Homelab Automation With n8n – Proxmox Backup Automation, Uptime Kuma–ntfy Integration, And Home Assistant
Home labs tend to grow quietly until they look suspiciously like small production environments. At some point, you are "on call" for your own house. To keep that manageable, homelab automation with n8n is at the core of how my home network and Proxmox clusters are run.
In this article, you will see how n8n connects Proxmox, Uptime Kuma–ntfy integration, and Home Assistant into one automation stack that handles backups, monitoring, and alerts.
My Homelab And Network Stack
The current setup looks like this:
- Proxmox:
- Multiple Proxmox clusters running VMs and LXC containers for DNS, reverse proxy, internal apps, and infrastructure services.
- Networking:
- Router/firewall, managed switches, VLANs for home devices, IoT, and lab.
- Monitoring:
- Uptime Kuma for monitoring:
- An always-on cloud server.
- Public-facing services (including this website).
- Key LAN services via internal checks.
- Automation and notifications:
- n8n as the central automation/workflow engine.
- ntfy as the self-hosted push notification service that talks directly to my phone.
- Home Assistant for home automation, especially lights and scenes.
Future deep-dive guides from this article:
- Self-Hosting ntfy: Push Notifications For Every Homelab Service - detailed ntfy setup and usage.
- How-To: Proxmox Backup Automation With n8n – detailed API usage and workflows.
- Uptime Kuma–ntfy Integration For Homelab Monitoring – exactly how alerts are wired.
- Self-Hosting ntfy For Homelab Push Notifications – how the notification stack is deployed and secured.
Why Use n8n For Homelab Automation
There are several workflow automation tools suitable for homelabs, but n8n stands out for self-hosted homelab automation because:
- Visual workflow builder: Drag-and-drop interface makes complex multi-step automations easier to understand and maintain.
- Self-hosted and open-source: Runs entirely on your own infrastructure, no third-party SaaS dependencies.
- API-first design: Direct HTTP requests, SSH commands, webhooks, and custom JavaScript for anything n8n doesn't natively support.
- Extensive integrations: Over 300 built-in nodes including Proxmox, Docker, Git, notification services, and more.
n8n is particularly strong for business automation workflows and scenarios where you need scalable, queue-based processing across multiple workflow instances. For homelab users, this translates to reliable automation that can handle complex dependency chains and error recovery.
Node-RED: A Lightweight Alternative For IoT And Hardware Integration
While I use n8n as my primary automation engine, Node-RED is another excellent open-source workflow automation tool that deserves consideration, especially if your homelab leans heavily into IoT, hardware devices, or edge computing.
What Makes Node-RED Different
Node-RED is built on Node.js with an event-driven, non-blocking architecture that makes it extremely lightweight and fast:
- Ideal for IoT and hardware: Native support for MQTT, serial connections, GPIO pins on Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and other embedded devices.
- Extremely lightweight: Can run comfortably on a Raspberry Pi Zero or similar constrained hardware.
- 5,000+ community nodes: Massive library of pre-built nodes covering everything from home automation protocols to industrial control systems.
- Real-time data processing: Excellent for handling streaming data, sensor inputs, and time-sensitive automation.
Node-RED vs n8n: When To Choose Which
The choice between Node-RED and n8n depends on your specific homelab automation needs:
Choose Node-RED when:
- Your automation is heavily IoT or hardware-focused (sensors, relays, microcontrollers).
- You need extremely lightweight local deployment on edge devices.
- You are comfortable with JavaScript and want deep customization at the code level.
- You are integrating with protocols like MQTT, Modbus, or serial communication.
Choose n8n when:
- You need to connect many business/cloud APIs and web services.
- You want built-in database workflow storage, queue management, and multi-instance scaling.
- Your workflows span multiple systems and require complex branching, error handling, and retries.
- You prefer a more polished UI with better visual data mapping between nodes.
Using Node-RED With Proxmox
Node-RED can also integrate with Proxmox using community-contributed nodes like node-red-contrib-proxmox, which provides direct API access to Proxmox Virtual Environment. This allows you to:
- Query VM and container status.
- Start, stop, and restart VMs/containers.
- Monitor resource usage across nodes.
- Trigger backups and snapshots.
For homelabs that already run Node-RED for home automation or IoT tasks, adding Proxmox integration keeps everything in one familiar environment rather than introducing a separate tool.
My Approach: n8n For Infrastructure, Node-RED For IoT
In practice, many homelab operators run both:
- n8n handles infrastructure automation: Proxmox backups, service monitoring, API integrations, and notification workflows.
- Node-RED manages home automation devices, sensor data processing, and hardware-level tasks.
This separation keeps workflows focused and leverages each tool's strengths. If you are just starting, pick one based on your primary use case and expand later if needed.
n8n: Core Of The Homelab Automation
n8n runs as a self-hosted workflow automation platform inside my infrastructure and connects to:
- Proxmox APIs on each node / cluster.
- Uptime Kuma's webhooks and API.
- Home Assistant's API/webhooks.
- ntfy via simple HTTP calls.
The main homelab automation patterns:
- Event-driven flows:
- Uptime Kuma reports a service as down.
- A Proxmox VM or node fails a health check.
- Home Assistant emits an event (for example, "no one is home").
- Scheduled flows:
- Nightly Proxmox backup automation.
- Regular VM/node health checks.
- Snapshot pruning and housekeeping tasks.
Proxmox Backup Automation And Self-Healing
Proxmox exposes a useful API, which makes it a good fit for Proxmox backup automation via n8n:
- Automated backups:
- n8n triggers scheduled backups for critical VMs and containers using the Proxmox API.
- It polls Proxmox for backup job status and duration.
