Can't download any Community Node in my VPS (GCP) hosted n8n instance

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

My self-hosted (well a GCP VPS) n8n instance can’t download or recognize community nodes - even if I manually download them via ‘npm install node-name’. I’ve tried a plethora of env variables to get them to appear. (below) This same error appears no matter what community node I try installing, but for now I’d like help getting n8n-nodes-firecrawl installed.

What is the error message (if any)?

Error installing new package

Error loading package “n8n-nodes-firecrawl” :Command failed: tar -xzf n8n-nodes-firecrawl-0.3.0.tgz -C n8n_files/.n8n/nodes/node_modules/n8n-nodes-firecrawl --strip-components=1 tar: n8n_files/.n8n/nodes/node_modules/n8n-nodes-firecrawl: Cannot open: No such file or directory tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

Please share your workflow

NA

Share the output returned by the last node

NA

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version: 2.3.6
  • Database (default: SQLite): ?
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): ?
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): npm, self hosted (kept running via pm2)
  • Operating system: Debian
2

I would do it by setting the `node_modules` directory as the current working directory in my terminal before running npm install node-name. This should fix the issue of not being able to download community nodes.

This is how it looks for me: I’ve tested this and it works, but only if you’re using Node.js 14 or later, and your GCP VPS has the latest update installed.

Let me know if this works!

3

I tried that actually. It’s still not found. I’ll try again as a sanity check.

4

Yep, same issue. Downloading manually does not work. Trying to install via gui after manual install results in the same error:

Error installing new package

Error loading package “n8n-nodes-firecrawl” :Command failed: tar -xzf n8n-nodes-firecrawl-0.3.0.tgz -C n8n_files/.n8n/nodes/node_modules/n8n-nodes-firecrawl --strip-components=1 tar: n8n_files/.n8n/nodes/node_modules/n8n-nodes-firecrawl: Cannot open: No such file or directory tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

5

what if you make the folder first manually, and then run it, so we can ensure the folder exists.

6

Tried that too

7

Anyone have a suggestion. Still getting:

Error installing new package

Error loading package “n8n-nodes-firecrawl” :Command failed: tar -xzf n8n-nodes-firecrawl-0.3.0.tgz -C n8n_files/.n8n/nodes/node_modules/n8n-nodes-firecrawl --strip-components=1 tar: n8n_files/.n8n/nodes/node_modules/n8n-nodes-firecrawl: Cannot open: No such file or directory tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

8

This is weird, you stated you had the folder created, it should not be erroring. Maybe its an issue with how your vps handles it.

9

How might I go about diagnosing where the VPS is causing issues?

10

Even tried a different VPS…same exact error. Would REALLY love to be able to use community nodes

11

I’m not an expert, but should ensure the instance also has permissions to acsess the folder.

12

I have the same issue when hosting on my own PC when I tried self hosting and installing via npm! I’m getting frustrated. Trying docker now

13

Are you able to post the output from theese:

whoami
node -v
npm -v
n8n --version
ls -ld ~/.n8n ~/.n8n/nodes

This could narrow it down