n8n License Gate
Last updated: 2026-08-08
n8n is not free software: the n8n project is distributed under the Sustainable Use License, which restricts commercial use. HostAgentics' licensing position (2026-08-08): each customer receives **one dedicated n8n instance** in its own container — not a shared multi-tenant service — which is the basis for not requiring an n8n enterprise agreement. This document describes the gate and the confirmation flag. It is an internal engineering and operations document; customer-facing framing lives in `docs/licensing.md`.
1. Why the gate exists
Hosting n8n for customers is a commercial use of n8n. The platform therefore requires an explicit operator confirmation that the commercial use position is settled (per-instance, per-customer hosting). The gate makes the decision explicit and auditable: no confirmation flag, no n8n runtime, regardless of what a customer requests or pays for.
2. The gate: the confirmation flag
The gate is enforced via `N8N_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE_CONFIRMED` — it must be `true` in the control plane environment. It is validated at startup by `packages/config` and checked by the API before any n8n provisioning request is accepted. **Status: OPEN (confirmed 2026-08-08)** — n8n provisioning is live.
3. Scope of the gate
4. Rollback
Flipping `N8N_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE_CONFIRMED` back to `false` immediately blocks new n8n provisioning. Existing n8n runtimes are not deleted by the gate; the gate controls provisioning, and any wind-down of existing runtimes follows the normal lifecycle (see `docs/billing.md`).