docs: Document Read/Write Files node availability on n8n Cloud (DOC-854)#4688
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The node is now available on n8n Cloud. Remove the outdated 'self-hosted only' note and expand the File locations section with deployment-specific guidance: Cloud's /home/node/ allow-list, filesystem ephemerality and recommended cloud-storage alternatives, plus self-hosted notes on N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO and the upcoming n8n 2.0 default.
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Architecture diagram
sequenceDiagram
participant Cloud as n8n Cloud Instance
participant Filesystem as Cloud Filesystem (/home/node/)
participant Node as Read/Write Files Node
participant User as User (Workflow Editor)
participant Storage as Cloud Storage Node (AWS S3, Google Drive, FTP)
Note over Cloud,Node: Cloud Deployment – File Access Flow
User->>Node: Configure File(s) Selector or File Path
alt Cloud deployment
Node->>Filesystem: Access path under /home/node/
alt Path is in /home/node/
Filesystem-->>Node: Read/Write success
Node-->>User: Return file data or confirm write
else Path is outside /home/node/ (e.g., /tmp/, /data/)
Filesystem-->>Node: Access error (misleading "File not found")
Node-->>User: Return error
end
else Self-hosted deployment
Note over Node,User: N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO controls allowed paths
Node->>Filesystem: Access configured or unrestricted path
Filesystem-->>Node: Read/Write result
Node-->>User: Return file data or error
end
Note over User,Storage: Cloud Ephemeral Filesystem – Persistent Storage Alternative
User->>Node: Write file to /home/node/
Node->>Filesystem: Write data (ephemeral)
Filesystem-->>Node: Success
Node-->>User: Confirm write
Note over Filesystem: File may vanish on restart/redeploy
User->>Storage: Use cloud storage node for persistent files
Storage-->>User: Reliable storage outside ephemeral filesystem
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Opened two follow-up Nodes issues to track the product-side changes separately from this docs PR: NODE-5113 for the misleading Cloud error message when the path is outside the allowed paths NODE-5114 for the Cloud-incompatible default placeholders in the node UI Keeping this PR focused on documenting current behavior and constraints. |
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RoRoJ
approved these changes
May 22, 2026
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Summary
/home/node/, filesystem is ephemeral, with a pointer to cloud-storage nodes for persistent file handling.N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TOand the upcoming n8n 2.0 default of~/.n8n-files.Linear: DOC-854
Verification
Tested on a real Cloud workspace before writing:
/home/node/and relative paths./tmp/,/data/returns an access error (Cloud usesN8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO=/home/node).Test plan
Vale.Spellingerrors onPicomatch's/globbingin unchanged content).Follow-ups (not in this PR)