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#https://www.notion.so/n8n/Frontmatter-432c2b8dff1f43d4b1c8d20075510fe4
title: External data storage environment variables
description: Environment variables to configure external data storage for your self-hosted n8n instance.
contentType: reference
tags:
- environment variables
- external storage
- storage
hide:
- toc
- tags
---
# External data storage environment variables
--8<-- "_snippets/self-hosting/file-based-configuration.md"
Refer to [External storage](/hosting/scaling/external-storage.md) for more information on using external storage for binary data.
| Variable | Type | Default | Description |
| :------- | :---- | :------- | :---------- |
| `N8N_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_S3_HOST` | String | - | Host of the n8n bucket in S3-compatible external storage. For example, `s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` |
| `N8N_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_S3_BUCKET_NAME` | String | - | Name of the n8n bucket in S3-compatible external storage. |
| `N8N_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_S3_BUCKET_REGION` | String | - | Region of the n8n bucket in S3-compatible external storage. For example, `us-east-1`|
| `N8N_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_S3_ACCESS_KEY` | String | - | Access key in S3-compatible external storage |
| `N8N_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_S3_ACCESS_SECRET` | String | - | Access secret in S3-compatible external storage. |
| `N8N_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_S3_AUTH_AUTO_DETECT` | Boolean | - | Use automatic credential detection to authenticate S3 calls for external storage. This will ignore the access key and access secret and use the default [credential provider chain](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-javascript/v3/developer-guide/setting-credentials-node.html#credchain). |
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