How to Set Up and Use Your Business n8n Server

Welcome to your Cloud Acropolis Business n8n instance. This guide covers everything you need to get started — from your first login through building advanced automation workflows. Your n8n server is fully managed, protected, and dedicated to you.

1. Accessing Your n8n Server

Your n8n URL was sent to you in your welcome email. It follows this format:

https://bn8n-{number}.cloudacropolis.lt

Unlike other Cloud Acropolis services, your n8n server does not use a one-time email code (OTP) for login. Instead, n8n has its own built-in username and password authentication.

2. First-Time Setup

Step 1 — Create Your Owner Account

When you visit your n8n URL for the first time, you will see a Set up owner account form. Fill in your email address, first name, last name, and choose a strong password (minimum 8 characters, at least 1 number and 1 capital letter). Click Next.

Step 2 — Customize n8n

You will see a short questionnaire: company type, your role, who your automations are for, company size, and how you heard about n8n. These answers help personalize your experience but do not affect any functionality. Fill them in and click Get started.

Step 3 — Unlock Free Paid Features

n8n offers a free activation key that permanently unlocks three advanced features:

• Advanced debugging — Fix and re-run any workflow that errored, step by step
• Execution search and tagging — Search and organize past workflow runs for easier review
• Folders — Organize your workflows in a nested folder structure

To get your free key:

1. Enter your email address and click Send me a free license key
2. Check your inbox — an email from hello@info.n8n.io arrives within seconds
3. Click Activate License Key in the email — this activates it automatically

3. Understanding the Interface

Left Sidebar

Settings Menu

Under Settings you will find:

• Usage and plan — Your license status and workflow count
• Personal — Change your name, email, password, language and timezone
• Users — Add team members to your instance
• n8n API — Generate API keys to control n8n programmatically
• External Secrets — Store sensitive credentials (API keys, passwords) securely
• Environments — Separate development and production environments
• Community nodes — Install community-built integrations not in the official library
• Instance-level MCP (Preview) — Connect AI agents directly to your n8n instance

4. Building Your First Workflow

Key Concepts

A workflow is a series of connected steps that run automatically. Each step is called a node. Nodes are connected by lines that show the flow of data.

Every workflow starts with a trigger node — something that starts the workflow. Common triggers include:

• Webhook — triggered by an HTTP request from another system
• Schedule — triggered at a specific time (e.g. every day at 9am)
• Email trigger — triggered when you receive an email
• Form trigger — triggered when someone submits a form

Creating a Workflow

1. Click the + icon in the left sidebar or click Build a workflow on the home screen
2. The workflow canvas opens — a dotted grid where you build your automation
3. Click Add first step... to choose your trigger node
4. Search for the service or trigger type you need
5. Configure the node by filling in its settings on the right panel
6. Click the + button on a node to add the next step
7. Connect, configure, and test each step
8. Click Publish in the top right to activate your workflow

The Workflow Canvas

The canvas has controls at the bottom left:

• Fit to screen — zooms to show all nodes
• Zoom in / Zoom out — adjust the view
• Pointer tool — switch between select and pan modes

At the top, the three tabs are:

• Editor — build and edit your workflow
• Executions — see the history of every time this workflow ran, with results and timing
• Evaluations — test your workflow against predefined test cases

5. Connecting External Services

n8n connects to hundreds of services including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, Gmail, Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Airtable, Notion, GitHub, and many more.

To connect a service:

1. Add a node for that service to your workflow
2. Click Create new credential in the node settings
3. Follow the authentication steps (OAuth, API key, or username/password depending on the service)
4. Save the credential — it can be reused across all your workflows

6. Using AI in Your Workflows

n8n has native AI capabilities that let you build intelligent automations. You can connect to AI providers including:

• Anthropic Claude
• OpenAI (GPT-4, GPT-4o)
• Google Gemini
• Groq
• Mistral
• Ollama (for local models)

AI Agent Node

The AI Agent node lets you create an autonomous AI that can use tools, remember context, and make decisions within your workflow. Common use cases include:

• Automatically classify and respond to incoming emails
• Extract structured data from documents, invoices, or images
• Research topics and summarize information
• Generate reports from data
• Route customer inquiries to the right team

Instance-level MCP (Preview)

The MCP (Model Context Protocol) feature allows AI agents — including Claude — to directly control and interact with your n8n instance. This means an AI agent can create workflows, trigger executions, and read results on your behalf. This is a preview feature and may change in future versions.

7. Managing Users and Teams

Your n8n instance supports multiple users. To invite a team member:

1. Go to Settings → Users
2. Click Invite users
3. Enter their email address and select a role
4. They will receive an invitation email to set up their account

Roles

8. Monitoring and Debugging Workflows

Execution History

Every workflow run is logged. To view execution history:

1. Open a workflow
2. Click the Executions tab at the top
3. See a list of all runs with status (Success / Error), duration, and timestamp
4. Click any execution to see the data that passed through each node

Advanced Debugging (requires free license key)

When a workflow errors:

1. Open the failed execution from the Executions tab
2. Click Copy to editor to open it in the workflow editor
3. Fix the issue in the relevant node
4. Click Re-run to retry from the point of failure without re-triggering the whole workflow

Error Workflows

You can set up a dedicated Error workflow that automatically runs whenever another workflow fails. This is useful for sending yourself an alert email or Slack message when something goes wrong. Configure this under Settings → General.

9. Using Workflow Templates

n8n has over 1,000 community-built workflow templates. To browse them:

1. Click the Templates icon in the left sidebar
2. Search by keyword or browse by category
3. Click a template to preview it
4. Click Use workflow to import it into your instance
5. Configure the credentials for your accounts and publish

10. Security and Best Practices

Your Server Security

Your Cloud Acropolis n8n instance is protected by:

• Dedicated VM — your instance is not shared with other customers
• Firewall (UFW) — only necessary ports are open
• Fortigate IPS — intrusion prevention at the network level
• ClamAV antivirus — daily virus scans with alerts
• Checkmk monitoring — 24/7 infrastructure monitoring by Cloud Acropolis
• Daily health checks — automated verification that n8n and PostgreSQL are running

Best Practices for Workflows

• Use External Secrets for all API keys and passwords — never hardcode credentials in workflow nodes
• Set up an Error workflow so you are notified when automations fail
• Test workflows thoroughly using the Test workflow button before publishing
• Use tags and folders to organize workflows as your library grows
• Review the Executions tab regularly to catch any silent failures
• Use Notes on nodes (right-click → Add note) to document what each step does

Webhook Security

If you use Webhook trigger nodes, anyone with the webhook URL can trigger your workflow. To secure webhooks:

• Use the Header Auth or Basic Auth options on the Webhook node
• Validate the incoming payload in the first node of your workflow
• Use unique, hard-to-guess webhook paths

11. n8n API Access

Your n8n instance has a built-in REST API that lets you control it programmatically — trigger workflows, list executions, create credentials, and more.

To generate an API key:

1. Go to Settings → n8n API
2. Click Create an API key
3. Give it a name and optionally set an expiry date
4. Copy the key immediately — it will not be shown again

The API documentation is available at: https://bn8n-{number}.cloudacropolis.lt/api/v1/docs

12. Getting Support

Cloud Acropolis Support

For infrastructure issues — server not responding, performance problems, provisioning questions:

• Email: support@cloudacropolis.lt
• Support ticket: my.cloudacropolis.lt

n8n Documentation and Community

For workflow building, node configuration, and automation questions:

• Official documentation: docs.n8n.io
• Community forum: community.n8n.io
• Workflow templates: available directly in your n8n interface under Templates