From 670c6e54d703266515e5ef3aa0b5735b7a19ae2a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: m3tam3re
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2026 09:16:30 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] refactor: replace n8n package with overlay override
---
docs/packages/README.md | 9 +-
docs/packages/n8n.md | 26 ++----
flake.nix | 8 +-
overlays/mods/default.nix | 58 ++++++++++++-
pkgs/default.nix | 1 -
pkgs/n8n/default.nix | 163 -------------------------------------
pkgs/n8n/update.sh | 29 -------
tests/n8n-overlay-test.nix | 42 ++++++++++
8 files changed, 119 insertions(+), 217 deletions(-)
delete mode 100644 pkgs/n8n/default.nix
delete mode 100755 pkgs/n8n/update.sh
create mode 100644 tests/n8n-overlay-test.nix
diff --git a/docs/packages/README.md b/docs/packages/README.md
index 1a1df1f..9d65654 100644
--- a/docs/packages/README.md
+++ b/docs/packages/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ These packages are built from source in `pkgs//`:
| `launch-webapp` | Launch web applications | Shell | `pkgs/launch-webapp/` |
| `mem0` | AI memory assistant with vector storage | Python | `pkgs/mem0/` |
| `msty-studio` | Msty Studio application | Python | `pkgs/msty-studio/` |
-| `n8n` | Workflow automation tool | Node.js | `pkgs/n8n/` |
| `openshell` | AI shell assistant | Go | `pkgs/openshell/` |
| `openwork` | Open-source Claude Cowork alternative powered by opencode | AppImage | `pkgs/openwork/` |
| `pomodoro-timer` | Pomodoro timer utility | Shell | `pkgs/pomodoro-timer/` |
@@ -31,6 +30,14 @@ These packages are built from source in `pkgs//`:
| `vibetyper` | Typing practice tool | Python | `pkgs/vibetyper/` |
| `zellij-ps` | Project switcher for Zellij | Rust | `pkgs/zellij-ps/` |
+### Overlay Modifications
+
+These entries override upstream nixpkgs packages via `overlays.modifications`. They are also included in `overlays.default`.
+
+| Package | Source | Modification | Location |
+|---------|--------|--------------|----------|
+| `n8n` | `nixpkgs#n8n` | Pins a newer release and fetch hashes | `overlays/mods/default.nix` |
+
### Pass-Through Packages
These packages are imported directly from flake inputs with minor modifications:
diff --git a/docs/packages/n8n.md b/docs/packages/n8n.md
index d762302..a17a5c1 100644
--- a/docs/packages/n8n.md
+++ b/docs/packages/n8n.md
@@ -20,32 +20,24 @@ n8n (pronounced "n-eight-n") is a workflow automation tool that helps you connec
## Installation
+This repository does not publish a standalone `n8n` package. Instead, it provides an overlay that overrides the upstream nixpkgs `n8n` package with a newer pinned release when needed.
+
### Via Overlay
```nix
-{pkgs, ...}: {
+{inputs, pkgs, ...}: {
+ nixpkgs.overlays = [
+ inputs.m3ta-nixpkgs.overlays.default
+ # Or, if you only want package overrides:
+ # inputs.m3ta-nixpkgs.overlays.modifications
+ ];
+
environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
n8n
];
}
```
-### Direct Reference
-
-```nix
-{pkgs, ...}: {
- environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
- inputs.m3ta-nixpkgs.packages.${pkgs.system}.n8n
- ];
-}
-```
-
-### Run Directly
-
-```bash
-nix run git+https://code.m3ta.dev/m3tam3re/nixpkgs#n8n
-```
-
## Usage
### Basic Usage
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index c0d1e9d..b2bb4d0 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -49,12 +49,13 @@
# Overlays - can be imported in your system configuration
overlays = {
- # Default overlay: adds all custom packages
+ # Default overlay: adds all custom packages and applies package modifications.
