Prioritize certain workflow executions over others.
The idea is:
Allow users to set execution priority for workflows in the execution queue. This would make it possible to prioritize certain workflow executions over others, instead of always processing them in strict FIFO (First-In, First-Out) order. For example, users could assign a “high”, “medium”, or “low” priority to a workflow execution, so that urgent tasks are handled before less important ones. This feature would be especially useful in environments with many workflows and limited concurrency, where some processes are more time-sensitive than others.
My use case:
In my setup, important webshop order workflows are often delayed because they get queued behind less critical workflows. As a result, order processing happens much too late, which negatively impacts customer experience and business operations. Having the ability to prioritize these order-related workflows in the execution queue would ensure that time-sensitive tasks are handled promptly, even when the system is under heavy load.
I think it would be beneficial to add this because:
If it were possible to set a priority level (for example, from 1 to 10) for each workflow, users could ensure that the most important or time-sensitive workflows are always processed first. This would provide much greater flexibility and control, especially in environments with many concurrent workflows and limited resources. It would help prevent critical workflows—such as webshop order processing—from being delayed by less important tasks, ultimately improving reliability and user satisfaction.
Any resources to support this?
Are you willing to work on this?
Yes, I am definitely willing to help with this feature. I am not very familiar with the n8n codebase yet, so I would appreciate some guidance or pointers to get started. If someone from the community or the n8n team could help me on my way, I would be happy to contribute!
I have created a PR feat(queue): add workflow execution priority (high/medium/low) by robversluis · Pull Request #18332 · n8n-io/n8n · GitHub