Mastering Error Handling in Make.com Scenarios
Automation is a powerful tool that can save time, reduce errors, and streamline workflows. However, even the most well-designed automation processes can encounter errors. Understanding how to handle these errors effectively is crucial for maintaining robust and reliable automated workflows. I’ve seen a lot of YouTube videos that show how to create different scenarios in Make. Not many of the ones I’ve watched discussed how to properly handle errors. In this blog post, we’ll dive into error handling in Make.com (formerly Integromat), focusing on the five types of error handlers that can help you manage and mitigate issues when they arise. Don’t worry, no coding is needed!
Overview of Error Handling in Make.com
Before we delve into the specifics, it’s essential to understand the basic principles of error handling in Make.com. The platform offers comprehensive error management features that allow users to define how errors should be handled during scenario execution. This functionality ensures that your automated processes remain resilient and can recover from unexpected issues.
Why would you want to include error handling in your Make scenarios? Consider this case: Your scenario includes calls to 4 external services. Any one of them could fail for a number of reasons. Perhaps the service is unavailable or you passed bad data, causing the service to return an error. Your scenario will stop at the point the error occurred. Worse, Make may disable your scenario if there have been enough errors and you’ll need to restart it.
Or perhaps your scenario performs 3 different tasks. If one of them fails, you’d like the other 2 tasks to continue on. IF errors are handled appropriately, when the first task errors, the remaining 2 will never execute. Prime targets for error handling are external calls or writing to an external data store.
Types of Error Handling in Make
According to Make.com’s documentation, error handling is divided into five primary types of error handlers. Each of these handlers serves a specific purpose and can be configured to respond to different error scenarios. The one you choose will depend on your specific needs. Let’s explore these in detail.
1. Ignore
The Ignore handler is designed to bypass errors and continue the execution of the scenario without taking any special action. This is useful in cases where an error does not significantly impact the overall workflow, and you want the scenario to proceed regardless. You may want to log the error or send a notification so you can investigate the cause at a later time.
Use Case Example: If you are processing a list of email addresses and one email fails to send, using the Ignore handler allows the scenario to continue sending emails to the rest of the list.
2. Resume
The Resume handler allows the scenario to continue executing the next module, skipping the module that encountered the error. This is useful when certain errors can be safely ignored, and the rest of the process can proceed without issues.
Use Case Example: When fetching data from multiple APIs, if one of the APIs fails, the Resume handler skips the failed API call and continues processing the remaining APIs.
3. Commit
The Commit handler saves the progress of the scenario up to the point where the error occurred. This ensures that any successfully completed operations are not repeated if the scenario is retried. This is particularly useful for avoiding duplication of actions or data.
Use Case Example: If you are transferring data from one system to another, using the Commit handler ensures that successfully transferred records are not sent again if an error occurs and the scenario is retried.
4. Rollback
The Rollback handler undoes any actions taken by the scenario up to the point of the error. This is useful when it’s crucial to maintain data integrity and ensure that no partial operations are left in an inconsistent state. Not all modules support a rollback so keep that in mind.
Use Case Example: If you are updating records in a database and an error occurs, the Rollback handler can revert any changes made, ensuring the database remains consistent.
5. Break
The Break handler stops the execution of the scenario when an error occurs. This handler is useful when it’s critical to halt all operations to prevent further issues or data corruption.
Use Case Example: If you are processing financial transactions and an error occurs, using the Break handler ensures that no further transactions are processed, maintaining data integrity.
Implementing Error Handlers in Make.com
Implementing error handlers in Make.com is straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide to adding error handlers to your scenarios:
- Open your scenario: Go to the Make.com dashboard and open the scenario where you want to add error handling.
- Select the module: Click on the module where you want to implement error handling.
- Configure error handler: In the module settings, look for the error handling section. Choose the appropriate error handler from the list and configure its parameters. Error handlers are also available in the tools section under Directives.
- Save and test: Save your scenario and run a test execution to ensure that the error handler works as expected. Try to break your scenario.
Best Practices for Error Handling
- Identify Critical Points: Determine which parts of your scenario are critical and require robust error handling. Calls to external APIs or writes to datastores are 2 prime locations where you might want to add error handling.
- Use Logging: Implement logging to capture error details for troubleshooting and analysis. For example, you can log the error type and message to a table or spreadsheet. The error details provides more information but can be quite long. Some modules may return an error code which is very useful in debugging the cause of the error. One way to log errors is to insert a logging module such writing to a spreadsheet between the error module and the module causing the error.
- Test Thoroughly: Regularly test your scenarios to ensure error handlers are functioning correctly. Create errors by passing bad data or disconnecting external API modules.
- Review and Update: Periodically review and update error handlers to adapt to changes in your workflows or external systems. Whenever you update a scenario, review the error handling to see if it needs adjustment.
Conclusion
Effective error handling is essential for creating reliable and resilient automated workflows in Make.com. By understanding and implementing the five types of error handlers—Auto Retry, Break, Resume, Skip, and Set Variable—you can ensure that your scenarios can gracefully handle errors and continue to operate smoothly. Explore the full capabilities of error handling in Make.com and make your automation processes more robust and dependable.
For more detailed information on error handling in Make.com, you can visit their official overview of error handling.
