2.Self-Hosted AI: n8n + Ollama, local AI workflows on your Mac

If you want AI agents running on your own machine, with your own models, and no data leaving your computer, this is the article :). This is part three of the series. In part one we set up PostgreSQL, and in part two we covered the LLM concepts (models, parameter, quantization, context, capabilities, VRAM). Today we put them to work: n8n for the workflows and Ollama for the models. One prerequisite: Docker. If you do not have it yet, install Docker Desktop for Mac following the official guide [ Docker docs ]. Quick setup: n8n The fastest path is n8n's official Self-hosted AI Starter Kit, a Docker Compose template that ships n8n, Ollama, Qdrant (a vector store) and PostgreSQL preconfigured to talk to each other [ n8n docs ]. git clone https://github.com/n8n-io/self-hosted-ai-starter-kit.git cd self-hosted-ai-starter-kit cp .env.example .env # file where your passwords are stored The .env file is hidden by default. In Finder, press Command + Shift + Period to show hidden files, or just edit it from the terminal. Update the credentials, for example: POSTGRES_USER = admin POSTGRES_PASSWORD = root POSTGRES_DB = n8n Also replace the N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY and N8N_USER_MANAGEMENT_JWT_SECRET values with your own random strings. Now one Mac-specific detail. Docker on Apple Silicon cannot use the Mac's GPU, so the kit's README recommends running Ollama natively on your Mac for speed and letting the containers connect to it [ starter kit README ]. That is what we'll do. Set this in your .env : OLLAMA_HOST = host.docker.internal:11434 Then start everything: docker compose up Open http://localhost:5678 to create your n8n account (once), and http://localhost:5678/home/workflows is where your workflows and agents live. If you only want n8n without the rest of the kit, this single command works too [ n8n docs ]: docker run -it --rm --name n8n -p 5678:5678 -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n Quick setup: Ollama On the Mac side (from part two, condensed): brew install olla