If you’ve spent time building automations in Make (formerly Integromat), you know the satisfaction of watching your scenarios run perfectly, seamlessly connecting your apps and saving you hours of work. But what happens when things go wrong? Maybe a confusing error message pops up, or your automation just stops. Make error handling is a key skill for building automations you can trust in Make (formerly Integromat).
Understanding how to handle and debug these issues is what separates a good automation from a truly reliable one. In this post, we’ll dive into how to navigate errors in Make, exploring common problems, setting up automatic alerts, and building more robust, fail-safe scenarios from the start.
Common Culprits Behind Automation Errors
Errors in Make can be a bit of a mystery at first, but they usually fall into a few key categories.
- Temporary Glitches: Sometimes the issue is a temporary problem with an external app you’re connected to.
- Data Problems: A step might be expecting text but receives a number, or a required piece of data is missing entirely.
- Logic Flaws: The error could be in the logic you designed, such as an incorrectly set filter or an attempt to process data in a way that Make doesn’t expect.
- Expired Credentials: Your connection credentials for an app might have expired.
When an error occurs, your first stop should be the execution history. It’s an invaluable tool that shows you exactly which module failed. By inspecting the details, you can see the input data that went into the module and the specific error messages, which often provide clear clues about what went wrong.
The Power of Error Handlers
Make doesn’t leave you hanging when an error happens—it provides powerful ways to handle them directly within your scenario flow. Think of an error handler as a safety net or a detour route for your automation. Instead of the entire scenario grinding to a halt, you can define an alternative path for it to take if a specific module fails.
One of the most useful things you can do is set up an immediate notification. You can connect your error route to an email module or a messaging app like Slack or Teams.
When setting up your alert, be sure to include useful information in the message. You’ll want to know:
- Which scenario failed
- Which module caused the error
- The specific error message from Make
- Some of the data that was being processed at the time
This makes troubleshooting much faster, as you know exactly where to look.
Best Practices for Building Robust Automations
Reacting to errors is good, but building your scenarios defensively from the start is even better. The key is to anticipate what could go wrong.
- Validate Data Early: Use filters to validate data early in your scenario. For example, before updating a contact in your CRM, make sure the contact ID actually exists.
- Break Down Complex Scenarios: If you have very long, complex scenarios, consider breaking them down into smaller, more manageable ones. This makes them easier to build, test, and debug individually.
- Test Thoroughly: Use the “Run once” feature with different types of sample data—including data that should cause an error—to see how your scenario and error handlers behave.
- Be Mindful of the “Ignore” Directive: Only use the “Ignore” directive if you are absolutely certain that an error in a specific step won’t impact the rest of your workflow. It’s often better to handle the error explicitly.
Conclusion: Smarter Automations Await
While errors are inevitable in any complex system, Make gives you the tools to manage them effectively. By understanding the common pitfalls, utilizing error handlers and notifications, and adopting best practices for robust design, you can build automations you can truly rely on.
Start by implementing some of these error-handling techniques in your own Make scenarios today.
