Understand the database

This page describes the purpose of each table in the n8n database.

Database and query technology

By default, n8n uses SQLite as the database. If you are using another database the structure will be similar, but the data-types may be different depending on the database.

n8n uses TypeORM for queries and migrations.

To inspect the n8n database, you can use DBeaver, which is an open-source universal database tool.

Tables

These are the tables n8n creates during setup.

auth\_identity

Stores details of external authentication providers when using SAML.

auth\_provider\_sync\_history

Stores the history of a SAML connection.

credentials\_entity

Stores the credentials¹ used to authenticate with integrations.

event\_destinations

Contains the destination configurations for Log streaming.

execution\_data

Contains the workflow at time of running, and the execution data.

execution\_entity

Stores all saved workflow executions. Workflow settings can affect which executions n8n saves.

execution\_metadata

Stores Custom executions data.

installed\_nodes

Lists the community nodes installed in your n8n instance.

installed\_packages

Details of npm community nodes packages installed in your n8n instance. installed\_nodes lists each individual node. installed_packages lists npm packages, which may contain more than one node.

migrations

A log of all database migrations. Read more about Migrations in TypeORM's documentation.

project

Lists the projects in your instance.

project\_relation

Describes the relationship between a user and a project, including the user's role type.

role

Not currently used. For use in future work on custom roles.

settings

Records custom instance settings. These are settings that you can't control using environment variables. They include:

• Whether the instance owner is set up
• Whether the user chose to skip owner and user management setup
• Whether certain types of authentication, including SAML and LDAP, are on
• License key

shared\_credentials

Maps credentials to users.

shared\_workflow

Maps workflows to users.

tag\_entity

All workflow tags created in the n8n instance. This table lists the tags. workflows\_tags records which workflows have which tags.

user

Contains user data.

variables

Store variables.

webhook\_entity

Records the active webhooks in your n8n instance's workflows. This isn't just webhooks uses in the Webhook node. It includes all active webhooks used by any trigger node.

workflow\_entity

Your n8n instance's saved workflows.

workflow\_history

Store previous versions of workflows.

workflow\_statistics

Counts workflow IDs and their status.

workflows\_tags

Maps tags to workflows. tag\_entity contains tag details.

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)