metadata
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 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. |