HTTP Request node fails to connect to host.docker.internal but wget from inside the container works

Feature Requests Nodes
1

Hello,

I am having a persistent issue with the HTTP Request node on a fresh n8n installation running in Docker.

Environment:

  • Host: Windows 11 with WSL2
  • n8n Version: n8nio/n8n:latest
  • Target Service: ollama/ollama:latest container on the same Docker network.

Problem: An HTTP Request node trying to POST to http://host.docker.internal:11434/api/generate consistently fails with the error “The connection was aborted, perhaps the server is offline”.

Key Diagnostic Finding: The connection issue is specific to the n8n node itself. I have confirmed that the network path is valid by running a command from inside the n8n container:

Bash# Inside the n8n container ~ $ wget -qO- http://host.docker.internal:11434 Ollama is running

This proves that the container can resolve and connect to the host, but the HTTP Request node cannot.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

  • Increased Docker WSL2 RAM to 12GB via .wslconfig.
  • Confirmed Windows Firewall allows Docker Desktop on Private and Public networks.
  • Disabled “SSL/TLS Verify Certificate” in the HTTP Request node options.
  • Increased the node timeout to 3 minutes.
  • Tried different n8n versions.
  • Performed a full docker system prune and multiple host reboots.

The issue seems to be with the HTTP client used by the n8n node in this specific Docker for Windows environment. Any help would be appreciated.

2

Got the some problem. Setup using docker-compose-stack.

Using shell / bash. Name-Resolution and Inter-Container-Communication does work.

Using HTTP-Request Module inside n8n things are drastically different. Basically no communication inside the docker-compose-stack seems to work properly.