Every builder hits the same ten potholes. Bookmark this page.
Pitfall
No error workflow
Symptom: silent failures. Fix: global error handler + Slack ping.
Pitfall
Credentials in node params
Symptom: leaked keys in exports. Fix: always use Credentials store.
Pitfall
Un-batched loops
Symptom: 429s from APIs. Fix: Split In Batches + Wait.
Pitfall
Test URL in production
Symptom: works in editor, dead in prod. Fix: activate workflow, use Production URL.
Pitfall
No DB backup
Symptom: total data loss. Fix: nightly pg_dump + off-site copy.
Pitfall
Lost encryption key
Symptom: all credentials unreadable. Fix: store the key on day one.
Pitfall
Wrong timezone
Symptom: cron fires at 3am. Fix: set N8N_DEFAULT_LOCALE + TZ.
Pitfall
Un-pruned executions
Symptom: DB bloats to GBs. Fix: EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true.
Pitfall
Workflows not in Git
Symptom: cannot roll back. Fix: export JSON to a repo weekly.
Pitfall
One giant workflow
Symptom: unmaintainable. Fix: split into sub-workflows.