Is data encrypted before leaving your machine?

Yes. The Privatemode proxy runs locally and encrypts all data before it leaves your machine. It also performs remote attestation to verify the integrity of the Privatemode service, ensuring end-to-end protection for every request.

Does Privatemode store or retain workflow data?

No. Privatemode never learns from your data. All inference requests are processed using confidential computing, and no prompts, responses, or workflow data are retained after processing.

How does encrypted inference affect workflow performance?

Privatemode uses confidential computing hardware to minimize overhead. The local proxy adds only milliseconds for encryption and attestation, so response times are comparable to standard cloud AI services while providing full data protection.

Confidential AI workflows with Privatemode and n8n

Q: Which n8n AI nodes are supported?

All nodes that use the OpenAI Chat Model sub-node work with Privatemode, including AI Agent, Basic LLM Chain, Sentiment Analysis, Summarization Chain, Text Classifier, Question and Answer Chain, and Information Extractor.

n8n users self-host workflows to keep sensitive data under control. However, when adding AI nodes, that data gets sent to OpenAI or Anthropic. Privatemode lets you use cloud-grade models in n8n while keeping all workflow data encrypted end-to-end.

Introduction

Automating with AI without exposing your data

Introduction

Automating with AI shouldn't mean exposing your workflow data

An n8n AI Agent workflow whose chat model node is connected to Privatemode

The challenge

Every AI node is a data exit

n8n's AI nodes — AI Agent, Basic LLM Chain, Sentiment Analysis, Summarization Chain — all call a cloud LLM. With a conventional provider, every prompt, document, and intermediate result is processed in plaintext on that provider's servers. Self-hosting n8n does not change that.

The solution

The same nodes, pointed somewhere safe

The Privatemode proxy runs next to n8n. It verifies the integrity of the Privatemode cloud service through remote attestation, and encrypts every request before it leaves your machine. Cloud-side, your data is protected end-to-end by confidential computing and stays encrypted in memory even during processing. Neither the infrastructure provider nor we can read it.

Benefits

Why use Privatemode AI with n8n?

Works with every AI node

End-to-end confidentiality

Learn how

Cloud-grade AI models

See models

Free tier available

How to get started

Set up confidential agents in n8n in just a few steps

Get your API key

If you don't have a Privatemode API key yet, you can generate one for free here.

Run the Privatemode proxy

The proxy verifies the integrity of the Privatemode service using confidential computing-based remote attestation. The proxy also encrypts all data before sending and decrypts data it receives.

Set up an AI agent in n8n

Follow the official n8n AI Agent documentation to set up an AI agent. Since Privatemode adheres to the OpenAI interface specification, you can use the standard OpenAI Chat Model node and configure its credentials to connect to Privatemode.

In addition to the AI Agent node, the OpenAI Chat Model can be used in several other powerful AI nodes, including:

Adjust credentials

To ensure that all data is sent through the Privatemode proxy set the following credentials for your OpenAI Chat Model node:

API Key: Set this to a placeholder value, such as ‘placeholder’. Authentication is handled by the proxy.
Base URL: Set this to the /v1 route of your Privatemode proxy, for example, "http://localhost:8080/v1".

Set the parameters of the node

Set the parameters of the OpenAI Chat Model node to use the correct credentials and select the model you want to use.

Done!

You’ve successfully integrated Confidential AI into your workflow.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about using Privatemode with n8n

No structural changes are needed. You reconfigure the OpenAI Chat Model node credentials to point to the Privatemode proxy by changing the Base URL field. All AI nodes that use this model, including AI Agent, Basic LLM Chain, and Summarization Chain, gain end-to-end encryption automatically.