default = final: prev:
import ./pkgs {
pkgs = final;
inputs = inputs;
- };
+ }
+ // import ./overlays/mods {inherit prev;};
modifications = final: prev: import ./overlays/mods {inherit prev;};
};
@@ -104,6 +105,9 @@
${pkgs.alejandra}/bin/alejandra --check ${./.}
touch $out
'';
+ n8n-overlay = import ./tests/n8n-overlay-test.nix {
+ inherit pkgs inputs self;
+ };
# Lib unit tests
lib-agents = import ./tests/lib/agents-test.nix {
inherit pkgs;
diff --git a/overlays/mods/default.nix b/overlays/mods/default.nix
index db7e62b..c1532ce 100644
--- a/overlays/mods/default.nix
+++ b/overlays/mods/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,57 @@
{prev}: {
- # Package modifications
- # This overlay contains package overrides and modifications
+ # n8n advances quickly. Keep using nixpkgs' package expression and only override
+ # the release-specific fetch hashes when we need a newer stable than upstream.
+ n8n = prev.n8n.overrideAttrs (finalAttrs: previousAttrs: {
+ version = "2.29.4";
- # Add more modifications here as needed
- # example-package = prev.example-package.override { ... };
+ src = prev.fetchFromGitHub {
+ owner = "n8n-io";
+ repo = "n8n";
+ tag = "n8n@${finalAttrs.version}";
+ hash = "sha256-Vc10fXKn21PSlv6Sk+5zyi2efkKup1Vi+9+vyJd2I1k=";
+ };
+
+ pnpmDeps = prev.fetchPnpmDeps {
+ inherit (finalAttrs) pname version src;
+ pnpm = prev.pnpm_10;
+ fetcherVersion = 3;
+ hash = "sha256-2UFKP5bo06afaMPD+dIYQ7O0NiyZai4i8vkidi7HfxE=";
+ };
+
+ preBuild = ''
+ # Force sass-embedded to use our dart-sass instead of bundled binaries.
+ # The bundled Dart binary can't run in the Nix sandbox (no /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2).
+ for dep in node_modules/.pnpm/sass-embedded@*; do
+ substituteInPlace "$dep/node_modules/sass-embedded/dist/lib/src/compiler-path.js" \
+ --replace-fail \
+ 'compilerCommand = (() => {' \
+ 'compilerCommand = (() => { return ["${prev.lib.getExe prev.dart-sass}"];'
+ done
+ '';
+
+ buildPhase = ''
+ runHook preBuild
+
+ pushd node_modules/sqlite3
+ node-gyp rebuild
+ popd
+
+ # isolated-vm is a native addon required by n8n-nodes-base (Merge node SQL sandbox)
+ # since n8n 2.11.x; must be compiled before pnpm build runs generate-metadata
+ pushd node_modules/isolated-vm
+ node-gyp rebuild
+ popd
+
+ # TODO: use deploy after resolved https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/5315
+ pnpm build --filter=n8n
+
+ runHook postBuild
+ '';
+
+ meta =
+ previousAttrs.meta
+ // {
+ changelog = "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/releases/tag/n8n@${finalAttrs.version}";
+ };
+ });
}
diff --git a/pkgs/default.nix b/pkgs/default.nix
index 9d8234c..c99b6e6 100644
--- a/pkgs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/default.nix
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ in {
launch-webapp = pkgs.callPackage ./launch-webapp {};
mem0 = pkgs.callPackage ./mem0 {};
msty-studio = pkgs.callPackage ./msty-studio {};
- n8n = pkgs.callPackage ./n8n {};
pomodoro-timer = pkgs.callPackage ./pomodoro-timer {};
rofi-project-opener = pkgs.callPackage ./rofi-project-opener {};
stt-ptt = pkgs.callPackage ./stt-ptt {};
diff --git a/pkgs/n8n/default.nix b/pkgs/n8n/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 41dcc25..0000000
--- a/pkgs/n8n/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,163 +0,0 @@
-{
- stdenv,
- lib,
- nixosTests,
- fetchFromGitHub,
- nodejs,
- pnpm_10,
- fetchPnpmDeps,
- pnpmConfigHook,
- python3,
- node-gyp,
- cctools,
- xcbuild,
- dart-sass,
- libkrb5,
- libmongocrypt,
- libpq,
- makeWrapper,
-}: let
- python = python3.withPackages (
- ps:
- with ps; [
- websockets
- ]
- );
-in
- stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
- pname = "n8n";
- version = "2.29.4";
-
- src = fetchFromGitHub {
- owner = "n8n-io";
- repo = "n8n";
- tag = "n8n@${finalAttrs.version}";
- hash = "sha256-Vc10fXKn21PSlv6Sk+5zyi2efkKup1Vi+9+vyJd2I1k=";
- };
-
- pnpmDeps = fetchPnpmDeps {
- inherit (finalAttrs) pname version src;
- pnpm = pnpm_10;
- fetcherVersion = 3;
- hash = "sha256-2UFKP5bo06afaMPD+dIYQ7O0NiyZai4i8vkidi7HfxE=";
- };
-
- nativeBuildInputs =
- [
- pnpmConfigHook
- pnpm_10
- python3 # required to build sqlite3 bindings
- node-gyp # required to build sqlite3 bindings
- makeWrapper
- ]
- ++ lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin [
- cctools
- xcbuild
- ];
-
- buildInputs = [
- nodejs
- libkrb5
- libmongocrypt
- libpq
- ];
-
- preBuild = ''
- # Force sass-embedded to use our dart-sass instead of bundled binaries.
