n8n-io/n8n · error · ChatTriggerAuthorizationError

No authentication data defined on node!

Error message

No authentication data defined on node!

What it means

Thrown by the Chat Trigger webhook when the node's authentication is set to 'basicAuth' but no 'httpBasicAuth' credential is attached (or its user/password fields are empty). It is a ChatTriggerAuthorizationError (extends UserError) with HTTP status 500 because the fault is the node's server-side configuration, not the caller's request.

Source

Thrown at packages/@n8n/nodes-langchain/nodes/trigger/ChatTrigger/GenericFunctions.ts:26

	const authentication = context.getNodeParameter(
		'authentication',
		'none',
	) as AuthenticationChatOption;
	const req = context.getRequestObject();
	const headers = context.getHeaderData();

	if (authentication === 'none') {
		return;
	} else if (authentication === 'basicAuth') {
		// Basic authorization is needed to call webhook
		let expectedAuth: ICredentialDataDecryptedObject | undefined;
		try {
			expectedAuth = await context.getCredentials<ICredentialDataDecryptedObject>('httpBasicAuth');
		} catch {}

		if (expectedAuth === undefined || !expectedAuth.user || !expectedAuth.password) {
			// Data is not defined on node so can not authenticate
			throw new ChatTriggerAuthorizationError(500, 'No authentication data defined on node!');
		}

		const providedAuth = basicAuth(req);
		// Authorization data is missing
		if (!providedAuth) throw new ChatTriggerAuthorizationError(401);

		if (providedAuth.name !== expectedAuth.user || providedAuth.pass !== expectedAuth.password) {
			// Provided authentication data is wrong
			throw new ChatTriggerAuthorizationError(403);
		}
	} else if (authentication === 'n8nUserAuth') {
		const webhookName = context.getWebhookName();

		if (webhookName !== 'setup') {
			function getCookie(name: string) {
				const value = `; ${headers.cookie}`;
				const parts = value.split(`; ${name}=`);

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ac6606e81)

Solutions

1. Open the Chat Trigger node, set Authentication to 'Basic Auth', and select (or create) an httpBasicAuth credential with non-empty user and password.
2. If you do not need auth, set the node's Authentication parameter back to 'None'.
3. If importing a workflow JSON, ensure the node's credentials array includes a valid httpBasicAuth reference.

Example fix

// before: authentication='basicAuth' but no credential attached
// after: node credentials include { name: 'httpBasicAuth', credentials: { user: 'admin', password: 's3cret' } }

// Before relying on validateAuth, ensure a complete httpBasicAuth credential is bound.
const cred = await context.getCredentials('httpBasicAuth').catch(() => undefined);
if (!cred || !cred.user || !cred.password) {
  throw new Error('Attach an httpBasicAuth credential with user and password before enabling Basic Auth.');
}

function hasBasicAuthFields(c: unknown): c is { user: string; password: string } {
  return typeof c === 'object' && c !== null &&
    typeof (c as any).user === 'string' && (c as any).user !== '' &&
    typeof (c as any).password === 'string' && (c as any).password !== '';
}

try {
  await validateAuth(context);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof ChatTriggerAuthorizationError && e.responseCode === 500) {
    // surface a 'fix the node credential' message to the builder
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: context.getNodeParameter('authentication') === 'basicAuth' AND getCredentials('httpBasicAuth') resolves to undefined (no credential bound) OR the resolved credential object has a falsy 'user' or 'password' field.

Common situations: Developer toggled the Chat Trigger's Authentication to 'Basic Auth' in the UI but forgot to select/create the httpBasicAuth credential; the credential is selected but the user or password field was left blank; a workflow imported from JSON is missing the credential reference.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• Default webhook url not set
• Authorization is required!
• Authorization data is wrong!
• User not authenticated!
• API Key is required for authentication

AI-assisted analysis of n8n-io/n8n@5ac6606e81 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/26709a828534dec1. Report an issue: GitHub.