Zie619/n8n-workflows · warning · Error

Research query must be at least 3 characters long

Error message

Research query must be at least 3 characters long

What it means

Thrown by the 'Input Validation' Code node in a Telegram-driven research workflow when the incoming json.query is missing, null, or shorter than 3 non-whitespace characters. It reads $input.all()[0].json.query, enforces a minimum length, then returns the original and cleaned (trimmed, lowercased) query.

Source

Thrown at workflows/Telegram/1341_Telegram_Splitout_Automate_Webhook.json:291

        -320
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {},
        "fieldToSplitOut": " introduction, summary, key_findings, news_highlights, scholarly_insights, wikipedia_summary, sources"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1,
      "notes": "This splitOut node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },
    {
      "id": "b89d5c35-64c4-4e8c-b432-c2219aba8acc",
      "name": "Input Validation",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "position": [
        180,
        -320
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "jsCode": "// Validate input and prepare for processing\nconst query = $input.all()[0].json.query;\n\nif (!query || query.trim().length < 3) {\n  throw new Error('Research query must be at least 3 characters long');\n}\n\nreturn {\n  json: {\n    originalQuery: query,\n    cleanedQuery: query.trim().toLowerCase(),\n    timestamp: new Date().toISOString()\n  }\n};"
      },
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "notes": "This code node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },
    {
      "id": "e34f9b0e-a9ca-4011-bfee-c7845c68942b",
      "name": "Parse Research Output",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "position": [
        1300,
        -320
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "jsCode": "// Get the output string from the Research AI Agent\nconst outputString = $input.first().json.output;\n\n// Parse the string into a JSON object\nconst parsedOutput = JSON.parse(outputString);\n\n// Return the parsed JSON as a single item\nreturn [{\n  json: parsedOutput\n}];"
      },
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "notes": "This code node performs automated tasks as part of the workflow."
    },

View on GitHub (pinned to 94007c1445)

Solutions

1. Log the raw trigger payload (Object.keys($input.all()[0].json)) to confirm which field actually carries the user text.
2. Map the correct field to query upstream (webhook/Set node), or read the fallback: const q = $json.query || $json.q || $json.message;
3. Reply to the user with a usage hint instead of throwing (return an item that routes to a Telegram 'please send a longer query' branch).
4. Guard the empty-items case too: const first = $input.all()[0]; if (!first?.json?.query) ...

Example fix

// before
const query = $input.all()[0].json.query;
if (!query || query.trim().length < 3) {
  throw new Error('Research query must be at least 3 characters long');
}

// after - friendly branch instead of hard failure
const first = $input.all()[0];
const query = first?.json?.query ?? first?.json?.text ?? '';
if (query.trim().length < 3) {
  return { json: { invalid: true, reason: 'Research query must be at least 3 characters long', originalQuery: query } };
}

const first = $input.all()[0];
const query = first?.json?.query ?? first?.json?.text ?? first?.json?.message ?? '';
if (query.trim().length < 3) {
  return { json: { invalid: true, reason: 'Query too short', reply: 'Please send a research query of at least 3 characters.' } };
}

const isResearchableQuery = (q) => typeof q === 'string' && q.trim().length >= 3;

When it happens

Trigger: A Telegram message/webhook payload without a query field, a message containing only 1-2 characters or whitespace, a command like '/go' with the argument stripped, or wrong field name (q, text, message) so query is undefined.

Common situations: Users sending emoji/sticker-only messages, bot command parsing that removes the command but leaves an empty remainder, or a webhook producer changing the payload key. Also note $input.all()[0] throws a raw TypeError (not this message) when zero items arrive — the guard only covers present-but-short values.

Related errors

• No input data received
• Approved quantity must be greater than 0
• The video ID parameter is empty.
• One or more input arrays are empty. Check your previous node
• Invalid data structure

AI-assisted analysis of Zie619/n8n-workflows@94007c1445 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/24a49d4cc63cdc51. Report an issue: GitHub.