Outdated/Cached Data & Node Configurations in Airtable Workflows (Manual + Active)

Questions
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Hi everyone :wave:

I’m running into two separate but related issues in my n8n workflow involving the Airtable integration, and they both seem to stem from outdated or cached data/configuration, depending on whether the workflow is run manually or actively.

:jigsaw:

Issue 1: Manual Execution Uses Outdated Airtable Data

When I run the workflow manually (without activating it), the Airtable trigger or Airtable Search node seems to return outdated or cached data.

For example:

  • I’m receiving records from earlier entries that no longer exist or are irrelevant.
  • It appears to be fetching from some kind of cached snapshot rather than querying Airtable live.
  • This makes testing impossible, because I can’t simulate real-time data scenarios.

This has also happened to me with Google Sheets integrations, which makes me think this may be a broader n8n behavior when running in manual mode.

:jigsaw:

Issue 2: Active Execution Uses Outdated Node Configuration

In one of my Airtable Search nodes, I initially had an incorrect filter formula:

AND({validate_content_type} = "validate_content_type")

I corrected it days ago to:

AND({id} = "validate_content_type")

However, when the workflow is activated, it still appears to use the old (incorrect) version of the formula — even though the node has been updated and saved multiple times. This causes errors in production and seems like the active workflow is executing based on cached node configuration, not the latest saved version.

:question:

My Questions

  • Why does manual execution return stale data? Is Airtable data cached in testing mode?
  • Why do active workflows sometimes ignore recent node changes? Is there a way to invalidate or refresh active workflow configurations?
  • Is this a known issue with polling integrations like Airtable or Google Sheets?
  • Are there any workarounds (like resetting trigger state or clearing cached configs)?

:gear: Context

  • n8n hosted
  • Airtable integration used as trigger and in search nodes
  • Manual execution = outdated data
  • Active execution = outdated node configuration
  • Workflow has been saved and reloaded multiple times

This is affecting both my ability to test and my live automation reliability. Has anyone experienced this? Would really appreciate help or suggestions :pray:

Thanks!