N8n Cloudways Icon Issue

Questions
1

For those that had the same issue on cloudways with /icons/ not being proxied properly through their nginx/apache cache. I had this issue for some time, and it wasn’t until claude figured it out.

The Fix:

  1. Deleted broken /icons/ directory with PHP proxy
  2. Created symlink: /icons/ → /node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/
  3. Apache now serves icons as static files (no proxy needed)

Commands to Fix:

# SSH to your server
ssh user@yourserver
# Navigate to n8n public_html
cd /home/{app_path}/public_html
# Remove broken icons directory
rm -rf icons
# Create proper symlink structure
mkdir -p icons/n8n-nodes-base/dist
ln -sf /home/{app_path}/public_html/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes icons/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes
# Verify symlink works
ls -la icons/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes/Webhook/

You may also need to request cloudways support to add /icons/ to the nginx proxy:

server_name_in_redirect off;
include /etc/nginx/additional_server_conf;

location /icons/ {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:5678;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}

## Describe the problem/error/question

## What is the error message (if any)?

## Please share your workflow

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## Information on your n8n setup

* **n8n version:**
* **Database (default: SQLite):**
* **n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):**
* **Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):**
* **Operating system:**
2

Thanks for sharing this detailed solution for the Cloudways icon issue! This is a common problem when n8n is deployed behind a reverse proxy where the `/icons/` path isn’t properly handled.

Your symlink approach is clever - by creating a direct link to the node modules directory, you’re bypassing the proxy altogether and letting Apache serve the icons as static files. This should resolve the missing node icons that many users experience on Cloudways hosting.

For others facing this issue, the key steps are:

• Remove the broken `/icons/` directory

• Create a symlink pointing to `/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/`

• If needed, ask Cloudways support to add the nginx proxy configuration you mentioned

This should get your node icons displaying properly without needing complex proxy configurations!