fix(editor): Improve sub-workflow debugging for more node error types (#14347)

packages/cli/src/utils/object-to-error.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ import { isObjectLiteral } from 'n8n-core';
 import { NodeOperationError } from 'n8n-workflow';
 import type { Workflow } from 'n8n-workflow';
 
+/**
+ * Optional properties that should be propagated from an error object to the new Error instance.
+ */
+const errorProperties = ['description', 'stack', 'executionId', 'workflowId'];
+
 export function objectToError(errorObject: unknown, workflow: Workflow): Error {
 	// TODO: Expand with other error types
 	if (errorObject instanceof Error) {
@@ -34,15 +39,11 @@ export function objectToError(errorObject: unknown, workflow: Workflow): Error {
 			error = new Error(errorObject.message);
 		}
 
-		if ('description' in errorObject) {
+		for (const field of errorProperties) {
-			// @ts-expect-error Error descriptions are surfaced by the UI but
+			if (field in errorObject && errorObject[field]) {
-			// not all backend errors account for this property yet.
+				// Not all errors contain these properties
-			error.description = errorObject.description as string;
+				(error as unknown as Record<string, unknown>)[field] = errorObject[field];
 			}
-
-		if ('stack' in errorObject) {
-			// If there's a 'stack' property, set it on the new Error instance.
-			error.stack = errorObject.stack as string;
 		}
 
 		return error;

packages/workflow/src/MetadataUtils.ts

@@ -27,5 +27,8 @@ export function parseErrorMetadata(error: unknown): ISubWorkflowMetadata | undef
 	if (hasKey(error, 'errorResponse')) {
 		return parseErrorResponseWorkflowMetadata(error.errorResponse);
 	}
-	return undefined;
+
+	// This accounts for cases where the backend attaches the properties on plain errors
+	// e.g. from custom nodes throwing literal `Error` or `ApplicationError` objects directly
+	return parseErrorResponseWorkflowMetadata(error);
 }

packages/workflow/test/MetadataUtils.test.ts

@@ -2,12 +2,38 @@ import { parseErrorMetadata } from '@/MetadataUtils';
 
 describe('MetadataUtils', () => {
 	describe('parseMetadataFromError', () => {
-		it('should return undefined if error does not have response', () => {
+		const expectedMetadata = {
+			subExecution: {
+				executionId: '123',
+				workflowId: '456',
+			},
+			subExecutionsCount: 1,
+		};
+
+		it('should return undefined if error does not have response or both keys on the object', () => {
 			const error = { message: 'An error occurred' };
 			const result = parseErrorMetadata(error);
 			expect(result).toBeUndefined();
 		});
 
+		it('should return undefined if errorResponse only has workflowId key', () => {
+			const error = { errorResponse: { executionId: '123' } };
+			const result = parseErrorMetadata(error);
+			expect(result).toBeUndefined();
+		});
+
+		it('should return undefined if error only has executionId key', () => {
+			const error = { executionId: '123' };
+			const result = parseErrorMetadata(error);
+			expect(result).toBeUndefined();
+		});
+
+		it('should support executionId and workflowId key directly on the error object', () => {
+			const error = { executionId: '123', workflowId: '456' };
+			const result = parseErrorMetadata(error);
+			expect(result).toEqual(expectedMetadata);
+		});
+
 		it('should return undefined if error response does not have subworkflow data', () => {
 			const error = { errorResponse: { someKey: 'someValue' } };
 			const result = parseErrorMetadata(error);
@@ -16,13 +42,6 @@ describe('MetadataUtils', () => {
 
 		it('should return metadata if error response has subworkflow data', () => {
 			const error = { errorResponse: { executionId: '123', workflowId: '456' } };
-			const expectedMetadata = {
-				subExecution: {
-					executionId: '123',
-					workflowId: '456',
-				},
-				subExecutionsCount: 1,
-			};
 			const result = parseErrorMetadata(error);
 			expect(result).toEqual(expectedMetadata);
 		});