- # The bundled Dart binary can't run in the Nix sandbox (no /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2).
- for dep in node_modules/.pnpm/sass-embedded@*; do
- substituteInPlace "$dep/node_modules/sass-embedded/dist/lib/src/compiler-path.js" \
- --replace-fail \
- 'compilerCommand = (() => {' \
- 'compilerCommand = (() => { return ["${lib.getExe dart-sass}"];'
- done
- '';
-
- buildPhase = ''
- runHook preBuild
-
- pushd node_modules/sqlite3
- node-gyp rebuild
- popd
-
- # isolated-vm is a native addon required by n8n-nodes-base (Merge node SQL sandbox)
- # since n8n 2.11.x; must be compiled before pnpm build runs generate-metadata
- pushd node_modules/isolated-vm
- node-gyp rebuild
- popd
-
- # TODO: use deploy after resolved https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/5315
- pnpm build --filter=n8n
-
- runHook postBuild
- '';
-
- preInstall = ''
- echo "Removing non-deterministic and unnecessary files"
-
- find -type d -name .turbo -exec rm -rf {} +
- rm node_modules/.modules.yaml
- rm packages/nodes-base/dist/types/nodes.json
-
- CI=true pnpm --ignore-scripts prune --prod
- find -type f \( -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.map" \) -exec rm -rf {} +
- rm -rf node_modules/.pnpm/{typescript*,prettier*}
- shopt -s globstar
- # https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/3645
- find node_modules packages/**/node_modules -xtype l -delete
-
- echo "Removed non-deterministic and unnecessary files"
- '';
-
- installPhase = ''
- runHook preInstall
-
- mkdir -p $out/{bin,lib/n8n}
- cp -r {packages,node_modules} $out/lib/n8n
-
- makeWrapper $out/lib/n8n/packages/cli/bin/n8n $out/bin/n8n \
- --set N8N_RELEASE_TYPE "stable"
-
- # JavaScript runner
- makeWrapper ${nodejs}/bin/node $out/bin/n8n-task-runner \
- --add-flags "$out/lib/n8n/packages/@n8n/task-runner/dist/start.js"
-
- # Python runner
- mkdir -p $out/lib/n8n-task-runner-python
- cp -r packages/@n8n/task-runner-python/* $out/lib/n8n-task-runner-python/
- makeWrapper ${python}/bin/python $out/bin/n8n-task-runner-python \
- --add-flags "$out/lib/n8n-task-runner-python/src/main.py" \
- --prefix PYTHONPATH : "$out/lib/n8n-task-runner-python"
-
- runHook postInstall
- '';
-
- passthru = {
- tests = nixosTests.n8n;
- updateScript = ./update.sh;
- };
-
- # this package has ~80000 files, these take too long and seem to be unnecessary
- dontStrip = true;
- dontPatchELF = true;
- dontRewriteSymlinks = true;
-
- meta = {
- description = "Free and source-available fair-code licensed workflow automation tool";
- longDescription = ''
- Free and source-available fair-code licensed workflow automation tool.
