How can I use a custom SSL certificate with the Postgres node in n8n?

Based on the current n8n documentation and available options, the Postgres node’s credentials do not include fields to directly provide a custom SSL certificate (such as a CA or client certificate). Unlike the MySQL node where you might see explicit fields for this purpose, the Postgres node only lets you control SSL usage by selecting from preset modes (e.g. Allow, Disable, or Require) and toggling the “Ignore SSL Issues” option.

What This Means

• SSL Mode: You can instruct the Postgres node to use SSL by choosing the appropriate option. However, even when selecting an SSL-required mode, there isn’t a built-in mechanism to supply your own certificate file.
• Custom Certificate: There’s currently no direct option within the Postgres node credentials to include a custom certificate. The credentials are designed to support standard database connection settings (host, database, username, password, SSL mode, SSH Tunnel) without a field for custom SSL certificate paths.
• Workarounds:
  • If your certificate validation is causing the connection to stall, one workaround is to enable “Ignore SSL Issues” (if that’s an acceptable risk in your security context).
  • Alternatively, consider setting up an SSH tunnel—which the Postgres credentials do support—as an encrypted pathway to your database.

Additional Context

It’s important not to confuse the SSL options on the Postgres node with those used for configuring the underlying n8n database connection. The latter supports specifying custom certificate files via environment variables (such as DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CA, DB_POSTGRESDB_SSL_CERT, etc.) when using PostgresDB as n8n’s main database. However, this configuration is separate from the authentication setup used by the Postgres node within your workflows.

Summary

At this time, if you’re using the Postgres node to interact with an external Postgres database that requires a custom SSL certificate, there isn’t a way to provide that certificate directly in the node’s credential configuration. You’ll need to either adjust the SSL validation settings (such as enabling “Ignore SSL Issues”) or explore an SSH tunnel as an alternative approach.

If this is a feature you require, consider adding a feature request to the n8n project so that custom SSL certificate support can be reviewed for future updates.