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Execution data#

Depending on your executions settings and volume, your n8n database can quickly swell in size and eventually run out of storage.

To avoid this and ensure continued proper functionality, it is recommended to ensure you are only saving the desired data and to enable pruning of old executions data.

This is done by configuring the corresponding environment variables.

Saving data#

You can select which executions data is saved, for example only those executions that result in an Error, so that only those records you want to keep are saved in the database.

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// Save executions ending in errors
export EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_ERROR=all

// Save successful executions
export EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_SUCCESS=all

// Don't save node progress for each execution
export EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_PROGRESS=false

// Don't save manually launched executions
export EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_MANUAL_EXECUTIONS=false


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docker run -it --rm \
	--name n8n \
	-p 5678:5678 \
	-e EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_ERROR=all \
	-e EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_SUCCESS=none \
    -e EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_PROGRESS=true \
    -e EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_MANUAL_EXECUTIONS=false \
	n8nio/n8n


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n8n:
    environment:
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_ERROR=all
	  - EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_SUCCESS=none
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_ON_PROGRESS=true
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_SAVE_MANUAL_EXECUTIONS=false

Keep in mind

These settings can also be configured on an individual workflow basis via the workflow settings.

Enable data pruning#

You can enable data pruning to automatically delete execution data older than a desired time period. If no EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE is set, then 336 hours (14 days) is used by default.

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// Activate automatic data pruning
export EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true

// Number of hours after execution data will be deleted
export EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE=168


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docker run -it --rm \
	--name n8n \
	-p 5678:5678 \
	-e EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true \
	-e EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE=168 \
	n8nio/n8n


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n8n:
    environment:
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true
      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE=168

Keep in mind

If you are running n8n using the default SQLite database, the disk-space of any pruned data is not automatically freed up but rather reused for future executions data. To free up this space configure the DB_SQLITE_VACUUM_ON_STARTUP environment variable or manually run the VACUUM operation.