Minimal Logging Setup for n8n: Anyone Else Doing This?

Questions
1

Hi everyone,

I’m considering a minimal and efficient logging setup for self-hosted n8n and wanted to see if anyone else is taking a similar approach or has feedback.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

  • Only log errors and serious warnings (using N8N_LOG_LEVEL=error or warn) to avoid unnecessary noise.
  • Limit log retention to 15–30 days so logs don’t pile up and take too much space.
  • Prioritize logs related to workflow executions (start/end) and connection errors or key node failures.
  • Use file-based logging (N8N_LOG_OUTPUT=file) for easier sharing and archiving.
  • Example environment variables:
    • N8N_LOG_LEVEL=error
    • N8N_LOG_OUTPUT=file
    • N8N_LOG_FILE_COUNT_MAX=15
    • N8N_LOG_FILE_SIZE_MAX=16

Is anyone else using a similar configuration? Any tips or caveats I should be aware of?

Thanks!

1 Like
2

Maybe attach a sepeate mount to the log folder, is quite common too. What env are you doing this for? Dev / staging / prod? It really depends on ure usecase and why, if it’s purely saving space, just turn them off, and let it log to stdout, but otherwise on prod, is better to keep normal logging on, if you just get an error, u can trace the logs, to see what may have caused it, or the previous actions that happend to lead to the crash or error log. Do really depends dev enc sure why not, personally I just keep debug on atm, but am not processing too much.

Hope that helps