diff --git a/src/setup.erl b/src/setup.erl
index d0ecd2c..9433186 100644
--- a/src/setup.erl
+++ b/src/setup.erl
@@ -169,7 +169,9 @@
             config:set("chttpd", "bind_address", binary_to_list(NewBindAddress))
     end,
 
-    config:set_integer("cluster", "n", NodeCount),
+    % for single node setups, set n=1, for larger setups, don’t
+    % exceed n=3 as a default
+    config:set_integer("cluster", "n", min(NodeCount, 3)),
 
     case Port of
         undefined ->