From b14ad784cbfbb66d18d9054928409fee61226db1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Charlie Kolb <charlie@n8n.io>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:48:46 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] feat(editor): Show execution hint message in FocusPanel
 (no-changelog) (#17442)

---
 .../frontend/@n8n/i18n/src/locales/en.json    |  1 +
 .../editor-ui/src/components/FocusPanel.vue   | 39 ++++++++++++++++++-
 .../editor-ui/src/components/OutputPanel.vue  | 32 ++-------------
 .../src/composables/useExecutionData.ts       | 38 ++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/composables/useExecutionData.ts

diff --git a/packages/frontend/@n8n/i18n/src/locales/en.json b/packages/frontend/@n8n/i18n/src/locales/en.json
index 77025fe58c..be9d30edd2 100644
--- a/packages/frontend/@n8n/i18n/src/locales/en.json
+++ b/packages/frontend/@n8n/i18n/src/locales/en.json
@@ -1502,6 +1502,7 @@
 	"nodeView.couldntImportWorkflow": "Could not import workflow",
 	"nodeView.couldntLoadWorkflow.invalidWorkflowObject": "Invalid workflow object",
 	"nodeView.deletesTheCurrentExecutionData": "Deletes the current execution data",
+	"nodeView.focusPanel.noExecutionData": "Execute previous node for autocomplete",
 	"nodeView.focusPanel.noParameters.title": "Show a node parameter here, to iterate easily",
 	"nodeView.focusPanel.noParameters.subtitle": "For example, keep your prompt always visible so you can run the workflow while tweaking it",
 	"nodeView.focusPanel.missingParameter": "This parameter is no longer visible on the node. A related parameter was likely changed, removing this one.",
diff --git a/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/FocusPanel.vue b/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/FocusPanel.vue
index 6f47f41fb3..8836fd09fb 100644
--- a/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/FocusPanel.vue
+++ b/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/FocusPanel.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <script setup lang="ts">
 import { useFocusPanelStore } from '@/stores/focusPanel.store';
 import { useNodeTypesStore } from '@/stores/nodeTypes.store';
-import { N8nText, N8nInput, N8nResizeWrapper } from '@n8n/design-system';
+import { N8nText, N8nInput, N8nResizeWrapper, N8nInfoTip } from '@n8n/design-system';
 import { computed, nextTick, ref, watch, toRef } from 'vue';
 import { useI18n } from '@n8n/i18n';
 import {
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ import { htmlEditorEventBus } from '@/event-bus';
 import { hasFocusOnInput, isFocusableEl } from '@/utils/typesUtils';
 import type { ResizeData, TargetNodeParameterContext } from '@/Interface';
 import { useThrottleFn } from '@vueuse/core';
+import { useExecutionData } from '@/composables/useExecutionData';
+import { useWorkflowsStore } from '@/stores/workflows.store';
 
 defineOptions({ name: 'FocusPanel' });
 
@@ -48,6 +50,7 @@ const inputField = ref<InstanceType<typeof N8nInput> | HTMLElement>();
 const locale = useI18n();
 const nodeHelpers = useNodeHelpers();
 const focusPanelStore = useFocusPanelStore();
+const workflowsStore = useWorkflowsStore();
 const nodeTypesStore = useNodeTypesStore();
 const nodeSettingsParameters = useNodeSettingsParameters();
 const environmentsStore = useEnvironmentsStore();
@@ -108,6 +111,10 @@ const isExecutable = computed(() => {
 	);
 });
 
+const node = computed(() => resolvedParameter.value?.node);
+
+const { hasNodeRun } = useExecutionData({ node });
+
 function getTypeOption<T>(optionName: string): T | undefined {
 	return resolvedParameter.value
 		? getParameterTypeOption<T>(resolvedParameter.value.parameter, optionName)
@@ -172,6 +179,8 @@ const targetNodeParameterContext = computed<TargetNodeParameterContext | undefin
 	};
 });
 
+const isNodeExecuting = computed(() => workflowsStore.isNodeExecuting(node.value?.name ?? ''));
+
 const { resolvedExpression } = useResolvedExpression({
 	expression,
 	additionalData: resolvedAdditionalExpressionData,
@@ -345,7 +354,15 @@ const onResizeThrottle = useThrottleFn(onResize, 10);
 					</div>
 					<div :class="$style.parameterDetailsWrapper">
 						<div :class="$style.parameterOptionsWrapper">
-							<div></div>
+							<div :class="$style.noExecutionDataTip">
+								<N8nInfoTip
+									v-if="!hasNodeRun && !isNodeExecuting"
+									:class="$style.delayedShow"
+									:bold="true"
+								>
+									{{ locale.baseText('nodeView.focusPanel.noExecutionData') }}
+								</N8nInfoTip>
+							</div>
 							<ParameterOptions
 								v-if="isDisplayed"
 								:parameter="resolvedParameter.parameter"
@@ -575,6 +592,10 @@ const onResizeThrottle = useThrottleFn(onResize, 10);
 			justify-content: space-between;
 		}
 
