From 803ab421648171d8b7909694597e560244e1cefa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: mfsiega <93014743+mfsiega@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2025 18:20:33 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(core): During partial execution don't include loop as
 start node if the loop isn't closed (#22555)

Co-authored-by: Danny Martini <danny@n8n.io>
---
 .../__tests__/find-start-nodes.test.ts        | 41 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../find-start-nodes.ts                       | 10 ++++-
 2 files changed, 50 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/__tests__/find-start-nodes.test.ts b/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/__tests__/find-start-nodes.test.ts
index 30da6e563be..788cc7e6c8e 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/__tests__/find-start-nodes.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/__tests__/find-start-nodes.test.ts
@@ -624,5 +624,46 @@ describe('findStartNodes', () => {
 			expect(startNodes.size).toBe(1);
 			expect(startNodes).toContainEqual(afterLoop);
 		});
+
+		// 	                      done (empty)
+		//                      ┌────►
+		// ┌─────────┐1 ┌────┐1 │
+		// │ trigger ┼──►loop┼─┬┘  ►►
+		// └─────────┘  └────┘ │  ┌────────┐
+		//                     └─►│in loop │
+		//                        └────────┘
+		test('if a loop node does not actually form a loop in the graph, it uses loop output instead of done output', () => {
+			// ARRANGE
+			const trigger = createNodeData({ name: 'trigger' });
+			const loop = createNodeData({ name: 'loop', type: 'n8n-nodes-base.splitInBatches' });
+			const inLoop = createNodeData({ name: 'inLoop' });
+			const graph = new DirectedGraph().addNodes(trigger, loop, inLoop).addConnections(
+				{ from: trigger, to: loop },
+				// Note: loop connects to inLoop via output 1, but there's no connection
+				// back to loop, so it's not actually a loop
+				{ from: loop, outputIndex: 1, to: inLoop },
+			);
+			const runData: IRunData = {
+				[trigger.name]: [toITaskData([{ data: { name: 'trigger' } }])],
+				// The loop node has data on output 1 (the first output), but not on output 0 (done)
+				[loop.name]: [toITaskData([{ outputIndex: 1, data: { name: 'loop' } }])],
+			};
+
+			// ACT
+			const startNodes = findStartNodes({
+				graph,
+				trigger,
+				destination: inLoop,
+				runData,
+				pinData: {},
+			});
+
+			// ASSERT
+			// Because the loop node doesn't form an actual loop, it should check output 1
+			// for run data (not output 0). Since output 1 has data, the loop node should
+			// not be a start node, and we should continue to inLoop.
+			expect(startNodes.size).toBe(1);
+			expect(startNodes).toContainEqual(inLoop);
+		});
 	});
 });
diff --git a/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/find-start-nodes.ts b/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/find-start-nodes.ts
index 7b9a5f424ff..cb4e1b11083 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/find-start-nodes.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/execution-engine/partial-execution-utils/find-start-nodes.ts
@@ -83,7 +83,11 @@ function findStartNodesRecursive(
 			// last run
 			-1,
 			NodeConnectionTypes.Main,
-			0,
+			// Although this is a Loop node, the graph may not actually have a loop here e.g.,
+			// while the workflow is under development. If there's not a loop, we treat the loop
+			// node as a normal node and take the data from the first output at index 1.
+			// If there *is* a loop, we take the data from the `done` output at index 0.
+			isALoop(graph, current) ? 0 : 1,
 		);
 
 		if (nodeRunData === null || nodeRunData.length === 0) {
@@ -130,6 +134,10 @@ function findStartNodesRecursive(
 	return startNodes;
 }
 
+function isALoop(graph: DirectedGraph, node: INode): boolean {
+	return graph.getChildren(node).has(node);
+}
+
 /**
  * The start node is the node from which a partial execution starts. The start
  * node will be executed or re-executed.