Problem in node ‘SerpAPI‘ Missing search query input at itemIndex 0 (N8N 2.13.4 and 2.11.2)

Describe the problem/error/question

Problem in node ‘SerpAPI‘
Missing search query input at itemIndex 0

What is the error message (if any)?

Problem in node ‘SerpAPI‘

Missing search query input at itemIndex 0

Please share your workflow


Share the output returned by the last node

Problem in node ‘SerpAPI‘
Missing search query input at itemIndex 0

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version: 2.13.4
  • Database (default: SQLite): Postgres 16
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): default: own
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): Docker
  • Operating system: RHEL 8.6
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the search_query field is probably empty on some loop iterations — happens when the input data isnt set right. what does your input to the SerpAPI node actually look like?

What Ollama model are you running? A lot of the smaller local models dont handle tool calling well so the agent never actually passes a search query to SerpAPI, it just sends empty input.

Hi @Majdi_Bsoul Welcome!
Have you tried using this node to work with SerpAPI:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/n8n-nodes-serpapi

Yeah so qwen2.5:7b is the problem, it returned 0 completion tokens which means it’s not generating proper tool calls. Try switching to a bigger model like qwen2.5:14b or llama3.1:8b (the instruct variant) since those handle tool use much better. The 7b qwen model is just too small to reliably format tool calling output.

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