🚀 Automation Stack – Full Self-Hosted Deployment Guide

This repo sets up:

• n8n automation with Redis & PostgreSQL
• WhatsApp MCP (Multi-tool control API)
• React dashboard at /ui
• Cloudflare tunneling (HTTPS access without ports)
• Auto-start & daily Postgres backup

• A domain name (required for Cloudflare tunnels)
• Docker & Docker Compose
• curl, git, and crontab (Linux)

git clone https://github.com/Zie619/automation-stack.git
cd automation-stack

Linux:

wget https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb

Mac:

brew install cloudflared

Windows:

winget install --id Cloudflare.cloudflared
# or
choco install cloudflared

cloudflared tunnel login
cloudflared tunnel create n8n-tunnel-example

After login, note the JSON credentials path. For example: /root/.cloudflared/ac167143-2428-4b3c-91fc-0d1579e984cf.json

Linux:

sudo nano /etc/cloudflared/config.yml

Windows: Edit C:\Users\Administrator\.cloudflared\config.yml

tunnel: n8n-tunnel
credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/your-tunnel.json

ingress:
  - hostname: n8n.yourdomain.com
    service: http://localhost:5678
  - hostname: whatsapp.yourdomain.com
    service: http://localhost:8000
  - hostname: dashboard.yourdomain.com
    service: http://localhost:5137
  - service: http_status:404

in cloudflare go to the dns managment and add the domains as in the image whatsapp.yourdomain.com and dashboard.yourdomain.com

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/cloudflared.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=cloudflared
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/cloudflared --no-autoupdate --config /etc/cloudflared/config.yml tunnel run
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl enable cloudflared
sudo systemctl start cloudflared

Open terminal and run:

cloudflared tunnel run n8n-tunnel-example

Create a .env file in the root folder:

# PostgreSQL
POSTGRES_USER=yourusername
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=yourpassword
POSTGRES_DB=n8n
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_HOST=postgres

# Redis
REDIS_HOST=redis
QUEUE_MODE=redis

# n8n
N8N_PORT=5678
N8N_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
N8N_AUTH_USER=yourusername
N8N_AUTH_PASS=yourpassword
N8N_BASE_URL=https://n8n.yourdomain.com
N8N_WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.yourdomain.com

# WhatsApp MCP
MCP_PORT=8000
MCP_AUTH_USER=yourusername
MCP_AUTH_PASS=yourpassword

Build React UI (required only if using dashboard):

cd whatsapp-mcp/whatsapp-dashboard
npm install
npm run build

Build Docker containers:

cd automation-stack
docker compose build
docker compose up -d

💡 Don't want the UI? Comment/remove this line in docker-compose.yml under whatsapp-mcp-server service:

- ./whatsapp-mcp/whatsapp-dashboard/dist:/app/whatsapp-mcp-server/ui

crontab -e

Paste the following:

@reboot sleep 30 && cd /root/n8n && docker compose up -d
@reboot sleep 60 && cd /root/automation-stack && docker compose build whatsapp-mcp-server && docker compose up -d whatsapp-mcp-server
0 2 * * * /root/backup_postgres.sh

Backups are saved automatically in n8n_postgres_backups/ To restore:

docker exec -i n8n-postgres psql -U yourusername -d n8n < backup_file.sql

Use Basic Auth:

• Username: MCP_AUTH_USER
• Password: MCP_AUTH_PASS

Run tool:

POST https://whatsapp.yourdomain.com/run_tool

List GPT-compatible tools:

GET https://whatsapp.yourdomain.com/openai-tools

Output format is OpenAI function-call compatible.

UI location: https://whatsapp.yourdomain.com/ui

Rebuild after changes:

cd whatsapp-mcp/whatsapp-dashboard
npm run build
cd automation-stack
docker compose build whatsapp-mcp-server
docker compose up -d whatsapp-mcp-server

Before using the WhatsApp MCP server, you must link a WhatsApp account to it by scanning a QR code.

1. Ensure the WhatsApp bridge container is running:

docker ps | grep whatsapp-bridge

If it's not running:

docker compose up -d whatsapp-bridge

2. View the QR code from logs:

docker logs -f whatsapp-bridge

Scroll up until you see a QR code printed as ASCII art in the terminal.

3. Open WhatsApp on your phone:

• Go to Settings → Linked Devices
• Tap Link a Device
• Scan the QR code displayed in the terminal

4. Wait for confirmation. The terminal will show authenticated or ready.

You are now connected. Your WhatsApp account is ready to send/receive messages via the MCP tools.

Let me know if you want this injected directly into the README file as well.

Restart WhatsApp MCP:

docker compose restart whatsapp-bridge whatsapp-mcp-server

View logs:

docker logs -f whatsapp-mcp-server

optional git ignore for begginers:

# === PYTHON ===
__pycache__/
*.py[cod]
*.egg
*.egg-info/
dist/
build/
.env
.venv/
venv/
*.log

# === NODE / REACT (dashboard) ===
node_modules/
*.log
npm-debug.log*
yarn-debug.log*
yarn-error.log*
.pnpm-debug.log
*.lock
whatsapp-mcp/whatsapp-dashboard/dist/

# === DOCKER / SYSTEM ===
*.pid
*.sock
docker-compose.override.yml

# === BACKUPS ===
n8n_postgres_backups/
*.sql
*.dump

# === OS / SYSTEM ===
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db
*.swp
*.swo
*~

# === CLOUD FLARE TUNNEL CREDENTIALS (should never be committed) ===
/.root/.cloudflared/
*.pem
*.json

# === IDE SETTINGS ===
.vscode/
.idea/

Eliad Shahar – Open source automation enthusiast.

lharries Credit: lharries Whatsapp mcp