Error Handling

Build resilient automations that handle failures gracefully instead of crashing.

Retry Logic

Flow Builder

Configure retries on any action step:

1. Click the step you want to configure
2. Open Settings (gear icon)
3. Enable Retry on Failure
4. Set:
   • Max retries — 1 to 5 attempts
   • Delay — Seconds between retries (e.g., 5s, 30s, 60s)

Workflow Builder

Right-click any node → Settings:

• Retry on Fail — Enable automatic retries
• Max Tries — Number of retry attempts (1–5)
• Wait Between Tries — Milliseconds between retries
• Continue on Fail — Don't stop the workflow if retries are exhausted

Error Paths

Workflow Builder Error Handling

Create alternative paths for when nodes fail:

HTTP Request ──success──→ Process Response
      │
      └──error──→ Log Error → Send Alert Email

To add an error output:

1. Right-click the node
2. Select Add Error Output
3. Connect the error output to your fallback logic

The error output receives:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Request failed with status 500",
    "name": "NodeApiError",
    "node": "HTTP Request",
    "timestamp": "2026-04-21T10:30:00Z"
  }
}

Error Trigger Workflow

Create a dedicated workflow that runs when any automation fails:

1. Create a new workflow
2. Add an Error Trigger node
3. Add actions: send Slack alert, create Jira ticket, send email, etc.
4. Activate the workflow

The Error Trigger receives details about the failed workflow:

• Workflow name and ID
• Node that failed
• Error message and stack trace
• Execution timestamp

Common Error Patterns

Rate Limiting

Many APIs enforce rate limits. Handle them with exponential backoff:

// Code node with retry logic
const maxRetries = 3;
let delay = 1000; // Start with 1 second

for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
  try {
    const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data');
    if (response.status === 429) {
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
      delay *= 2; // Exponential backoff
      continue;
    }
    return [{ json: await response.json() }];
  } catch (error) {
    if (i === maxRetries - 1) throw error;
  }
}

Timeout Handling

For long-running operations, set appropriate timeouts:

• HTTP Request node: Set Timeout in milliseconds
• Code node: Use AbortController for fetch requests
• Default timeout: 300 seconds (5 minutes) for most operations

Missing Data

Validate that required data exists before processing:

// IF node condition
{{ $json.email }} is not empty

// Code node validation
if (!$json.email) {
  throw new Error('Email is required but was not provided');
}

Monitoring Failures

All errors are recorded in the run history:

1. Go to Dashboard → Automations → View Runs
2. Filter by Failed status
3. Click a failed run to see:
   • Which step failed
   • The error message
   • Input data that caused the failure
   • Timestamp and duration

Set up alerts in Observability → Alerts to get notified of failures via email, Slack, or webhook.