+		.noExecutionDataTip {
+			align-content: center;
+		}
+
 		.editorContainer {
 			height: 100%;
 			overflow-y: auto;
@@ -594,6 +615,20 @@ const onResizeThrottle = useThrottleFn(onResize, 10);
 	}
 }
 
+// We have this animation here to hide the short time between no longer
+// executing the node and having runData available
+.delayedShow {
+	opacity: 0;
+	transition: opacity 0.1s none;
+	animation: triggerShow 0.1s normal 0.1s forwards;
+}
+
+@keyframes triggerShow {
+	to {
+		opacity: 1;
+	}
+}
+
 .closeButton {
 	cursor: pointer;
 }
diff --git a/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/OutputPanel.vue b/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/OutputPanel.vue
index a13f6a9d75..03ff177e69 100644
--- a/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/OutputPanel.vue
+++ b/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/components/OutputPanel.vue
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 <script setup lang="ts">
 import { ref, computed, onMounted, watch } from 'vue';
-import {
-	NodeConnectionTypes,
-	type IRunData,
-	type IRunExecutionData,
-	type Workflow,
-} from 'n8n-workflow';
+import { NodeConnectionTypes, type IRunData, type Workflow } from 'n8n-workflow';
 import RunData from './RunData.vue';
 import RunInfo from './RunInfo.vue';
 import { storeToRefs } from 'pinia';
@@ -26,6 +21,7 @@ import { NDV_UI_OVERHAUL_EXPERIMENT } from '@/constants';
 import { usePostHog } from '@/stores/posthog.store';
 import { type IRunDataDisplayMode } from '@/Interface';
 import { I18nT } from 'vue-i18n';
+import { useExecutionData } from '@/composables/useExecutionData';
 
 // Types
 
@@ -111,6 +107,7 @@ const collapsingColumnName = ref<string | null>(null);
 const node = computed(() => {
 	return ndvStore.activeNode ?? undefined;
 });
+const { hasNodeRun, workflowExecution, workflowRunData } = useExecutionData({ node });
 
 const isTriggerNode = computed(() => {
 	return !!node.value && nodeTypesStore.isTriggerNode(node.value.type);
@@ -149,29 +146,6 @@ const isNodeRunning = computed(() => {
 
 const workflowRunning = computed(() => workflowsStore.isWorkflowRunning);
 
-const workflowExecution = computed(() => {
-	return workflowsStore.getWorkflowExecution;
-});
-
-const workflowRunData = computed(() => {
-	if (workflowExecution.value === null) {
-		return null;
-	}
-	const executionData: IRunExecutionData | undefined = workflowExecution.value.data;
-	if (!executionData?.resultData?.runData) {
-		return null;
-	}
-	return executionData.resultData.runData;
-});
-
-const hasNodeRun = computed(() => {
-	if (workflowsStore.subWorkflowExecutionError) return true;
-
-	return Boolean(
-		node.value && workflowRunData.value && workflowRunData.value.hasOwnProperty(node.value.name),
-	);
-});
-
 const runTaskData = computed(() => {
 	if (!node.value || workflowExecution.value === null) {
 		return null;
diff --git a/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/composables/useExecutionData.ts b/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/composables/useExecutionData.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec2ba14266
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/frontend/editor-ui/src/composables/useExecutionData.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { useWorkflowsStore } from '@/stores/workflows.store';
+import type { INode, IRunExecutionData } from 'n8n-workflow';
+import { computed, type ComputedRef } from 'vue';
+
+export function useExecutionData({ node }: { node: ComputedRef<INode | undefined> }) {
+	const workflowsStore = useWorkflowsStore();
+
+	const workflowExecution = computed(() => {
+		return workflowsStore.getWorkflowExecution;
+	});
+
+	const workflowRunData = computed(() => {
+		if (workflowExecution.value === null) {
+			return null;
+		}
+		const executionData: IRunExecutionData | undefined = workflowExecution.value.data;
+		if (!executionData?.resultData?.runData) {
+			return null;
+		}
+		return executionData.resultData.runData;
+	});
+
+	const hasNodeRun = computed(() => {
+		if (workflowsStore.subWorkflowExecutionError) return true;
+
+		return Boolean(
+			node.value &&
+				workflowRunData.value &&
+				Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.bind(workflowRunData.value)(node.value.name),
+		);
+	});
+
+	return {
+		workflowExecution,
+		workflowRunData,
+		hasNodeRun,
+	};
+}