Error Trigger

Error Trigger

Starts a workflow whenever another workflow fails with an unhandled error. Use this to build centralized error handling, alerting, and recovery workflows.

What It Does

When a workflow fails during automatic execution, n8n routes the error to the designated error workflow. The Error Trigger node receives the error details and kicks off your error-handling logic.

Configuration

This node has no configurable parameters. Add it as the first node of your error-handling workflow.

How Error Workflows Are Assigned

• By default, a workflow containing an Error Trigger designates itself as its own error workflow.
• You can also assign a specific error workflow to any other workflow in its settings.

Error Data

The Error Trigger outputs the following information:

Tips

• Build a single error-handling workflow that receives errors from multiple production workflows, then routes alerts via email, Slack, or other notification channels.
• Use the Stop and Error node in your workflows to send custom error messages to the Error Trigger, providing more context than default error messages.
• The Error Trigger does not need to be published to work — it activates automatically when errors occur.

Limitations

• Automatic execution only — Error workflows do not fire during manual test executions. They only activate when a published, active workflow fails.
• Unhandled errors only — Nodes with error outputs (try/catch patterns) handle their own errors and do not trigger the Error Trigger.
• No workflow filtering — The Error Trigger receives errors from all workflows assigned to it. Use an IF node to route based on workflow name or ID.

Related

• Stop and Error Node
• Execute Workflow Node