- Easily automate tasks across different services.
- '';
- homepage = "https://n8n.io";
- changelog = "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/releases/tag/n8n@${finalAttrs.version}";
- maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [
- gepbird
- AdrienLemaire
- sweenu
- wrbbz
- ];
- license = lib.licenses.sustainableUse;
- mainProgram = "n8n";
- platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
- };
- })
diff --git a/pkgs/n8n/update.sh b/pkgs/n8n/update.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 5e94801..0000000
--- a/pkgs/n8n/update.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env nix-shell
-#!nix-shell -i bash -p bash curl jq nix-update cacert git nix
-set -euo pipefail
-
-# n8n releases are published with two tags per version:
-# - "n8n@X.Y.Z" - the versioned tag
-# - "stable" - always points to the latest stable version
-#
-# We query the "stable" tag and extract the version from its target commitish (e.g., "release/2.18.5").
-# This ensures we always get the actual latest stable version, not the most recently created tag.
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-# Get the directory where this script lives (should be pkgs/n8n/)
-script_dir="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
-
-# Get the nixpkgs root (parent of pkgs/)
-nixpkgs_root="$(cd "$script_dir/../.." && pwd)"
-
-cd "$nixpkgs_root"
-
-# Query the "stable" tag and extract version from target_commitish (e.g., "release/2.18.5")
-new_version=$(curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/n8n-io/n8n/releases/tags/stable" | jq --raw-output '.target_commitish | ltrimstr("release/")')
-
-echo "Latest stable version: n8n@${new_version}"
-echo "Running from: $(pwd)"
-
-# Use --flake --system to properly evaluate the flake-based package
-nix-update --flake --system x86_64-linux n8n --version "$new_version"
diff --git a/tests/n8n-overlay-test.nix b/tests/n8n-overlay-test.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5e3c22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/n8n-overlay-test.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+ pkgs,
+ inputs,
+ self,
+}: let
+ localPackages = import ../pkgs {inherit pkgs inputs;};
+ mkPkgsWithOverlay = overlay:
+ import inputs.nixpkgs {
+ system = pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system;
+ config.allowUnfree = true;
+ overlays = [overlay];
+ };
+
+ modifiedPkgs = mkPkgsWithOverlay self.overlays.modifications;
+ defaultPkgs = mkPkgsWithOverlay self.overlays.default;
+
+ expectedVersion = "2.29.4";
+ expectedSrcHash = "sha256-Vc10fXKn21PSlv6Sk+5zyi2efkKup1Vi+9+vyJd2I1k=";
+ expectedPnpmHash = "sha256-2UFKP5bo06afaMPD+dIYQ7O0NiyZai4i8vkidi7HfxE=";
+ expectedChangelog = "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/releases/tag/n8n@${expectedVersion}";
+
+ checkN8nOverride = overlayName: package:
+ if package.version != expectedVersion
+ then throw "${overlayName} n8n version is ${package.version}, expected ${expectedVersion}"
+ else if package.src.outputHash != expectedSrcHash
+ then throw "${overlayName} n8n src hash is ${package.src.outputHash}, expected ${expectedSrcHash}"
+ else if package.pnpmDeps.outputHash != expectedPnpmHash
+ then throw "${overlayName} n8n pnpmDeps hash is ${package.pnpmDeps.outputHash}, expected ${expectedPnpmHash}"
+ else if package.meta.changelog != expectedChangelog
+ then throw "${overlayName} n8n changelog is ${package.meta.changelog}, expected ${expectedChangelog}"
+ else "ok";
+in
+ pkgs.runCommand "n8n-overlay-test" {
+ localN8nAbsent =
+ if localPackages ? n8n
+ then throw "pkgs/default.nix must not export a local n8n package"
+ else "ok";
+ modificationsOverlayN8n = checkN8nOverride "overlays.modifications" modifiedPkgs.n8n;
+ defaultOverlayN8n = checkN8nOverride "overlays.default" defaultPkgs.n8n;
+ } ''
+ touch $out
+ ''