Troubleshooting and errors

Error: Missing packages

n8n installs community nodes directly onto the hard disk. The files must be available at startup for n8n to load them. If the packages aren't available at startup, you get an error warning of missing packages.

If running n8n using Docker: depending on your Docker setup, you may lose the packages when you recreate your container or upgrade your n8n version. You must either:

• Persist the contents of the ~/.n8n/nodes directory. This is the best option. If you follow the Docker installation guide, the setup steps include persisting this directory.
• Set the N8N_REINSTALL_MISSING_PACKAGES environment variable to true.

The second option might increase startup time and may cause health checks to fail.

Prevent loading community nodes on n8n cloud

If your n8n cloud instance crashes and fails to start, you can prevent installed community nodes from loading on instance startup. Visit the Cloud Admin Panel > Manage and toggle Disable all community nodes to true. This toggle is only visible when you allow community node installation.