The idea is:
Always output NO data. Under options, to tell a node to always output an empty array. Or to customize a specific array for it to always output. like [] or [{“run”:“complete”}] or an expression like [$node(“othernode”).[data][important]]
My use case:
Sometimes I have a node which needs to fire anonymously. I also need to access some of that data downstream, or know that it fired. But… I DO NOT need the next node to fire again just because it ran. Or I have a different node which has the ideal set of items or I have something else in place to fire the next node.
In all these cases the one thing I do not want is the return data screwing up my workflow.
So for now I include a merge node and pass only the first input, or a code block and rewrite the output data etc.
I think it would be beneficial to add this because:
Because it makes working with N8N more intuitive and removes the need for annoying merge-wait-pass_input_1 nodes.