Lightweight AI Automation Stack for Cloud Hosting

An all-in-one Docker Compose setup that provides a complete stack for AI workflow automation, integration, and monitoring.

🔗 Detailed Setup Guide: Complete Installation Guide on Notion

📺 Video Tutorial: How to Set Up on Hetzner Cloud (YouTube)

🧪 Need Help?: Visit Alchemyst Digital to get expert assistance building AI and automation solutions for your business.

What's Included

This stack combines the following tools:

• n8n: Powerful workflow automation tool to connect applications and automate tasks
• Flowise: Low-code UI builder for creating LLM flows
• Qdrant: Vector database for AI applications
• Monitoring stack:
  • Prometheus: Metrics collection system
  • Grafana: Analytics and monitoring dashboard
  • Postgres Exporter: Postgres metrics collector
• Infrastructure:
  • PostgreSQL: Database storage for n8n and other services
  • Caddy: Reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose V2
• A server with ports 80 and 443 accessible
• A domain name pointed to your server

Getting Started

For a complete step-by-step guide with screenshots, follow our Notion Setup Guide.

You can also watch our YouTube tutorial that demonstrates the entire setup process on Hetzner Cloud.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ai-automation-stack.git
cd ai-automation-stack

2. Configure environment variables

Edit the .env file to customize your setup:

# Set your domain name
DOMAIN_NAME=yourdomain.com
SUBDOMAIN=n8n

# Set secure passwords for services
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
PGRST_JWT_SECRET=your-secret-key
GRAFANA_ADMIN_PASS=your-secure-password
FLOWISE_PASSWORD=your-secure-password

3. Configure Caddyfile

The default Caddyfile is set up for subdomains. Edit caddy/Caddyfile to match your domain:

Replace all instances of example.com with your domain name from the .env file.

4. Start the stack

docker compose up -d

5. Access your services

After deployment, you can access your services at:

• n8n: https://n8n.yourdomain.com
• Flowise: https://flowise.yourdomain.com
• Grafana: https://grafana.yourdomain.com
• Prometheus: https://prometheus.yourdomain.com
• Qdrant: https://qdrant.yourdomain.com/dashboard

Architecture

This stack is designed to provide a complete environment for building AI-powered automation workflows:

• n8n serves as the central automation platform
• Flowise allows you to build LLM-powered flows
• Qdrant provides vector database capabilities for AI applications
• PostgreSQL stores workflow data and application state
• Prometheus & Grafana monitor the health and performance of all components
• Caddy handles routing and TLS certificate management

Configuration Details

n8n Configuration

n8n is configured with PostgreSQL as the database backend and has metrics and runners enabled. The container exposes port 5678 internally.

Flowise Configuration

Flowise is configured with metrics enabled and uses the internal directory for storage. It exposes port 3000 internally.

Monitoring

Prometheus is configured to scrape metrics from:

• n8n
• PostgreSQL (via postgres-exporter)
• Qdrant
• Flowise
• Host machine (requires node-exporter)

Grafana connects to Prometheus as a data source and provides dashboards for monitoring.

Security

• All services are only accessible through the Caddy reverse proxy
• Caddy automatically obtains and renews HTTPS certificates
• Each service has its own credentials defined in the .env file

Persistence

All data is stored in Docker volumes:

• n8n_data: n8n workflows and credentials
• postgres_data: Database storage
• flowise_data: Flowise configurations
• qdrant_data: Vector database storage
• prometheus_data: Metrics history
• grafana_data: Dashboards and configurations
• caddy_data: TLS certificates

Maintenance

Updating

To update the stack to the latest versions:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Backup

Backup the Docker volumes for complete data protection:

# Example backup command
docker run --rm -v ai-automation-stack_n8n_data:/source -v $(pwd)/backups:/dest alpine tar czf /dest/n8n_backup.tar.gz -C /source .

Logs

View logs for any service:

docker compose logs -f n8n

Troubleshooting

Service not starting

Check service logs:

docker compose logs service_name

Cannot access services

• Verify Caddy is running: docker compose ps caddy
• Check Caddy logs: docker compose logs caddy
• Ensure your domain DNS is correctly configured

License

MIT License

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About

This stack is maintained by Alchemyst Digital, experts in AI implementation and business automation solutions. Visit our website to learn how we can help you leverage AI for your business needs.