n8n Error Handling Skill

Wire n8n error handling so failures are loud, structured, and recoverable — instead of the default, where a single node throwing halts the whole workflow and the caller or operator gets nothing.

⚠️ The default is silent failure

When an n8n node throws, the workflow stops. For a run you're watching that's fine — you see the red node. For anything unattended it's the wrong default:

This skill turns silence into a routed, structured, recoverable failure.

What This Skill Teaches

Core Concepts

1. Per-node error outputs are a TWO-step setup — onError: "continueErrorOutput" and wiring main[1]. One without the other is the #1 silent trap.
2. Self-healing first — retryOnFail on network nodes so transient blips never reach an error path
3. API workflows respond on every path — no hanging branches; success and error both end at a Respond
4. Status code maps to cause — 4xx is the caller's fault, 5xx is yours; never 500 for everything
5. Workflow-level error workflows — an Error Trigger catch-all for what per-node handling misses

Top traps this skill prevents

1. onError set but error output unwired → run shows succeeded while dropping work
2. Error output wired but onError unset → handler unreachable, workflow halts
3. Error branch returns 200 → caller's error handling never fires
4. One 500 internal_error for everything, including bad input
5. Network node with no retry → transient 429s surface as 5xx and page on-call
6. Unattended workflow with no error workflow → a genuine failure goes nowhere

Skill Activation

Activates when you:

• Build any webhook/API workflow, or a scheduled/unattended one
• Wire a per-node error output (onError, continueErrorOutput, error branch, main[1])
• Configure retries (retryOnFail, maxTries, waitBetweenTries)
• Decide a Respond-to-Webhook status code (4xx/5xx)
• Set up an Error Trigger workflow
• Say "my workflow fails silently"

Example queries:

• "My HTTP node has onError set but the workflow still halts on failure — why?"
• "My webhook API returns 500 for everything, even bad input. How do I fix the status codes?"
• "My scheduled workflow fails on a flaky API and nobody notices."
• "How do I wire a node's error output to a handler?"
• "How do I retry an HTTP request before treating it as an error?"

File Structure

SKILL.md

Main skill content — loaded when the skill activates.

• The default (halt = silent failure) and when looser handling is OK
• The two-step per-node error output and the failure-mode table
• retryOnFail self-healing before wiring error paths
• The canonical webhook/API shape (respond on every path)
• Cause → status code mapping; one expression-driven Respond
• Workflow-level error workflows and the recursion trap
• What the community MCP can't do (the error-workflow UI setting)
• Anti-patterns table, integration with other skills, quick-reference checklist

NODE_ERROR_OUTPUTS.md

The two-step setup on a single node, in depth.

• Step 1 (onError values) and step 2 (addConnection with sourceIndex: 1)
• Both failure modes and why each is dangerous
• Why validation won't catch a half-wired error output
• Wiring shapes (single, fan-out, fan-in, log + respond)
• What counts as "fallible"; mandatory n8n_get_workflow verification

API_WORKFLOWS.md

The webhook → Respond pattern under failure.

• Wiring every fallible node to one responder
• 4xx upstream vs 5xx from error outputs
• The Set-node schema validator (JSON) and the regex-escaping gotcha
• Differentiating 5xx with an expression; don't-leak-internals wiring
• Correlation IDs, the async/202 pattern, verification steps

RESPONSE_SHAPES.md

Response body and status-code conventions.

• Match the instance first; success and error envelopes
• responseCode defaults to 200 — set it on every error branch
• Status → cause table; the stable error-code set
• Validation details, rate-limit shapes, the do-not-leak list
• Respond-node JSON for the community MCP

ERROR_WORKFLOWS.md

The workflow-level catch-all.

• The Error Trigger payload and a minimal capture → notify workflow
• Alert-field expressions; the featureful "recover the failing input" version
• Assigning it is UI-only (MCP can't); when it fires and when it doesn't
• The recursion trap and verification

Quick Reference

The two-step per-node error output

// 1) create the error output
{ type: "updateNode", nodeName: "HTTP Request",
  changes: { onError: "continueErrorOutput" } }

// 2) wire it (sourceIndex 1 = error output)
{ type: "addConnection", source: "HTTP Request", target: "Handle Error", sourceIndex: 1 }

Self-healing on network nodes

{ type: "updateNode", nodeName: "HTTP Request",
  changes: { retryOnFail: true, maxTries: 3, waitBetweenTries: 5000 } }

Set the status code on an error Respond (don't leave it 200)

{ "responseCode": 502,
  "responseBody": "={{ JSON.stringify({ error: 'upstream_error', message: 'External service failed' }) }}" }

onError values

• "stopWorkflow" (default) — halt the workflow
• "continueErrorOutput" — route the error out main[1] (the one you wire)
• "continueRegularOutput" — error flows out the normal output (rare, usually wrong)

Integration with Other Skills

n8n-workflow-patterns: the webhook/API and scheduled patterns are where error handling lives — use it for the shape, this skill to harden it.

n8n-node-configuration: onError/retryOnFail are node config; NODE_FAMILY_GOTCHAS.md covers the Webhook/Respond response-code traps in detail.

n8n-validation-expert: a half-wired error output is a connection/config audit item, not a validation error — this skill is the fix.

n8n-expression-syntax: the expression-driven Response Code and alert messages depend on correct {{ }} and $json.error access.

n8n-code-javascript / n8n-code-python: if you catch errors inside a Code node, decide deliberately — re-throw to use the error output, or handle and continue; don't return error-shaped data as success.

n8n-binary-and-data: file/binary operations are fallible too — wire their error outputs like any network node.

When error handling can be looser

Success Metrics

After using this skill, you should be able to:

• Wire a per-node error output correctly — onError and main[1], verified via n8n_get_workflow
• Recognize and fix both half-wired failure modes
• Add retryOnFail so transient failures self-heal before reaching an error path
• Build an API workflow where every path ends at a Respond with an explicit status code
• Map a failure's cause to the right 4xx/5xx and keep internals out of the body
• Build an Error Trigger workflow and tell the user the UI step to assign it
• Avoid the recursion trap in the error workflow

Sources

Authoritative facts in this skill come from:

• n8n node onError semantics and the main[1] error output contract
• n8n retry engine limits (maxTries ≤ 5, waitBetweenTries ≤ 5000ms; retries on any error)
• The Error Trigger payload shape (execution/workflow/error)
• n8n-mcp n8n_update_partial_workflow operations (updateNode, patchNodeField, addConnection, activateWorkflow)

Version

Version: 1.0.0 Compatibility: n8n with per-node onError outputs; community n8n-mcp server for all workflow operations.

Credits

Part of the n8n-skills project.

Remember: the default is silence. Make the failure route (per-node onError + wired output, or a catch-all error workflow) and make it speak (a truthful status code and body). Half a move is worse than none — it looks done.