n8n-io/n8n · error · UserError

Invalid date format

Error message

Invalid date format

What it means

configureWaitTillDate throws a UserError('Invalid date format') when new Date(...) produced an Invalid Date — i.e. isNaN(waitTill.getTime()) is true. This happens for the 'maxDateAndTime' branch when the configured date/time string cannot be parsed by the JS Date constructor. Note: this UserError is immediately caught by the surrounding try/catch and rethrown as the NodeOperationError in error 767, so end users normally see 767's message with this as the description.

Source

Thrown at packages/@n8n/nodes-langchain/nodes/trigger/ChatTrigger/util.ts:52

				if (limitOptions.resumeUnit === 'minutes') {
					waitAmount *= 60;
				}
				if (limitOptions.resumeUnit === 'hours') {
					waitAmount *= 60 * 60;
				}
				if (limitOptions.resumeUnit === 'days') {
					waitAmount *= 60 * 60 * 24;
				}

				waitAmount *= 1000;
				waitTill = new Date(new Date().getTime() + waitAmount);
			} else {
				waitTill = new Date(limitOptions.maxDateAndTime as string);
			}

			if (isNaN(waitTill.getTime())) {
				throw new UserError('Invalid date format');
			}
		} catch (error) {
			throw new NodeOperationError(context.getNode(), 'Could not configure Limit Wait Time', {
				description: error.message,
			});
		}
	}

	return waitTill;
}

export const configureInputs = (parameters: { options?: { memoryConnection?: boolean } }) => {
	const inputs = [
		{
			type: 'main',
		},
	];
	if (parameters.options?.memoryConnection) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ac6606e81)

Solutions

1. Open the Chat Trigger's 'Limit Wait Time' option and set a valid date/time in the picker.
2. Prefer the 'afterTimeInterval' limit type (amount + unit) which does not depend on parsing a date string.
3. Ensure any expression feeding maxDateAndTime returns an ISO-8601 string.

Example fix

// before: options.limitWaitTime.values.maxDateAndTime = ''
// after:  options.limitWaitTime.values.maxDateAndTime = '2025-12-31T23:59:00.000Z'

// Validate the date string before constructing the Date.
const raw = limitOptions.maxDateAndTime;
if (typeof raw === 'string' && raw.trim() !== '') {
  const d = new Date(raw);
  if (Number.isNaN(d.getTime())) throw new Error(`maxDateAndTime is not a parseable date: ${raw}`);
}

function isParsableDate(v: unknown): v is string {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.trim() !== '' && !Number.isNaN(new Date(v).getTime());
}

When it happens

Trigger: limitOptions.limitType !== 'afterTimeInterval' and new Date(limitOptions.maxDateAndTime) yields Invalid Date (empty string, malformed locale, undefined, or a non-ISO string).

Common situations: The Limit Wait Time 'maxDateAndTime' field is blank or got corrupted; a workflow imported with a localized/non-ISO date string; the date-time picker value was not serialized correctly.

Related errors

• Could not configure Limit Wait Time
• Invalid loadPreviousSession option: ${value}
• Model ID is required
• Invalid delegate sub-agent tool name "${name}": must start w
• ${toolName} requires resumeSubAgent and cancelSubAgent to be

AI-assisted analysis of n8n-io/n8n@5ac6606e81 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/efa923d8372b8511. Report an issue: GitHub.