readWriteFile node fails with "not writable" error when using relative file paths despite correct permissions

[priyansh-lissun]

Describe the problem/error/question

The "Read/Write Files from Disk" node throws a "not writable" error when attempting to write to /home/node/token.txt, even though:
The file exists with 666 permissions and is owned by node:node
The directory has 777 permissions and is owned by node:node
Manual write tests using echo "test" > token.txt work perfectly fine from within the container
The n8n process (running as node user) has full access to write to the file
The permission check in the node appears to be incorrectly failing despite the file being fully writable.

What is the error message (if any)?

The file "/home/node/token.txt" is not writable.

NodeApiError: The file "/home/node/token.txt" is not writable. at ExecuteContext.execute
(/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-nodes-base@file+packages+nodes-base_@aws-sdk+credential-provider@3.808.0_asn1.js@5_8da18263ca0574b0db58d4fefd8173ce/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/nodes/Files/ReadWriteFile/actions/write.operation.ts:33:30)

Please share your workflow/screenshots/recording

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "parameters": {
        "method": "POST",
        "url": "https://your-api-domain.com/auth/login",
        "authentication": "predefinedCredentialType",
        "nodeCredentialType": "googleOAuth2Api",
        "sendQuery": true,
        "queryParameters": {
          "parameters": [
            {
              "name": "key",
              "value": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
            }
          ]
        },
        "options": {}
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest",
      "typeVersion": 4.2,
      "position": [
        432,
        112
      ],
      "id": "da887b8e-ce03-4bb8-b1a1-43f07926066e",
      "name": "HTTP Request",
      "credentials": {
        "googleOAuth2Api": {
          "id": "YOUR_CREDENTIAL_ID",
          "name": "Google OAuth Account"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "rule": {
          "interval": [
            {
              "field": "cronExpression",
              "expression": "0 2,14 * * *"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger",
      "typeVersion": 1.2,
      "position": [
        80,
        112
      ],
      "id": "d885414a-cf8d-40ae-9ddd-efdf0df6e7ea",
      "name": "Schedule Trigger"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "write",
        "fileName": "./token.txt",
        "options": {}
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.readWriteFile",
      "typeVersion": 1,
      "position": [
        1328,
        112
      ],
      "id": "0a8b7ad2-f4b7-4e03-afc6-f8068e547fc7",
      "name": "Read/Write Files from Disk"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "assignments": {
          "assignments": [
            {
              "id": "be0a5380-5e0b-4916-b286-45b29bb10612",
              "name": "jwtToken",
              "value": "={{ $json.jwtToken }}",
              "type": "string"
            },
            {
              "id": "24b89deb-75b1-49b7-8f8d-0f250dad84de",
              "name": "userId",
              "value": "={{ $json.user.id }}",
              "type": "string"
            }
          ]
        },
        "options": {}
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set",
      "typeVersion": 3.4,
      "position": [
        752,
        112
      ],
      "id": "e731a816-f063-406b-945f-085a025ed60a",
      "name": "Edit Fields"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "toText",
        "sourceProperty": "jwtToken",
        "options": {}
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.convertToFile",
      "typeVersion": 1.1,
      "position": [
        1024,
        112
      ],
      "id": "443a7a9a-bf7b-424b-bd23-f7411128258b",
      "name": "Convert to File"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "write",
        "fileName": "./id.txt",
        "options": {}
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.readWriteFile",
      "typeVersion": 1,
      "position": [
        1344,
        448
      ],
      "id": "c7147cbd-01e8-4809-8260-e3de559c27aa",
      "name": "Read/Write Files from Disk1"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "toText",
        "sourceProperty": "userId",
        "options": {}
      },
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.convertToFile",
      "typeVersion": 1.1,
      "position": [
        1040,
        448
      ],
      "id": "e148fda9-2e63-4cb3-aeb0-bcd241a5afbc",
      "name": "Convert to File1"
    }
  ],
  "connections": {
    "HTTP Request": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Edit Fields",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Schedule Trigger": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "HTTP Request",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Edit Fields": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Convert to File",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          },
          {
            "node": "Convert to File1",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Convert to File": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Read/Write Files from Disk",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Convert to File1": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Read/Write Files from Disk1",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    }
  }
}

Share the output returned by the last node

{
"error": "The file "/home/node/token.txt" is not writable."
}

Debug info

• n8n version: 2.1.4 (Self Hosted)
• Node type: n8n-nodes-base.readWriteFile
• Node version: 1 (Latest version: 1.1)
• Environment: Docker container (Alpine Linux)
• File path used: /home/node/token.txt (absolute path)

Permission verification from inside container:

$ ls -la token.txt-rw-rw-rw-    1 node     node             0 Dec 26 06:55 token.txt$ ls -lad /home/nodedrwxrwxrwx    1 node     node          4096 Dec 26 06:30 /home/node$ echo "test write" > token.txt && cat token.txttest write

#Additional context:

• Manual write operations to the file succeed without any issues
• The n8n process is running as the node user (PID 7)
• The error occurs during the permission check phase, before any actual write attempt
• Workaround: Using "Execute Command" node with sh -c 'echo "content" > /home/node/token.txt' works fine

core

• n8nVersion: 2.1.4
• platform: docker (self-hosted)
• nodeJsVersion: 22.21.1
• nodeEnv: production
• database: postgres
• executionMode: regular
• concurrency: -1
• license: enterprise (production)

storage

• success: all
• error: all
• progress: false
• manual: true
• binaryMode: filesystem

pruning

• enabled: true
• maxAge: 336 hours
• maxCount: 10000 executions

client

• userAgent: mozilla/5.0 (macintosh; intel mac os x 10_15_7) applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko) chrome/143.0.0.0 safari/537.36
• isTouchDevice: false

Generated at: 2025-12-26T06:58:44.329Z}

[n8n-assistant]

Hey @priyansh-lissun,

Thank you for reaching out! We’ve received your issue and are looking into it. To help us track this internally, we’ve created a Linear ticket with the reference: "GHC-6058".

We’ll keep you updated as we make progress, but if you have any additional details or context to share, feel free to add them here - it’s always helpful!

Thanks for your patience and for bringing this to our attention.

---

For INTERNAL use only: GHC-6058

[TomK32]

Duplicate of #23318 and setting N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO is what you need to do @priyansh-lissun

[n8n-assistant]

Hi @Priyansh 👋

Thanks so much for your patience while we’ve been improving n8n. We know it’s taken some time to review this issue, and we’re currently updating our triage process to better keep up with our growth.

There have been a lot of improvements in recent releases, so we’d really appreciate it if you could check whether this issue still occurs in the latest release.

When you have a moment, please copy and paste the checklist below as a comment so our system can update the status automatically:

[ ] I have updated to the latest stable version of n8n [please specify version number] and I am still experiencing this issue
[ ] Please close this issue – I am no longer experiencing it
[ ] Please close this issue – [please specify a reason]

If we don’t hear from you in the next 14 days this issue will be automatically closed, feel free to reopen - don’t forget to add the checklist above so that our automated systems notify us of the issue.

Thanks again for helping us keep n8n healthy and up-to-date 💚

[n8n-assistant]

As we haven’t heard back from you, we’re going to close this issue to keep things organized. But don’t worry, if you have more information or need further assistance, you’re welcome to reopen the issue anytime or create a new one. We’re always happy to help!

Thanks for reaching out and have a great day! If this was closed by mistake and you have been waiting for us let me know and I can also re-open it.