I am running a self-hosted instance of n8n on Docker Desktop (Windows 11 Pro). I recently updated to the latest version to try out the new AI Assistant / Workflow Builder features.
According to the documentation, these features should be available for self-hosted community editions by enabling specific environment variables. I have added N8N_GENAI_ENABLED=true and N8N_BLOCK_BUILDER_ENABLED=true, recreated the container, and verified the variables are loaded.
However, I still do not see the AI button or the “Ask AI to build” feature in the editor UI. It looks like the standard editor.
Steps to Reproduce
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Pull the latest n8n image: docker pull n8nio/n8n:latest
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Run the container with the following environment variables:
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Open the Editor URL.
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Look for the AI Assistant/Builder interface (Top right or canvas).
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Result: Feature is missing.
Troubleshooting Performed (Important)
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Verified Environment Variables: Confirmed they are present in docker inspect.
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Ruled out Proxy/Tunnel: Initially I was using a Cloudflare Tunnel, but I tested accessing n8n directly via http://localhost:5678 without the tunnel. The AI features are still missing on localhost, so it is not a Cloudflare caching or header issue.
Environment configuration
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OS: Windows 11 Pro
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Deployment: Docker Desktop
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n8n Version: Latest (Image ID: n8nio/n8n:latest)
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Database: Default (SQLite)
My Configuration
Here is the Env section from my docker inspect output confirming the variables are present:
JSON
"Env": [
"N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL=https://flow.example.com/",
"WEBHOOK_URL=https://flow.example.com/",
"N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE=filesystem",
"N8N_GENAI_ENABLED=true",
"N8N_BLOCK_BUILDER_ENABLED=true",
"NODE_ENV=production"
]
Any guidance would be appreciated!
not a direct reply to your question… I tried both of the N8N Chrome extensions. While they did load and function, they didn’t really work as advertised. I didn’t know a native variant was available. I’m running N8N in Docker Compose on Ubuntu. I’ll try to enable those Environment settings on my next update and upgrade, and see if they work.
If they work, let me know
Hey @OusStack and @Robert_Spears , as far I am aware, the AI Builder is not available on self-hosted version…
Can you point me in the direction where you found info about it?
Hmm… you just made me curios !
Lol, curios as well where did you found this env variables as well…
they update the doc for it now they saying this I tested the new env and still not working
I tested the URL, and it returned a 404 error, so I think someone needs to fix this.
I think he just means that there’s nothing official or unofficial confirming that this feature is available for self-hosted versions…
Usually, the n8n team announces things like this.
The way you write the post gives the impression of 100% certainty, even though there’s no official or unofficial confirmation..
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It’s on the documentation; is that not official for you, brother Mohamed
Read everything, brother, before you reply. I’m not here to make the post 100% certain; I just apply what they say, and it doesn’t work, so I’m here.
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Yea thus docs aren’t only for the “community” edition… the docs apply as well for cloud infrastructure (even if only the n8n staff has access debugging or editing etc…)
Yea, @OusStack since you see that in docs it may be confusing… but without an official announcement from n8n team, that Docs for me are a hint. 
They really need to make this feature available to the self-hosted community edition as well; it would make us happy, so we give more to the open source community.
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They need to give us an official answer ASAP is there a way to tag them
In n8n Discord server you may get an response on this, since I see there more “chatting” activity.
We can ping some n8n staff, but I am not sure who’s in charge with this matter, and anyway until 5th next Q1, there won’t be any new releases(maybe some patches if are required)…
Cheers!
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