Switching Login Mode (Email vs Basic Auth) on Self-hosted N8N

Questions
1

Hello,

I’m reaching out regarding my self-hosted N8N instance running on a VPS (Hostinger) with Docker and Traefik (HTTPS).

n8n.io - Workflow Automation

:white_check_mark: What I’m trying to do:

I would like to understand how to properly switch the authentication mode in N8N, specifically:

  • From User Management mode (email + password login)
    to
  • Basic Authentication mode (username + password only)

And possibly back again, if needed.

:gear: Current setup:

I’m using a .env file with the following variables:

env

CopierModifier

N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=mysecurepassword
N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_DISABLED=true
N8N_AUTH_MODE=basic

Despite this configuration, the login page still requests an email and password, and I can’t get the Basic Auth popup to appear.

:question:My question:

What is the correct and up-to-date way to switch the login mode in a Docker-based N8N setup?

  • Do I need to delete or reset a specific file (e.g., SQLite database)?
  • Are there other required environment variables?
  • Is this behavior tied to the Docker image version?

I’m trying to avoid doing a full reinstall if there’s a cleaner way to switch.

Thank you very much in advance for your support :pray:
Best regards,
Olivier

1 Like
2

You might be working with outdated/deprecated environment variables. As far as I know, there is no way to configure the Docker or npm versions of n8n to use basic authentication.