Production-grade n8n + Directus on Kubernetes with zero-downtime releases
Production-grade n8n + Directus on Kubernetes with zero-downtime releases
We containerized n8n and Directus, provisioned the entire stack with Terraform, and shipped via Helm on Kubernetes with HTTPS ingress, RBAC, autoscaling, and full observability. Result: under 15-minute deployments, 3× traffic absorption without degradation, and ~25% lower infrastructure cost.
End-to-end deploy time
<15 minutes
Sustained traffic spikes absorbed with no performance loss via HPA
3x
Infrastructure cost reduction from rightsizing and scale-to-zero off-peak
~25%
The team needed reliable scale and safe updates: under traffic spikes, tight release windows, and security constraints.
Fragile, manual provisioning
Hand-crafted servers caused configuration drift, long lead times, and error-prone rollouts across dev/stage/prod.
Unpredictable load and availability
Traffic surges slowed workflows; node failures risked downtime without automatic rescheduling or elastic capacity.
Risky upgrades and limited visibility
Applying security patches and version updates caused downtime, while lack of metrics/logging hindered rapid diagnosis.
5
Releases went from hours and weekend windows to a 15-minute, no-downtime routine.
NDA
We built a Kubernetes-native platform for n8n and Directus using Terraform and Helm to deliver reproducible environments, elastic scale, and zero-downtime updates.
Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Provisioned clusters, databases, storage, and networking declaratively so every environment (dev/stage/prod) is identical and rebuildable. Eliminated manual steps and reduced human error in delivery.
Kubernetes orchestration with autoscaling and HA
Containerized n8n and Directus, deployed on Kubernetes with HPA for burst handling and automatic rescheduling on node failure for high availability. Ingress exposed services over HTTPS; RBAC restricted access paths.
Helm-driven releases with zero downtime
Packaged both applications as Helm charts with environment-specific values. Used rolling updates to apply version bumps and security patches without service interruption. Updates became a controlled, reversible process.
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Technologies we used
• n8n (workflow automation)
• Directus (headless CMS)
• Terraform (IaC for clusters, databases, storage, networking)
• Kubernetes (orchestration, HA, rescheduling)
• Helm (templated deployments, rolling updates)
• Ingress Controller with TLS termination
• Kubernetes RBAC (access control)
• Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (elastic scaling)
• Prometheus (metrics and alerting)
• Grafana (dashboards)
• Centralized logging (platform-wide log aggregation)
