n8n-error-handling

1# n8n Error Handling
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3By default, when an n8n node throws, the **whole workflow halts**. For an interactive run you're watching, that's fine — you see the red node and fix it. For anything unattended (a webhook API, a cron job, a queue worker, an agent tool), it's the wrong default: the caller gets a timeout or an empty 500, the operator gets no alert, and the symptom is "the integration just stopped working" with no log and no clue.
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5This skill is about making failures **loud, structured, and recoverable** — and, best case, **self-healing** so transient blips never reach a human at all.
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7The two ideas that prevent most silent failures:
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9- **Per-node error outputs** — a node's failure routes down a second output you control, instead of killing the run.
10- **A workflow-level error workflow** — a catch-all that fires for anything that escapes per-node handling (timeouts, crashes between nodes, unwired failures).
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14## When you actually need this
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16| Workflow shape | Error handling posture |
17|---|---|
18| Webhook / API (anything with `Respond to Webhook`) | **Required.** Every fallible node's error output wired; status code matches cause. |
19| Scheduled / cron / queue worker / agent tool (unattended) | **Required.** A workflow-level error workflow, plus `retryOnFail` on network nodes. |
20| Internal one-off you run and watch yourself | **Optional.** Default `onError: "stopWorkflow"` is fine — you'll see the red node and re-run. |
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