lastly, consider using a custom Procfile to specify your start command explicitly. This can help bypass potential issues with Heroku’s default process type inference.