Zie619/n8n-workflows · error · Error

Invalid action

Error message

Invalid action

What it means

Thrown by 'Verify Approval Data' when `Action` is not exactly 'approve' or 'reject' (case-sensitive). The approval webhook must carry one of these two literal values; anything else - 'Approve', 'approved', 'yes', undefined - fails the includes() check.

Source

Thrown at workflows/Code/0926_Code_Webhook_Create_Webhook.json:1703

              "type": "string",
              "value": "={{ new Date().toISOString() }}"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 3.4,
      "notes": "This set node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },
    {
      "id": "6749923b-1032-4adb-b805-eda6efd5ee1c",
      "name": "Verify Approval Data",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "position": [
        6340,
        4060
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "jsCode": "const input = $input.all()[0].json;\nif (!input[\"Submission ID\"]) throw new Error(\"Submission ID is missing\");\nif (![\"approve\", \"reject\"].includes(input[\"Action\"])) throw new Error(\"Invalid action\");\nif (input[\"Action\"] === \"approve\" && input[\"Approved Quantity\"] <= 0) throw new Error(\"Approved quantity must be greater than 0\");\nreturn { json: input };"
      },
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "notes": "This code node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },
    {
      "id": "c5e34da4-81ec-47dc-aacf-4d6e0cf4256c",
      "name": "Retrieve Issue Request Details",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets",
      "position": [
        6560,
        3840
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {},
        "filtersUI": {
          "values": [
            {
              "lookupValue": "={{ $json[\"Submission ID\"] }}",

View on GitHub (pinned to 94007c1445)

Solutions

1. Normalize case and trim before validating: input['Action']?.trim().toLowerCase().
2. Pin the approval form's allowed values to exactly approve/reject (radio or dropdown, not free text).
3. If new actions are legitimate, extend the allowlist and add handling branches for them.
4. Echo the received value in the error so mismatches are obvious.

Example fix

// before
if (!["approve", "reject"].includes(input["Action"])) throw new Error("Invalid action");

// after
const action = typeof input["Action"] === 'string' ? input["Action"].trim().toLowerCase() : '';
if (!["approve", "reject"].includes(action)) {
  throw new Error(`Invalid action: ${JSON.stringify(input["Action"])} - must be 'approve' or 'reject'`);
}

const action = typeof input['Action'] === 'string' ? input['Action'].trim().toLowerCase() : '';
if (!['approve', 'reject'].includes(action)) {
  throw new Error(`Invalid action: ${JSON.stringify(input['Action'])} - must be 'approve' or 'reject'`);
}

const isApprovalAction = (v) =>
  typeof v === 'string' && ['approve', 'reject'].includes(v.trim().toLowerCase());

When it happens

Trigger: Approval form sends a different label or capitalized value; Action field missing from the payload; the form was edited to add options like 'hold' or 'return'; email-link based approval encoding the action differently (e.g. 'a'/'r').

Common situations: Form option labels changed after the workflow was built; case mismatch between form values and workflow expectations; new intermediate states added without updating this validator.

Related errors

• Invalid quantity: ${input["Quantity Received"]}
• Invalid price: ${input["Unit Price"]}
• Invalid quantity Requested: ${quantityRequested}. Must be gr
• Product ID is missing
• Invalid quantity requested: ${quantityRequested}

AI-assisted analysis of Zie619/n8n-workflows@94007c1445 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a915b9b37627cc1a. Report an issue: GitHub.