NN Advanced Course: Mastering Pinning Data & Edit Output Features

Key Points:

• Pinning data helps reduce execution time when building workflows
• It lets you avoid triggering external systems repeatedly
• Pinned data is only used during testing, not in production
• You can identify pinned data by the blue icon on the canvas

My Take:

This feature is especially valuable when working with rate-limited APIs or when parts of your workflow take several minutes to execute. It’s one of those quality-of-life improvements that can save you hours of development time.

Key Points:

• Click the pin icon in the output panel of any node
• The node will show a blue icon on the canvas when data is pinned
• You can keep one set of pinned data per node
• When the workflow is activated normally, it executes as usual (ignoring pinned data)

My Take:

I find pinning data particularly useful for webhook triggers. Instead of configuring test systems to send webhooks repeatedly, I can capture one webhook payload and pin it for all my development work.

Key Points:

• Use Edit Output to test edge cases (null values, wrong data types, etc.)
• You can paste data from previous executions
• It’s particularly helpful when debugging failed workflow runs
• Works perfectly alongside the pinning feature

My Take:

This feature is invaluable for error handling testing. By intentionally introducing problematic data, you can ensure your workflow gracefully handles unexpected inputs without having to reproduce these scenarios in real external systems.

Key Points:

• Pin webhook data to avoid repeatedly triggering test events
• Use the blue checkmark to verify data is successfully pinned
• Copy JSON output from previous executions to replicate error states
• Paste previous execution data to debug and fix workflow issues

// Example of how to copy JSON from previous execution
// 1. Navigate to past executions
// 2. Find the execution with the error
// 3. Open the webhook node output
// 4. Switch to JSON view
// 5. Click copy button
// 6. Return to editor and paste into Edit Output
    

My Take:

The ability to quickly jump between different data states by combining pin data and edit output is game-changing for complex workflow development. I particularly like how you can replicate error conditions without having to wait for them to occur naturally.

Key Points:

• Use Mockaroo to generate structured random data
• Configure fields with realistic constraints and formats
• Set percentage chance for empty/null values to test handling
• Select JSON format for easy copy-pasting into NN

My Take:

This approach is far more efficient than manually creating test data or using less sophisticated random generators. The ability to control the percentage of empty fields makes it particularly useful for testing error handling in your workflows.