Merge Manifest Smuggler: Branch Count Reconciliation in n8n

How it works

1. 1.Manual Trigger starts the run with an empty item.
2. 2.Load Sample Records (Code) emits one item with a fictional record batch and the threshold.
3. 3.Build Branches And Manifests validates records, rejects invalid ones, routes amount >= threshold to branch A and the rest to branch B, and creates two manifest items tagged _branch=A.
4. 4.Route Branch A vs B (IF) sends A items to output 0 and the rest to output 1.
5. 5.Tag Branch A / Tag Branch B (Set, includeOtherFields) add _tag_branch and _merge_input without losing fields.
6. 6.Merge Branches (Append) joins both branches through separate merge inputs.
7. 7.Reconcile Counts (runOnceForAllItems) splits manifests from data, reconciles counts and returns exactly one report.
8. 8.Counts Match? (IF) routes compliant=true to Emit Reconciliation Report, everything else to Quarantine Mismatch.

Use cases

• Prove no items are lost when merging IF branches in n8n
• Per-branch item counts before and after the merge
• Keeping partial results out of the final report
• Threshold-based routing with validation of incoming records

Requirements

• n8n whose node types match 2.46.4
• No credentials and no external calls needed
• Replace Load Sample Records with your real source using {records:[{record_id,customer,amount}]}
• Keep one dedicated Merge input per branch

Setup and testing in n8n

1. Import the JSON and click Execute Workflow.
2. Check Emit Reconciliation Report returns one item with report_status=RECONCILED, 4 data records and 2 rejected.
3. Edge case: set all amounts below the threshold so branch A carries no data; the run still completes and is_empty=true is reported.
4. Failure case: drop an item or change _tag_branch in one Set branch; the run is routed to Quarantine Mismatch.
5. Try an empty records array to confirm the report stays consistent.

Service Value

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