N8N_LOG_LEVEL set via config is ignored

[barn4k]

Describe the problem/error/question

I’m trying to set the N8N_LOG_LEVEL to verbose mode via the config file but seems the n8n ignores it

None of the below options for the config are working:

{
	"log": {
		"level": "verbose"
	},
	"logs": {
		"level": "verbose"
	},
	"n8n": {
		"log": {
			"level": "verbose"
		}
	},
	"n8n.logs": {
		"level": "verbose"
	},
	"n8n.logs.level": "verbose",
	"logs.level": "verbose"
}

I can see in the console, that the config file reads successfully

PS D:\nodeJS\global> .\n8n start
User settings loaded from: C:\Users\me\.n8n\config
Initializing n8n process
n8n ready on 0.0.0.0, port 5678
Version: 1.38.1

But the log level remains the default. That’s how I test it in the custom node:

	this.logger.info("i transport > apiRequest called")
	this.logger.warn("w transport > apiRequest called")
	this.logger.error("e transport > apiRequest called")
	this.logger.debug("d transport > apiRequest called")
	this.logger.verbose("v transport > apiRequest called")

And the output:

Press "o" to open in Browser.
i transport > apiRequest called
w transport > apiRequest called
e transport > apiRequest called

Setting the env via Powershell is working fine:

PS D:\nodeJS\global> $env:N8N_LOG_LEVEL="verbose"

Information on your n8n setup

• n8n version: 1.38.1
• Database (default: SQLite): default
• n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): default
• Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): npm
• Operating system: Windows 11

[Jon]

Hey @barn4k,

I just checked my local install and the below is working for me, Are you using the .n8n/config file or creating your own using the N8N_CONFIG_FILE env option?

  "logs": {
    "level": "verbose"
  },

[barn4k]

no success… If I use the invalid syntax, then it shows that there is an error with the config. So n8n is reading it but ignores the content. Maybe it’s a Windows only issue?

I even set the custom port and it ignored that…

{
	"encryptionKey": "1234",
	"logs": {
		"level": "debug"
	},
	"port": 5679
}

[barn4k]

Well… I’ve researched how the settings work a little and for me, it’s acting weird…

n8n has two places, which work with env/config:

• ENVs are being loaded within the dotenv and config packages and this definition. The interesting part here is that it completely ignores the config file, located in the user profile folder on Windows.
• config file from the user profile folder is being loaded within this definition. But I do not see how it syncs the variables with config package…

So if I specify the port variable in the config, it won’t be used, because n8n tries to get the port from the env variable and doesn’t look into the “config” in my case:

		const PORT = config.getEnv('port');
		const ADDRESS = config.getEnv('listen_address');

That config.getEnv here contains only the base ENVs, that are being loaded on the startup…

And, according to that part, at least on Windows, the variable will be undefined

const { N8N_CONFIG_FILES } = process.env;

So I am a bit confused about how the InstanceSettings.ts should work with the config package

[barn4k]

Well… It worked when I used a little hack by modifying the InstanceSettings.js (from <n8n_global>\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-core\dist\InstanceSettings.js) file just to make sure that I was on the right way.
I’ve added the line process.env.N8N_PORT = settings.port
just before this one and now the port has changed.

So it seems the issue is that the user profile config (C:\Users\username\.n8n\config) is not read by the config package

[Jon]

That sounds fair, I don’t think we recommend editing the .n8n/config and instead encourage users to use the N8N_CONFIG_FILES option instead.

[barn4k]

According to the docs - yes,

But the server confused me with the message:
User settings loaded from: C:\Users\grave\.n8n\config

So I thought that it’s the default config to work with. But that one is totally different and should not be used as a user “settings”, it’s rather a server’s internal settings.

I have looked for the information on where the default config file may be read from, but haven’t found anyone

[Jon]

We create and load the encryption key from the ~/.n8n/config file, I will do some testing in it and see what happens.

[barn4k]

Any luck with the testing?