n8n + Caddy + Supabase + DuckDNS Stack

This is a complete self-hosted stack with automatic HTTPS, dynamic DNS, and authentication.

🏗️ Architecture

Internet → DuckDNS → Your Router → Caddy (Reverse Proxy) → Services
                                         ├── n8n (Main App)
                                         ├── Supabase API
                                         └── Supabase Studio

Services Overview

• DuckDNS: Updates your dynamic IP automatically
• Caddy: Reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS certificates
• n8n: Workflow automation platform with PostgreSQL backend
• Supabase: Complete backend-as-a-service with PostgreSQL
• PostgreSQL: Shared database for both n8n and Supabase

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone/Download the files and navigate to the directory
2. Run the setup script: chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh
3. Configure DNS (see DNS Setup section below)
4. Start the stack: docker compose up -d

🌐 DNS Setup

Step 1: DuckDNS Setup

1. Go to duckdns.org and sign up
2. Create a subdomain: humanintheloop
3. Your DuckDNS URL will be: humanintheloop.duckdns.org

Step 2: Domain DNS Records

Create these CNAME records in your domain registrar's DNS settings:

humanintheloop.xyz → humanintheloop.duckdns.org
api.humanintheloop.xyz → humanintheloop.duckdns.org
studio.humanintheloop.xyz → humanintheloop.duckdns.org
www.humanintheloop.xyz → humanintheloop.duckdns.org

Step 3: Router Port Forwarding

Forward these ports to your server's local IP:

• Port 80 (HTTP) → Your server IP:80
• Port 443 (HTTPS) → Your server IP:443

🔧 Management Commands

Basic Operations

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

# Stop all services
docker compose down

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# View logs for specific service
docker compose logs -f n8n
docker compose logs -f caddy

# Restart a service
docker compose restart n8n

# Update services
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Database Operations

# Connect to PostgreSQL
docker compose exec db psql -U supabase_admin -d postgres

# Backup database
docker compose exec db pg_dump -U supabase_admin postgres > backup.sql

# Restore database
cat backup.sql | docker compose exec -T db psql -U supabase_admin -d postgres

Health Checks

# Check service status
docker compose ps

# Check disk usage
docker system df

# Clean up unused images
docker system prune -a

🔑 Access Information

Service	URL	Credentials
n8n	https://humanintheloop.xyz	admin / [your-password]
Supabase Studio	https://studio.humanintheloop.xyz	Use your Supabase keys
Supabase API	https://api.humanintheloop.xyz	Use your Supabase keys

🔐 Security Features

• Automatic HTTPS: Caddy handles SSL/TLS certificates via Let's Encrypt
• Basic Auth: n8n protected with username/password
• JWT Authentication: Supabase uses JWT tokens
• Security Headers: Caddy adds security headers automatically
• Database Isolation: Separate users and permissions for each service

🛠️ Configuration Files

Key Files

• docker-compose.yml: Main service definitions
• caddy/Caddyfile: Reverse proxy configuration
• supabase/config/kong.yml: API gateway configuration
• .env: Environment variables and secrets

Important Directories

├── caddy/
│   ├── Caddyfile
│   ├── data/          # SSL certificates
│   └── config/        # Caddy config
├── supabase/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── kong.yml
│   ├── db/
│   │   ├── data/      # PostgreSQL data
│   │   └── init/      # Initialization scripts
│   └── storage/       # File storage
├── n8n/               # n8n workflows and data
└── duckdns/           # DuckDNS logs

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Services won't start

# Check logs
docker compose logs

# Check disk space
df -h

# Check Docker daemon
systemctl status docker

SSL Certificate Issues

# Check Caddy logs
docker compose logs caddy

# Restart Caddy
docker compose restart caddy

# Clear SSL data (will regenerate)
sudo rm -rf caddy/data/caddy/certificates
docker compose restart caddy

Database Connection Issues

# Check database logs
docker compose logs db

# Test database connection
docker compose exec db psql -U supabase_admin -d postgres -c "SELECT version();"

DuckDNS Not Updating

# Check DuckDNS logs
docker compose logs duckdns

# Manually trigger update
curl "https://www.duckdns.org/update?domains=humanintheloop&token=YOUR_TOKEN&ip="

Performance Optimization

For Low-Memory Systems

# Add to services that need less memory
deploy:
  resources:
    limits:
      memory: 512M

Database Tuning Edit supabase/db/init/02-tuning.sql:

-- Optimize for small systems
ALTER SYSTEM SET shared_buffers = '128MB';
ALTER SYSTEM SET effective_cache_size = '1GB';
ALTER SYSTEM SET maintenance_work_mem = '64MB';
ALTER SYSTEM SET checkpoint_completion_target = 0.9;

🔄 Backup Strategy

Automated Backup Script

Create backup.sh:

#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_DIR="./backups"

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Database backup
docker compose exec -T db pg_dump -U supabase_admin postgres > $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.sql

# n8n data backup
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/n8n_$DATE.tar.gz n8n/

# Supabase storage backup
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/storage_$DATE.tar.gz supabase/storage/

# Keep only last 7 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.sql" -mtime +7 -delete
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

Restore Process

# Restore database
cat backups/db_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.sql | docker compose exec -T db psql -U supabase_admin -d postgres

# Restore n8n data
docker compose down
tar -xzf backups/n8n_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.tar.gz
docker compose up -d

🚀 Advanced Usage

Custom n8n Nodes

# Add custom nodes to n8n
docker compose exec n8n npm install n8n-nodes-[package-name]
docker compose restart n8n

Supabase Edge Functions

# Install Supabase CLI
npm install -g supabase

# Initialize project
supabase init

# Deploy edge functions
supabase functions deploy [function-name]

Monitoring Setup

Add to docker-compose.yml:

  # Optional: Add monitoring
  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    volumes:
      - ./monitoring/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

📱 Mobile Access

Your services are accessible from anywhere:

• n8n Mobile: Use the web interface on mobile browsers
• Supabase: Full API access from mobile apps
• Progressive Web App: n8n can be installed as a PWA

🔗 Integration Examples

Connect n8n to Supabase

1. In n8n, use HTTP Request node
2. URL: https://api.humanintheloop.xyz/rest/v1/[table]
3. Headers: Authorization: Bearer [your-service-key]

Webhook Setup

• n8n webhooks: https://humanintheloop.xyz/webhook/[webhook-id]
• Supabase webhooks: Configure in Supabase Studio

📞 Support

• n8n Docs: docs.n8n.io
• Supabase Docs: supabase.com/docs
• Caddy Docs: caddyserver.com/docs
• Docker Compose: docs.docker.com

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⚠️ Security Note: Keep your .env file secure and never commit it to version control. All passwords and keys are randomly generated during setup.