Describe the problem/error/question
I have an Error handling workflow connected to an active main workflow.
The workflow is as simple as “on Error Trigger send an email populated with data from Error Trigger output (workflow.*, execution.*)”. Nothing fancy, quoting it with some data redacted below.
Today (08:20 CET) I received a notification apparently generated by the Error handling workflow where workflow data (id, name) indicated that my main workflow triggered an error. The execution data points were all undefined.
I checked the main workflow executions. Last time it executed was more than 24 hours ago (March 2, 00:20 CET), 32 hours before the Error handling workflow execution.
The Error handling workflow executions log confirms it was successfully executed at 8:20 CET. The trigger output doesn’t contain execution property but has trigger property defined.
I wonder what made the Error handling workflow to get executed?
One partial explanation comes from Error Trigger node documentation | n8n Docs that says, in particular:
- If a workflow contains the Error Trigger node, by default, the workflow uses itself as the error workflow.
…
All information is always present, except: … <execution.id|url|retryOf> … (text reduced for readability)
What is the error message (if any)?
Below is the Error Trigger output from the execution. It refers the correct main workflow, which however wasn’t executed at the time being.
[
{
"trigger": {
"error": {
"message": "Service unavailable - try again later or consider setting this node to retry automatically (in the node settings)",
"timestamp": 1740986456812,
"name": "NodeApiError",
"description": "The service is currently unavailable.",
"context": {
},
"cause": {
"message": "503 - {\"error\":{\"code\":503,\"message\":\"The service is currently unavailable.\",\"status\":\"UNAVAILABLE\"}}",
"name": "AxiosError",
"stack": "AxiosError: Request failed with status code 503\n at settle (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/axios/lib/core/settle.js:19:12)\n at Unzip.handleStreamEnd (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/axios/lib/adapters/http.js:599:11)\n at Unzip.emit (node:events:530:35)\n at endReadableNT (node:internal/streams/readable:1698:12)\n at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21)\n at Axios.request (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/axios/lib/core/Axios.js:45:41)\n at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)\n at invokeAxios (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/node-execution-context/utils/request-helper-functions.js:173:16)\n at proxyRequestToAxios (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/node-execution-context/utils/request-helper-functions.js:513:26)\n at Object.request (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/node-execution-context/utils/request-helper-functions.js:1145:50)\n at PollContext.requestOAuth2 (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/node-execution-context/utils/request-helper-functions.js:792:12)\n at PollContext.requestOAuth2 (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/node-execution-context/utils/request-helper-functions.js:1153:20)\n at PollContext.apiRequest (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes/Google/Sheet/v2/transport/index.js:38:20)\n at GoogleSheet.spreadsheetGetSheet (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes/Google/Sheet/v2/helpers/GoogleSheet.js:54:27)\n at PollContext.poll (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes/Google/Sheet/GoogleSheetsTrigger.node.js:379:51)\n at TriggersAndPollers.runPoll (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/triggers-and-pollers.js:59:16)\n at executeTrigger (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/execution-engine/active-workflows.js:78:38)",
"code": "ERR_BAD_RESPONSE",
"status": 503
}
},
"mode": "trigger"
},
"workflow": {
"id": "aCyARvG0gAByrObg",
"name": "CV Evaluation v2"
}
}
]
Please share your workflow
Share the output returned by the last node
Expected behavior:
- Error handling workflow is executed upon error on the main workflow.
- Trigger output contains
workflowandexecutionobjects.
Actual behavior:
- Error handling workflow has been executed on its own.
- Trigger output doesn’t contain an
executionobject. - Trigger output contains
workflowandtriggerobjects.
Information on your n8n setup
- n8n version: 1.80.5
- Database (default: SQLite): n8n cloud
- n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): n8n cloud
- Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): cloud
- Operating system: Windows 11
