Adding the n8n AI Assistant to a Self-Hosted Instance (Docker + Traefik)

This continues the earlier guide on self-hosting n8n on Google Cloud with Docker Compose and Traefik. It assumes that instance is already running.

Step 1: Open your project directory

cd ~/n8n-compose

You should see:

.env
docker-compose.yml
local-files/

if you dont see it, run: ls -la 

Step 2: Add the AI Assistant environment variables

sudo nano .env

Append these lines at the bottom:

N8N_ENABLED_MODULES=instance-ai
N8N_INSTANCE_AI_MODEL=anthropic/claude-opus-4-8
N8N_INSTANCE_AI_MODEL_API_KEY=YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_ENABLED=true
N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_PROVIDER=daytona
N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_IMAGE=daytonaio/sandbox:0.5.3-slim

DAYTONA_API_URL=https://app.daytona.io/api
DAYTONA_API_KEY=YOUR_DAYTONA_API_KEY

Replace both API keys with your own. Save with Ctrl+O, Enter, then exit with Ctrl+X.

Step 3: Update docker-compose.yml

Open the file:

sudo nano docker-compose.yml

In the n8n service's environment: section, add:

- N8N_ENABLED_MODULES=${N8N_ENABLED_MODULES}
- N8N_INSTANCE_AI_MODEL=${N8N_INSTANCE_AI_MODEL}
- N8N_INSTANCE_AI_MODEL_API_KEY=${N8N_INSTANCE_AI_MODEL_API_KEY}
- N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_ENABLED=${N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_ENABLED}
- N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_PROVIDER=${N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_PROVIDER}
- N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_IMAGE=${N8N_INSTANCE_AI_SANDBOX_IMAGE}
- DAYTONA_API_URL=${DAYTONA_API_URL}
- DAYTONA_API_KEY=${DAYTONA_API_KEY}

Save and exit.

Step 4: Restart n8n

sudo docker compose up -d

Step 5: Verify the module loaded

sudo docker logs n8n-compose-n8n-1 --tail 50

Look for lines similar to:

[Instance AI] 'instance-ai' module is experimental...
Sandbox: enabled=true provider=daytona

That confirms the AI Assistant module is active.

Notes

• Keep API keys in .env, never hardcoded in docker-compose.yml.
• If you're on an older n8n image, pull the latest before restarting:

sudo docker compose pull
sudo docker compose up -d

That's it. Your self-hosted instance now has the AI Assistant enabled.