Errors and credentials

Plan for failure before you publish: a workflow that fails quietly is worse than one that fails loudly.

Read on 14 November 2026. Products change quickly: check the sources.

Error workflows

The documentation describes an error workflow: a workflow that runs when another workflow's execution fails, so that you can for example send an email or Slack alert. To set one up:

1. Create a new workflow with the Error Trigger as its first node, and name it (for example Error Handler). Save.
2. In the workflow that should use it, open Options, then Settings, choose it under Error workflow, and save.

One error workflow can serve several workflows. To investigate failures, review the Executions list (and load data from a previous execution into your current workflow), or enable log streaming.

What the error workflow receives

All information is always present except these, which the documentation lists: execution.id and execution.url need the execution to be saved in the database, and are absent if the error is in the main workflow's trigger node (the workflow never executed); execution.retryOf is present only for a retry of a failed execution. If the error comes from the trigger node, there is less in execution{} and more in trigger{}.

Failing on purpose

The Stop and Error node forces an execution to fail under conditions you choose, which then runs the error workflow. The page notes that usual failures come from things like wrong node settings or running out of memory.

Credentials

The workflows page says credentials are the way to securely store the authentication details your workflows need. A safe habit, which is our advice rather than the documentation's: never paste a key into a field of a node, a note or an expression; keep it in a credential, and use the smallest permission the key allows.

This is an independent guide. It is not connected with n8n. Products change quickly: statements were read on 14 November 2026 from the n8n documentation pages named under Sources, and limits, defaults and version numbers may have changed since. We do not give prices or compare products.