We are discontinuing the n8n Tunnel Service and the related --tunnel option. This post explains why, what changes for you, and how to set up secure alternatives for local webhook development.
TL;DR
- The n8n Tunnel Service has been disabled and is being discontinued.
- If you need a public URL for local webhook testing, use a third-party tunneling service such as Cloudflare Tunnel or ngrok.
- Regardless of the tunnel provider, treat your local webhook endpoint like a production entry point: verify signatures, use secrets, and minimize exposure.
What was the n8n Tunnel Service?
The n8n Tunnel Service provided a simple way to expose a locally running n8n instance to the public internet for development and testing. This was commonly used to receive webhooks from third-party services (for example GitHub, Stripe, Slack, and many others) when developing workflows locally.
Why we are discontinuing it
The n8n Tunnel Service was originally introduced as a convenience for local development. As a source of operational frequent issues and security concerns it has already been removed in n8n v2, and the service effectively remained as legacy support for n8n v1. Over time it has become increasingly difficult to operate and maintain at the level of reliability we want to provide without further investment.
For these operational reasons, we can no longer support the service. Going forward, we recommend using a dedicated third-party tunneling provider for local webhook development.
What changes for you
- If you previously relied on the n8n tunnel, you will need to switch to an alternative.
- The
--tunneloption will timeout with an error when starting v1 with the flag. We will add a more informative notice in an upcoming patch update for v1. - For stable and beta release channels, nothing changes.
Recommended alternatives for local webhook testing
To receive webhooks on a locally running n8n instance, you need a tunneling service that exposes your local instance to the public internet. There are several free and paid options available:
- Cloudflare Tunnel — free, no account required for quick tunnels
- ngrok — free tier available, requires sign-up
- localtunnel — open-source alternative
Each of these services can forward public traffic to your local n8n port, allowing third-party services to deliver webhooks during development. Refer to the respective provider's documentation for setup instructions specific to your environment.
n8n provides development tooling used internally based on cloudflared. Refer to the documentation for details. Note that this might change at any time as it’s development tooling.
Regardless of which tunneling provider you use, treat your local webhook endpoint like a production entry point: verify signatures, use secrets, and minimize exposure time.