Conditional Merge Bypass: Deterministic Local Append on Empty Branch

How it works

1. 1.Run the workflow manually from Run Demo
2. 2.Emit Sample Dataset produces fictional invoice records tagged branch A or B, normalizing invalid values
3. 3.Snapshot Branch Completeness counts items per branch and builds branchesComplete flag
4. 4.If routes: both branches full → Merge (append, 2 inputs); otherwise → NoOp → local append Code
5. 5.Final Unified Report normalizes output and emits exactly one report item with mode and counts
6. 6.To test: set keepBranchA=true for the Merge path, or empty the array for both-empty case

Use cases

• Multi-branch n8n flows ending in a Merge node where conditional nodes can empty a branch
• Documenting which branch was empty and how many items each branch contributed
• Guaranteeing deterministic output without waiting or 'No Merge Data Found' errors

Requirements

• n8n 2.46.6 with manualTrigger, Code, If, Merge (append mode, numberInputs=2), NoOp and StickyNote nodes
• No credentials needed: fully self-contained with fictional data
• To use real data, replace the raw array in Emit Sample Dataset with items of the same schema

Setup and testing in n8n

1. Import the JSON into n8n and open the workflow
2. Run Run Demo with keepBranchA=false: expect 3 branch-B items plus a local-append report documenting empty A
3. Set keepBranchA=true and run: expect merge-append path and combined counts in the report
4. Empty the raw array: expect exactly one report item with no error
5. Verify final output matches expected_output

Service Value

Ready-made workflow template for automation delivery and service execution.