AI Automation Made Simple: Launch n8n on Control Plane Today
Learn how to deploy a production-ready n8n on Control Plane with persistent Postgres, a public URL, and sane defaults – no servers, no Kubernetes, no vendor lock-in. By the end, you’ll have a live instance you can secure, scale, and start wiring to AI providers.
Imagine spinning up your own automation powerhouse in minutes—not weeks.
No servers to maintain. No Kubernetes headaches. No endless DevOps tickets.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to deploy n8n on Control Plane, a game-changing platform that makes deploying apps feel like magic—without infrastructure friction. With this setup, you’ll be able to create AI-powered workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock a level of flexibility that SaaS tools can’t match.
And here’s the best part: by the time you finish reading, you won’t just know about these tools—you’ll be ready to start building with them. You’ll have everything you need to spin up n8n, the open-source automation powerhouse, on Control Plane, the platform that removes infrastructure headaches for good. Two birds. One shot.
What is Control Plane, and why am I so excited about it?
Think of it as your ultimate shortcut to deploying modern applications—without the infrastructure grind. Normally, if you want to run something like n8n (or another open-source app) in production, here’s what you’re signing up for:
- Spinning up and securing servers.
- Managing databases.
- Handling networking, scaling, monitoring, and all the other “fun” stuff.
Sounds painful, right? It’s a lot of work for something that should feel simple. That’s where Control Plane changes the game.
Control Plane is a next-generation platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that takes care of the messy parts—servers, scaling, networking—so you don’t have to. In just a few clicks (or a few lines of config if you prefer), you can have your app up and running in a secure, production-grade environment that scales when you need it, and how you need it. Control Plane handles the heavy lifting so you can stay focused on building.
And here’s the big win: we haven’t even said a word about multi-cloud and high availability—the massive breakthrough Control Plane brings to the table.
Bottom line: Control Plane removes the blockers that stop most people from experimenting with automation at scale. It gives you speed, power, and freedom—without the complexity tax.
Meet n8n: Open-Source Automation That Connects Anything to Anything
Think of n8n as your personal automation engine—the open-source powerhouse that can connect anything to anything. If Zapier and Make had a baby, and that baby was self-hosted, insanely flexible, and developer-friendly—that’s n8n.
Here’s why I love it:
- Open Source: No vendor lock-in, no feature paywalls. You own your workflows and your data.
- Endless Integrations: Hundreds of ready-made integrations (APIs, services, apps)—and if you don’t find what you need, you can build your own custom nodes.
- AI-Ready: Native support for AI tools like OpenAI and HuggingFace. You can create intelligent workflows without writing an entire backend.
- Visual Workflow Builder: Drag, drop, and connect. Complex automations become intuitive and actually fun.
- Developer Friendly: Full JavaScript support for custom logic, webhooks, and advanced conditions.
In short, n8n lets you automate anything, from simple tasks to mission-critical workflows, without giving up flexibility or control.
Here’s the kicker: when you combine n8n’s power with Control Plane’s frictionless deployment, you get the best of both worlds—unlimited automation possibilities on a platform that just works.
It only has one serious problem: the name. Honestly, I still have no idea how to pronounce it.
You’ve seen why Control Plane and n8n are the ultimate combo. Now it’s time to get your hands dirty and make it real.
Hands-On: Deploy n8n on Control Plane
After signing up for Control Plane and reviewing the pricing model (which features ultra-low-cost and transparent pricing), you’re ready to start creating resources.
Here’s something I love about Control Plane: it gives you the freedom to work the way you want. Whether you’re a fan of ClickOps, prefer writing YAML or JSON configs, love the CLI (CPLN in our case), or live and breathe Terraform or Pulumi, Control Plane supports it all. Basically, if there’s a way to provision and configure resources, Control Plane lets you do it—and you can mix and match methods anytime.
In this guide, I’ll use the CPLN CLI combined with YAML, for speed and control. But honestly, every method works just fine. The platform is extremely UI/UX-friendly, so no matter what you do via CLI or code, you can always see everything reflected in the dashboard in real time.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
Step 1 – Install the CPLN CLI
Start by installing the Control Plane CLI using Homebrew:
brew tap controlplane-com/cpln && brew install cpln
Step 2 – Authenticate and Create Your Org + GVC
Log in, create your organization, and then create a Global Virtual Cloud (GVC):
cpln login
cpln org create –name YOUR_ORG_NAME
cpln gvc create –name YOUR_GVC_NAME –location <one of the CPLN locations*> –org YOUR_ORG_NAME
Tip: Choose multiple locations – even across clouds – for true multi-cloud flexibility.
At this point, you’ve created the fundamental building blocks you need for your deployment.
Step 3 – Prepare Your Deployment YAML
Control Plane gives you full flexibility: ClickOps, YAML, JSON, CPLN CLI, Terraform, Pulumi—you can use whatever suits your workflow. In this guide, we’ll use CPLN CLI + YAML, my personal favorite for speed and control.
Here’s the approach:
Find every placeholder starting with YOUR_ and replace it with your actual values:
YOUR_N8N_NAME → Name for your n8n workload
YOUR_POSTGRES_NAME → Name for the PostgreSQL workload
YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD → PostgreSQL password (keep it secret!)
YOUR_POSTGRES_USERNAME → PostgreSQL username
YOUR_GVC_NAME → The GVC you created earlier
YOUR_N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY → A strong encryption key for n8n
YOUR_PUBLIC_URL_TO_BE_CREATED_AFTER_DEPLOYMENT → Replace after deployment with the Canonical Endpoint from Control Plane UI
Step 4 – Create the YAML (n8n + Postgres on Control Plane)
Save the following YAML configuration and replace all YOUR_ placeholders:
* note: this YAML file contains secrets. My advice is to replace them after creation for a secure environment.
Step 5 – Apply the Configuration with CPLN
Once you’ve updated the YAML, apply it using the CLI:
cpln apply –file <your-yaml-file> –org <YOUR_ORG_NAME> –gvc <YOUR_GVC_NAME>
Step 6 – Get Your Public URL, Finalize Settings
Within 2 minutes (maybe less!), your n8n instance will be live and fully connected to PostgreSQL for persistence.
Find the “Canonical Endpoint (Global)” of your workload in the Control Plane UI, This is the URL for your n8n. For better configuration, you can find and replace the YOUR_PUBLIC_URL_TO_BE_CREATED_AFTER_DEPLOYMENT placeholders with the URL in the YAML file and apply it again using the cpln cli.
Open that URL in your browser, create your admin account, verify your email, and activate the free license.
That’s it! You’ve just deployed n8n on Control Plane with persistence—no servers to manage, no Kubernetes headaches, and no cloud lock-in. A new world of automation (AI and beyond) is open to you. All that’s left is deciding what you don’t want to do manually ever again—and letting n8n handle it for you.
And if you want a head start, check out this GitHub repo for tons of ready-to-use workflows you can import into your n8n instance and start automating in minutes.
