invoke-ai/InvokeAI · error

Default workflows cannot be created via this method

Error message

Default workflows cannot be created via this method

What it means

create() refuses to insert workflows whose meta.category is WorkflowCategory.Default. Default workflows are managed exclusively by _sync_default_workflows (shipped with the app), so the public create path rejects them to avoid duplicate or user-modified default records.

Source

Thrown at invokeai/app/services/workflow_records/workflow_records_sqlite.py:58

                SELECT workflow_id, workflow, name, created_at, updated_at, opened_at, user_id, is_public
                FROM workflow_library
                WHERE workflow_id = ?;
                """,
                (workflow_id,),
            )
            row = cursor.fetchone()
        if row is None:
            raise WorkflowNotFoundError(f"Workflow with id {workflow_id} not found")
        return WorkflowRecordDTO.from_dict(dict(row))

    def create(
        self,
        workflow: WorkflowWithoutID,
        user_id: str = WORKFLOW_LIBRARY_DEFAULT_USER_ID,
        is_public: bool = False,
    ) -> WorkflowRecordDTO:
        if workflow.meta.category is WorkflowCategory.Default:
            raise ValueError("Default workflows cannot be created via this method")

        with self._db.transaction() as cursor:
            workflow_with_id = Workflow(**workflow.model_dump(), id=uuid_string())
            cursor.execute(
                """--sql
                INSERT OR IGNORE INTO workflow_library (
                    workflow_id,
                    workflow,
                    user_id,
                    is_public
                )
                VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?);
                """,
                (workflow_with_id.id, workflow_with_id.model_dump_json(), user_id, is_public),
            )
        return self.get(workflow_with_id.id)

    def update(self, workflow: Workflow, user_id: Optional[str] = None) -> WorkflowRecordDTO:

View on GitHub (pinned to 0b6a024f2f)

Solutions

1. Change meta.category to WorkflowCategory.Custom before calling create
2. Or use the app's built-in default workflows directly instead of re-creating them
3. Clone-with-category helper: dump the model, set category='custom', then create

Example fix

// before
service.create(default_workflow)  # category: Default
// after
data = default_workflow.model_dump()
data["meta"]["category"] = "custom"
service.create(WorkflowWithoutID(**data))

from invokeai.app.services.workflow_records.workflow_records_common import WorkflowCategory
assert workflow.meta.category is not WorkflowCategory.Default, "clone with Custom category before create"

try:
    record = service.create(workflow)
except ValueError as e:
    if "Default workflows cannot be created" in str(e):
        data = workflow.model_dump(); data["meta"]["category"] = "custom"
        record = service.create(WorkflowWithoutID(**data))
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling create(workflow) where workflow.meta.category == WorkflowCategory.Default, e.g. round-tripping a default workflow's JSON back into create.

Common situations: Re-importing an exported default workflow; copying a built-in workflow as a template without changing its category; scripts that clone workflows wholesale.

Related errors

• Default workflows cannot be updated
• Default workflows cannot be deleted
• A saved workflow must be selected before executing call_save
• The selected saved workflow '${self.workflow_id}' could not
• Workflow return key must not be empty.

AI-assisted analysis of invoke-ai/InvokeAI@0b6a024f2f (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4220c15c1b70560e. Report an issue: GitHub.