Self-hosted AI starter kit

Self-hosted AI Starter Kit is an open-source Docker Compose template designed to swiftly initialize a comprehensive local AI and low-code development environment.

Curated by https://github.com/n8n-io, it combines the self-hosted n8n platform with a curated list of compatible AI products and components to quickly get started with building self-hosted AI workflows.

[!TIP] Read the announcement

What’s included

✅ Self-hosted n8n - Low-code platform with over 400 integrations and advanced AI components

✅ Ollama - Cross-platform LLM platform to install and run the latest local LLMs

✅ Qdrant - Open-source, high performance vector store with an comprehensive API

✅ PostgreSQL - Workhorse of the Data Engineering world, handles large amounts of data safely.

What you can build

⭐️ AI Agents for scheduling appointments

⭐️ Summarize Company PDFs securely without data leaks

⭐️ Smarter Slack Bots for enhanced company communications and IT operations

⭐️ Private Financial Document Analysis at minimal cost

Installation

Cloning the Repository

git clone https://github.com/n8n-io/self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.git
cd self-hosted-ai-starter-kit
cp .env.example .env # you should update secrets and passwords inside

Running n8n using Docker Compose

For Nvidia GPU users

git clone https://github.com/n8n-io/self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.git
cd self-hosted-ai-starter-kit
cp .env.example .env # you should update secrets and passwords inside
docker compose --profile gpu-nvidia up

[!NOTE] If you have not used your Nvidia GPU with Docker before, please follow the Ollama Docker instructions.

For AMD GPU users on Linux

git clone https://github.com/n8n-io/self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.git
cd self-hosted-ai-starter-kit
cp .env.example .env # you should update secrets and passwords inside
docker compose --profile gpu-amd up

For Mac / Apple Silicon users

If you’re using a Mac with an M1 or newer processor, you can't expose your GPU to the Docker instance, unfortunately. There are two options in this case:

1. Run the starter kit fully on CPU, like in the section "For everyone else" below
2. Run Ollama on your Mac for faster inference, and connect to that from the n8n instance

If you want to run Ollama on your mac, check the Ollama homepage for installation instructions, and run the starter kit as follows:

git clone https://github.com/n8n-io/self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.git
cd self-hosted-ai-starter-kit
cp .env.example .env # you should update secrets and passwords inside
docker compose up

For Mac users running OLLAMA locally

If you're running OLLAMA locally on your Mac (not in Docker), you need to modify the OLLAMA_HOST environment variable

1. Set OLLAMA_HOST to host.docker.internal:11434 in your .env file.

2. Additionally, after you see "Editor is now accessible via: http://localhost:5678/":

   1. Head to http://localhost:5678/home/credentials
   2. Click on "Local Ollama service"
   3. Change the base URL to "http://host.docker.internal:11434/"

For everyone else

git clone https://github.com/n8n-io/self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.git
cd self-hosted-ai-starter-kit
cp .env.example .env # you should update secrets and passwords inside
docker compose --profile cpu up

⚡️ Quick start and usage

The core of the Self-hosted AI Starter Kit is a Docker Compose file, pre-configured with network and storage settings, minimizing the need for additional installations. After completing the installation steps above, simply follow the steps below to get started.

1. Open http://localhost:5678/ in your browser to set up n8n. You’ll only have to do