- On completion, n8n sends a ntfy push summarizing the result.
- Self-healing attempts:
- If Uptime Kuma reports a key service (such as DNS or reverse proxy) as down, n8n:
- Confirms VM/container state via the Proxmox API.
- Attempts a restart or migration where appropriate.
- Re-checks via Uptime Kuma before declaring success.
- After multiple failed attempts, n8n sends a high-priority ntfy alert.
- Snapshot management:
- Before major changes, n8n can create snapshots across selected VMs/containers.
- Another scheduled workflow prunes old snapshots so storage does not silently fill up.
The combination of n8n workflow automation and the Proxmox API makes these routine maintenance tasks reliable and hands-off.
A future "How-To: Proxmox Backup Automation With n8n" article will break down these flows in detail, including request examples and error handling.
Uptime Kuma–ntfy Integration For Monitoring And Alerts
Uptime Kuma provides the actual uptime checks for both external and internal services:
- What Uptime Kuma monitors:
- Website and public endpoints.
- The always-on cloud server.
- Private services exposed for internal monitoring.
- How alerts are handled:
- Uptime Kuma sends alerts via webhooks or integration towards n8n.
- n8n processes the alert, decides if it should trigger Proxmox actions, and then sends notifications via ntfy.
This pattern keeps Uptime Kuma focused on monitoring and uses n8n for logic and Uptime Kuma–ntfy integration.
Why Run Uptime Kuma On A VPS
Running Uptime Kuma on a cheap VPS (\$3–5/month) outside your home network provides external monitoring even when your entire homelab or ISP connection goes down. This is critical for catching failures that would otherwise leave you blind.
Why ntfy For Self-Hosted Push Notifications
ntfy is the final notification layer: a self-hosted push notification service used to deliver all important alerts to the phone:
- Different ntfy topics:
- Critical infrastructure issues (nodes down, major services offline).
- Routine operations (backups completed, snapshots cleaned, scheduled reboots).
- n8n formats messages:
- Human-readable, with context and next steps.
- Clear markers for retry counts and escalation levels.
Because ntfy is lightweight and self-hosted, it integrates cleanly with scripts, APIs, and other homelab services without relying on commercial notification platforms.
A future article, "Self-Hosting ntfy: Push Notifications For Every Homelab Service", will cover deployment and security and will be linked from this section.
Home Assistant Integration For Visual Status Indicators
Home Assistant already manages lighting and other devices around the house. Integrating it into the homelab stack turns lights into a kind of ambient status dashboard:
- When internet or critical services fail:
- n8n triggers Home Assistant automations that blink or recolor specific lights.
- During backups or maintenance:
- A "maintenance mode" scene activates, signaling that intensive tasks are running.
- When everything returns to normal:
- n8n instructs Home Assistant to revert to the default scene.
This is not just cosmetic; it reduces reliance on dashboards and ensures important incidents are visible in the physical environment.
Home Assistant's visual flow automation tools and native integration ecosystem make it easy to build reactive automations that respond to n8n webhooks or API calls.
How To Get Started With Homelab Automation
If you are building your own homelab or small infrastructure and want to implement similar automation:
1. Choose Your Workflow Automation Tool
For homelab automation, self-hosted options are usually the best fit:
- n8n: Best for visual workflows, API integrations, and teams comfortable with self-hosting.
- Node-RED: Lighter weight, excellent for IoT and hardware integrations.
- Home Assistant automations: Built-in for home devices, can be extended with custom integrations.
Most homelab enthusiasts run n8n alongside Home Assistant to handle infrastructure automation separately from home device automation.
2. Set Up External Monitoring
Deploy Uptime Kuma on a cheap VPS to monitor your homelab from the outside:
- Monitor critical services (DNS, reverse proxy, websites).
- Send alerts to n8n or directly to ntfy when failures occur.
3. Wire In Self-Hosted Notifications
Deploy ntfy (either self-hosted or using the public instance) and configure alerts from Uptime Kuma, n8n, and other services:
- Organize notifications by topic (critical, routine, informational).
- Subscribe via the ntfy mobile app for instant push notifications.
4. Automate Proxmox Backups And Maintenance
Use n8n (or Node-RED with the Proxmox contrib node) to schedule and monitor Proxmox backups, health checks, and snapshot management:
- Connect to Proxmox APIs.
- Build workflows that trigger backups, verify results, and notify via ntfy.
- Add self-healing logic that attempts restarts before escalating.
5. Integrate Home Assistant For Physical Feedback
Connect n8n to Home Assistant to create ambient status indicators using lights, displays, or other devices:
- Trigger scenes or automations when infrastructure events occur.
- Use Home Assistant's visual automation builder to design reactions without writing YAML.
Why This Homelab Automation Stack Works
Combining n8n, Proxmox, Uptime Kuma, ntfy, and Home Assistant creates a powerful homelab automation foundation:
- n8n: central workflow engine, good for homelab orchestration.
- Proxmox: virtualization layer with an API that supports automation.
- Uptime Kuma: simple, self-hosted service monitoring.
- ntfy: privacy-friendly, scriptable push notifications.
- Home Assistant: rich home automation, perfect for bridging infrastructure with the physical environment.
If you are building your own homelab or small infrastructure in Sri Lanka or elsewhere and want help with:
- Homelab automation with n8n or Node-RED.
- Proxmox backup automation and self-healing flows.
- Uptime Kuma–ntfy integration and notification design.
- Tying it all together with Home Assistant.
…you can reach out via the contact section on this site to discuss automation work tailored to your environment.
This article will eventually interlink with detailed how-to posts on:
so feel free to check back if you are reading this later.