Setting: Always use explicit ($node[ ]) references in a Workflow

Feature Requests
1

I think it would be very helpful if you could set a Setting that forces the references to always be explicit in a flow.

For example if you use Data from the node exactly in front of it, its default uses $json.data. If you use a node that is not the directly connected (lets say a node 2 steps back) its uses $node[“Code1”].json.

Specially in the earlystages of building i find myself often building something and then adding additional Steps or moving nodes around, if i just build via drag an drop the Workflow isn’t working anymore since $json.data now refers to a totally different node then the Node I actually used data from.

2

That makes so much sense!

I also think this shouldd be an optional setting because some functionality depends on being able to get data straight from node before.

Cheers.

1 Like
3

Bump on this after a while because this still makes a lot of sense! Starting to use n8n now I loose reference too many times that it is not funny anymore.

2 Likes
4

Bumping this one again. A pretty constant headache for me.

1 Like
5

At the very least the act of adding another node inbetween the two should change the one using $json. The editor already manages node renaming so clearly the expressions aren’t just static text.

6

Also agree. This becomes quite time consuming to fix every time a node is repositioned.
Needs to be smart enough to know when it’s no longer ‘downstream’ of the original node however.

Zapier already handles this well (as an example).