Zie619/n8n-workflows · error · HTTPException

Error searching workflows: {str(e)}

Error message

Error searching workflows: {str(e)}

What it means

A 500 response from GET /api/workflows when the paginated search pipeline fails. The handler calls db.search_workflows(...) and result construction inside one try block; any exception from the query engine (bad query syntax, missing table, DB connection error) is converted to HTTPException(500) containing str(e).

Source

Thrown at api_server.py:303

                continue

        pages = (total + per_page - 1) // per_page  # Ceiling division

        return SearchResponse(
            workflows=workflow_summaries,
            total=total,
            page=page,
            per_page=per_page,
            pages=pages,
            query=q,
            filters={
                "trigger": trigger,
                "complexity": complexity,
                "active_only": active_only,
            },
        )
    except Exception as e:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=500, detail=f"Error searching workflows: {str(e)}"
        )


@app.get("/api/workflows/{filename}")
async def get_workflow_detail(filename: str, request: Request):
    """Get detailed workflow information including raw JSON."""
    try:
        # Security: Validate filename to prevent path traversal
        if not validate_filename(filename):
            print(f"Security: Blocked path traversal attempt for filename: {filename}")
            raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Invalid filename format")

        # Security: Rate limiting
        client_ip = request.client.host if request.client else "unknown"
        if not check_rate_limit(client_ip):
            raise HTTPException(
                status_code=429, detail="Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later."

View on GitHub (pinned to 94007c1445)

Solutions

  1. Retry the request with an empty q parameter to see whether the query text or the database is at fault.
  2. Verify the database is built and current by checking GET /api/stats; rebuild via the reindex flow if stats also fail.
  3. Strip or escape double quotes from user-supplied q before it reaches the search parser.
  4. Read the server log: the detail field carries the exact exception message from db.search_workflows.

Example fix

# before
results, total = db.search_workflows(q, ...)

# after (sanitize quotes that break the query parser)
safe_q = q.replace('"', "'")
results, total = db.search_workflows(safe_q, ...)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

def safe_query(q: str) -> str:
    # strip characters the search parser treats specially
    return q.replace('"', '').replace(':', ' ')

Try / catch

try:
    resp = client.get('/api/workflows', params={'q': q})
    resp.raise_for_status()
except HTTPError as e:
    if e.response.status_code == 500:
        retry_with_empty_q_or_report(e.response.json().get('detail'))

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: GET /api/workflows?q=... where the query string breaks the DB-side search parser (e.g. unmatched quotes producing filename:"...-style phrases), calling the endpoint against a missing/corrupt SQLite database, or page/per_page edge values that trip arithmetic on None totals.

Common situations: Typing a stray double-quote in the UI search box (the detail endpoint itself builds f'filename:"{filename}"' queries); switching database files mid-run; schema drift between the indexer and the query code after a partial upgrade.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Zie619/n8n-workflows@94007c1445 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/69de5c524022b96f. Report an issue: GitHub.