Hey everyone,
I’ve been building some very large and complex workflows in n8n, and I’ve run into a big challenge when testing.
When I want to tweak or debug a node somewhere near the end of my workflow, I currently have to run the entire workflow from the very beginning just to get to that point. This can take a lot of time - especially when there are many nodes, API calls, or processing steps before the node I actually want to test.
Here’s my current situation:
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I’m working with workflows that can be quite long and data-heavy.
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During testing, I often need the output from a node that’s close to the end.
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To get that output, I need to run the whole workflow from the start, wait for everything to finish, and only then can I test or adjust the node I’m working on.
What I’d like to know is:
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Is there a way to start the execution from a specific node (for example, the last 3 nodes) instead of from the beginning? Do you use the pin method?
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Or is there a way to load sample data into a node so I can test it without having to run all previous steps again?
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Any tips, tricks, or best practices for speeding up testing in large workflows would be very appreciated (in general)? What should I pay attention to?
Basically, I’m looking for a way to avoid re-running the whole chain each time I just want to work on the last part of the workflow.
Thanks in advance for your help!
For example bigger workflows like this:
