How to handle Slack modal submission events in n8n without hitting a timeout?

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

I’m trying to handle Slack modal submissions within n8n. I can open the modal successfully from Slack (e.g., via a slash command), but when the user submits the modal, Slack sends the view_submission event to my Interactivity Request URL. I’ve configured this URL to point to an n8n Webhook node. The issue is that Slack expects a 200 OK response within about 3 seconds. If my workflow does more complex processing, Slack times out and returns a “curl error timeout.”

What I’d like to achieve is to immediately acknowledge the submission in n8n by returning 200 OK to Slack, and then continue with the heavier processing after the initial response. Once done, I can send a follow-up message (using chat.postMessage or a response_url) to the user.

Has anyone managed a similar setup in n8n? Any best practices or examples would be highly appreciated!

What is the error message (if any)?

“curl error timeout” from Slack.

Please share your workflow

(Select the nodes on your canvas and use CMD+C/CTRL+C and CMD+V/CTRL+V to copy and paste the workflow here.)

Share the output returned by the last node

No specific output at this stage, just the timeout error.

2

It looks like your topic is missing some important information. Could you provide the following if applicable.

  • n8n version:
  • Database (default: SQLite):
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
  • Operating system:
3

Welcome to the community @_Park !

Tip for sharing information

Pasting your n8n workflow

Ensure to copy your n8n workflow and paste it in the code block, that is in between the pairs of triple backticks, which also could be achieved by clicking </> (preformatted text) in the editor and pasting in your workflow.

```
<your workflow>
```

That implies to any JSON output you would like to share with us.

Make sure that you have removed any sensitive information from your workflow and include dummy or pinned data with it!

If you do not need for the model to be open while you process the submitted data, then do just that - respond to view_submission immediately, Modals | Slack.

4

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