Im using HTTP request node to get a PDF file and then using Extract from file node to extract the data from the PDF file. This was all working fine before, but now i’m getting a “DOMMatrix is not defined” error. When testing the workflow, the output from

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

What is the error message (if any)?

Please share your workflow

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

Share the output returned by the last node

Information on your n8n setup

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

@Farman_Aliyev known regression — n8n’s Extract from File node uses pdfjs-dist which since 1.98 requires browser APIs like DOMMatrix that arent available in Node. multiple github issues open on it (#16593, #16438, #16422). workaround that works without downgrading: use a Code node with the pdf-parse npm package instead. set NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_EXTERNAL=pdf-parse in ur env vars, extract the text from binary in Code node, no browser API dependency. whats ur n8n version + self-hosted or cloud?

4

Welcome @Farman_Aliyev!

achamm is right - this is a known regression. Here’s the concrete Code node you can drop in to replace the Extract from File node:

const pdfParse = require('pdf-parse');
const binaryKey = Object.keys(items[0].binary)[0]; // gets the first binary field
const buffer = Buffer.from(items[0].binary[binaryKey].data, 'base64');
const result = await pdfParse(buffer);
return [{ json: { text: result.text } }];

Also add NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_EXTERNAL=pdf-parse to your environment variables first. Works on both self-hosted and cloud.

5

Update your n8n Instance (Recommended)

This bug was flagged within the n8n community and developer pipeline. If you are running an older version or a specific broken release of n8n, updating to the latest version or pinning your Docker image to the latest stable release usually resolves it, as patches are pushed quickly for node crashes like this.

Let me know if the update fixed the issue.