Stop and Error

The Stop and Error node is like an emergency brake for your workflow. When something goes wrong or doesn’t meet your requirements, this node immediately stops everything and shows you a clear message about what happened.

This is essential for catching problems early, validating data quality, and making sure your workflows fail gracefully with helpful information instead of just mysteriously stopping.

How it works

When the Stop and Error node receives data, it immediately halts the entire workflow and displays the error message you’ve configured. This prevents any further processing and gives you clear information about what went wrong and where.

graph LR
  Input[Data Input] --> Check{Problem Detected?}
  Check -->|Yes| Stop[Stop and Error Node]
  Check -->|No| Continue[Continue Workflow]
  Stop --> Message[Error Message Displayed]
  style Stop fill:#dc2626,stroke:#fff,color:#fff

Setup guide

1. Connect to validation point: Place the Stop and Error node after a check or validation step in your workflow.

2. Write a clear error message: Create a message that explains what went wrong in simple terms that anyone can understand.

3. Add helpful context: Include information about what was expected versus what was found.

4. Test the error condition: Deliberately trigger the error to make sure your message is helpful and accurate.

Practical example: Article quality validation

Let’s say you’re processing articles from a website, but you want to stop if the articles are incomplete or too short to be useful.

Let’s say you’re processing articles from a website, but you want to stop if the articles are incomplete or too short to be useful.

The Situation: Your workflow encounters an article that has no title and only 15 words of text.

** The Error Trigger:** You configured the node to stop if “Title is missing” OR “Word count is less than 100”.

What Happens:

1. The workflow stops immediately.
2. It displays your custom message: “Article quality check failed: Missing title and content too short.”
3. It shows you exactly which data caused the problem so you can fix it.

Common use cases

Use Case	Example Message	When to Use
Data validation	”Required field ‘email’ is missing or invalid”	When essential information is missing
Quality control	”Content too short: 45 words (minimum 100)“	When data doesn’t meet quality standards
Permission errors	”Access denied: Please log in to continue”	When authentication or permissions fail
API failures	”Unable to connect to external service”	When external dependencies are unavailable
Rate limiting	”Too many requests: Please wait before retrying”	When hitting service limits

Write helpful error messages

Good error messages explain three things: what went wrong, why it’s a problem, and what someone can do about it. Avoid technical jargon and be specific about the issue.

Error message best practices

✅ Good error messages:

• “Product price is missing - cannot calculate total cost”
• “Website returned no results - try a different search term”
• “Image file is too large (5MB) - maximum allowed is 2MB”

❌ Poor error messages:

• “Error occurred”
• “Invalid input”
• “Process failed”

Troubleshooting

• Error triggers too often: Your validation conditions might be too strict. Review what you’re checking and consider if the requirements are realistic.
• Error message not helpful: Add more specific details about what was expected, what was found, and what someone should do to fix it.
• Workflow stops unexpectedly: Make sure the Stop and Error node is only connected to paths where you actually want to stop on errors.