Error Handling Nodes

Nodes for catching, handling, and throwing errors in flows.

Available Nodes

Error Trigger

Special trigger that activates when an error occurs in the flow.

Configuration:

catchAll - Catch all errors in the flow
nodeIds - Specific nodes to catch errors from

Variables Provided:

error.message - Error message
error.code - Error code (if available)
error.nodeId - Which node threw the error
error.stack - Stack trace (for debugging)

Example:

Main Flow:
  Webhook → Fetch Data → Process → Respond

Error Handler (connected to Error Trigger):
  Log Error → Send Alert → Respond with Error

Use Case: Global error handling, alerting, cleanup.

Throw Error

Explicitly throw an error to stop execution or trigger error handling.

Configuration:

message - Error message
code - Error code (optional)
data - Additional error data (optional)

Example:

{
  "message": "Invalid order: missing required fields",
  "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
  "data": {
    "missingFields": ["email", "address"]
  }
}

Use Case: Validation failures, business logic errors, early exit.

Error Handling Patterns

Try-Catch Pattern

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Main Flow                           │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Risky Operation (API Call)      │ │
│ └───────────────┬─────────────────┘ │
│                 │                   │
│         Success │ Error             │
│                 ↓                   │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Continue with result            │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
         │
         │ Error propagates
         ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Error Handler                       │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Log error, send alert, respond  │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Validation with Throw

// In a Code node
if (!inputs.email || !inputs.email.includes('@')) {
  throw new Error('Invalid email address');
}
 
if (inputs.amount < 0) {
  throw new Error('Amount cannot be negative');
}
 
// Continue with valid data
return { validated: true };

Retry with Backoff

┌──→ API Call ──→ If Error ──→ Increment Retry ──→ If Retries < 3 ──┐
│                                                                    │
│                                                      Yes           │
└────────────────────────── Wait (exponential) ←─────────────────────┘
                                   │
                                   │ No (max retries)
                                   ↓
                            Throw Final Error

Best Practices

Always Handle Errors

Don't let flows fail silently. Add error handling to:

Log errors for debugging
Alert your team
Return meaningful error responses

Graceful Degradation

When possible, continue with partial success:

Send to 100 users → 3 fail → Log failures → Continue with 97 successes

Error Response Format

Standardize error responses:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "Invalid input provided",
    "details": { ... }
  }
}

Cleanup on Error

Use error handlers to clean up resources:

Rollback database changes
Release locks
Cancel pending operations

See Also:

Actions Webhooks