License request failed: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

Questions
1

Hi,

I installed n8n locally (without Docker, using pm2).
I configured HTTPS with my own .crt and .key files (self-signed certificate).

When I try to register for the community edition license, I always get the following error:

License request failed
Failed to register community edition: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

What I already tried:

  • Added my certificate to /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ and ran update-ca-certificates.

  • Restarted n8n with pm2.

  • Tried both .crt and .pem formats.

But the error still persists.

:backhand_index_pointing_right: My question:

  • How can I configure n8n to trust my self-signed certificate so the license request works?

  • Is there a recommended way to use a self-signed certificate with the license server, or should I set N8N_IGNORE_CERT_ERRORS=true only during license activation?

Thanks in advance!

2

Hey! This method works 100% without self-signed certs, maybe you can try it and apply the cert later?:

  • starting n8n in tunnel mode to get https access to the net: Docker | pnpm

  • request the license

  • restart without tunneling

  • apply the license in the settings

Let me know if this works for you and feel free to mark this as Solution if it does.