Nodes with symbol "?"

[Antonio_Beltran]

Mensaje:
Hi,
Has anyone experienced this? After validating the workflow JSON structure in an external checker (valid JSON), when importing into n8n v1.106.3, some nodes appear as unknown with the “?” symbol.
Is there a known fix or explanation for why valid nodes turn into “?” after import?
Thanks!

It would help if there was a node for:

My use case:

Any resources to support this?

Are you willing to work on this?

[Jon]

Hey @Antonio_Beltran,

The ? tends to mean the node isn’t installed or the version is invalid, We often see this when importing a workflow that uses a community node that isn’t installed or when using AI models to try and make workflows and they are guessing which node versions are available.

[Antonio_Beltran]

Thank you for your response and for clarifying that the “?” symbol appears when a node is not installed or when the version is invalid.

We’ve now isolated our case and would like to share the details:

Not the JSON. We validated and normalized type/typeVersion, connections, and parameters.

Not custom nodes. All nodes in the workflow are standard n8n-nodes-base types.

Not the Function/Set code. Scripts reduced to minimal valid templates.

Not browser cache. Tested in incognito mode across multiple browsers.

Not a one-off import error. The issue is reproducible every time.

We even tried downgrading typeVersion values and replacing with plain Set or Function nodes — the symptom remains.

Current state:

After import into n8n v1.106.3, exactly 11 nodes appear as unknown (“?”).

Examples from the editor:

Normalizar Mentores → equivalent to base Set node

Normalizar Scrape → equivalent to base Function node

Construir Markdown → equivalent to base Function node

So these are not missing community nodes, but base nodes that the editor should recognize.

Our conclusion:

This points to a problem where the editor/installation is not loading the full base node catalog, or there’s a mismatch between the node gallery and the version.

Our question to you:

Do you know why base nodes like Set, Function, or HTTP Request would appear as “?” in v1.106.3, despite being present in n8n-nodes-base?

And is there any known fix (patch, reinstall guide, or required upgrade) that resolves this?

We appreciate any insight you can provide.

Best regards,

[Gensia]

I had a similar problem after creating a complex workflow entirely written using AI. Instead of fixing it and because I have little knowledge of how n8n works, instead asked the AI to rewrite the workflow using inbuilt nodes only and keep all node versions at less than or equal to 4. All nodes after this had icons and the question marks were gone.

[moosa]

base nodes like loops and other also gets upgraded so that also cause editor to not recognize them.