Database environment variables

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By default, n8n uses SQLite. n8n also supports PostgreSQL. n8n removed support for MySQL and MariaDB in v1.0.

This page outlines environment variables to configure your chosen database for your self-hosted n8n instance.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
`DB_TYPE` /`_FILE`	Enum string: `sqlite`, `postgresdb`	`sqlite`	The database to use.
`DB_TABLE_PREFIX`	*	-	Prefix to use for table names.

PostgreSQL

Variable	Type	Default	Description
`DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE` /`_FILE`	String	`n8n`	The name of the PostgreSQL database.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST` /`_FILE`	String	`localhost`	The PostgreSQL host.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT` /`_FILE`	Number	`5432`	The PostgreSQL port.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_USER` /`_FILE`	String	`postgres`	The PostgreSQL user.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD` /`_FILE`	String	-	The PostgreSQL password.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_POOL_SIZE` /`_FILE`	Number	`2`	Control how many parallel open Postgres connections n8n should have. Increasing it may help with resource utilization, but too many connections may degrade performance.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT` /`_FILE`	Number	`20000`	Postgres connection timeout (ms).
`DB_POSTGRESDB_SCHEMA` /`_FILE`	String	`public`	The PostgreSQL schema.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CA` /`_FILE`	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL certificate authority.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CERT` /`_FILE`	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL certificate.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_KEY` /`_FILE`	String	-	The PostgreSQL SSL key.
`DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED` /`_FILE`	Boolean	`true`	If n8n should reject unauthorized SSL connections (true) or not (false).

Variable	Type	Default	Description
`DB_SQLITE_VACUUM_ON_STARTUP`	Boolean	`false`	Runs VACUUM{:target="_blank" .external-link} operation on startup to rebuild the database. Reduces file size and optimizes indexes. This is a long running blocking operation and increases start-up time.