i have a simple flow that executes in test and in prod.
i have test and prod url.
if execute the flow and trigger it with a curl on the prod url it works the first time
on the second curl call on the prod url i get the error message that i would have to execute the flow.
all the docs/tutorial i found say that there would be a “activate” button to activate a flow.
i don see the activate button where it should be.
Hi @rici2026tmA
You’re probably running n8n 2.x, and that can be a bit confusing at first because the old Active / Inactive toggle no longer exists. It was replaced by Publish / Unpublish.
To “activate” a workflow now, you just need to publish it.
In the top-right corner of the editor, you should see a Publish button instead of the old Active switch. Once you click Publish, the workflow goes live and starts using the production URL for triggers like webhooks.
If you later want to turn the workflow off, click the three dots in the top-right of the canvas and choose Unpublish. That’s the new equivalent of setting a workflow to inactive.
About the webhook only working once: this usually happens when the Test URL is still being used. The Test URL only works while the editor is actively listening and is often limited to a short time or a single request. After publishing the workflow, make sure your curl (or any external call) is using the Production URL from the Webhook node.
If the webhook seems “stuck” on the Test URL or doesn’t respond as expected, a simple workaround is to unpublish the workflow, make a small edit, and then publish it again. This forces the webhook to re-register the production URL and usually fixes the issue.
So in short: look for Publish instead of Activate, publish the workflow, and then call the production webhook URL. That should get things working as expected.
Reference:
Save & publish; Toggle removido; Publish em vez de Active
Where is activation toggle; Publish/Unpublish
hi, thanks for your answer. i will try.
it might help to rename the publish into “pulblish & activate”
also the error message saying to “execute the flow“ could be enhanced , mentioning publishing and in case of unexpected behaviour unpublish, modify/publish.
Hey, glad that helped!
That’s actually a really good point about the naming and messaging. “Publish & Activate” would definitely make it clearer what’s happening, and improving the error message to explicitly mention publishing would save a lot of confusion.
If you haven’t already, I’d suggest posting this as a feature request or improvement idea in the n8n feedback channels, the team is usually pretty responsive to UX suggestions like this, especially when they come from real user pain points.
Let me know how it goes once you try the fix!