I have identified a few documentation issues which are set out below. It is difficult to address the same topic in multiple places which can lead to inadequate and inaccurate documentation. It would be better if the environment variables compilation page references the pages that cover the various sections in more detail.
Logging
N8N_LOG_FILE_LOCATION
The description is inconsistent on these two pages:
Default is <n8nFolderPath>/logs/n8n.log
Default is file
DB_LOGGING_OPTIONS
It would be helpful if there was a better description as to the effect of each option. The word log as a value for logging options does not provide much clarity.
To provide greater clarity, it would be helpful to transition to the variable name DB_LOG_LEVEL. A quick search suggests that this would not create a conflict with another environment variable. Aside from being shorter, this would make the variable consistent with the naming convention used for N8N_LOG_LEVEL and also be more descriptive. A phased migration should avoid user inconvenience.
The list of available DB_LOGGING_OPTIONS seems to go from highest to lowest (i.e., query to log) whereas N8N_LOG_LEVEL goes from lowest to highest (i.e., info to debug). The lowest to highest approach is the most intuitive.
Deployment
N8N_PUBLIC_API_DISABLED
The name suggests that the value should be true if the API is disabled. The description says the opposite: “Whether to disable the public API (false) or not (true).” and appears to be contrary to the following: n8n/packages/cli/scripts/build.mjs at master · n8n-io/n8n (github.com)
N8N_PUSH_BACKEND
It would be helpful to explain the difference between sse and websocket and why websocket is preferred.
Workflows
N8N_ONBOARDING_FLOW_DISABLED
The name suggests that the value should be true if it is disabled. The description says the opposite: “Whether to show onboarding tips when creating a new workflow (true) or not (false).”
Binary Data
N8N_BINARY_DATA_STORAGE_PATH
There appears to be a typo in the Default column. The value should be N8N_USER_FOLDER/binaryData.
I also could not find N8N_USER_FOLDER in the environment variables within the Docker container.
Security Audit
The link in the Nodes section to Audit constants returns a 404 error. This is the correct link.
Public API Reference
Execution: Retrieve an execution
Should be “Retrieve an execution from your instance.”
Spelling
There are two instances on the Environment variables reference page of “separated” being spelled as “seperated”. See N8N_AUTH_EXCLUDE_ENDPOINTS and N8N_LOG_OUTPUT.
Enum String Ambiguity
It would be helpful to explain, by tooltip or otherwise, if it is possible to specify multiple values. The Environment variables reference has eight instances of Enum string as possible options however the usage is unclear.
For DB_LOGGING_OPTIONS, the possibility of specifying all suggests that it might be possible to set the value to info, warn
For N8N_LOG_OUTPUT, it seems to be logically possible to output a log to both console and file. This is supported by the description “Provide multiple values as a comma-seperated list.”
Specifying multiple values for enum seems to be unusual and improper. The other enum options appear to only allow one value to be specified. For example, EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_ERROR can only be all or none.