'Started at' timezone gets mixed in the executions view

[rafalkrupinski]

Describe the bug
When one flow calls another, the task execution view shows that the triggered task was called 2 hours before or after the triggering task

To Reproduce

1. Running n8n server with both TZ and GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Europe/Vienna
2. prepare a simple flow
3. prepare another flow, triggering the flow from the step 2.

Expected behavior
The execution time of flows should be seconds apart

Environment (please complete the following information):

• n8n Version 168.1

Additional context

Also in some cases a task trigger by cron node will show execution time 2hrs earlier then the actual execution

[Joffcom]

Hey @rafalkrupinski,

What is your workflow doing and have you tried on a newer release? I have just given it a quick go here and I am seeing what I would expect, does it actually run the workflow when it is meant to?

[rafalkrupinski]

What is your workflow doing

I just run a very simple workflow even without a call to another one and the time is wrong.
It's querying Airtable for a single value and making two HTTP requests querying for some simple data - API version and current account.

and have you tried on a newer release?

Yes, since I made the report I've updated to 0.189.1

I have just given it a quick go here and I am seeing what I would expect, does it actually run the workflow when it is meant to?

I just run it manually and the time is 2hrs back.

Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm running it in Docker from a custom image based on the official one:

FROM n8nio/n8n:0.189.1

RUN npm_config_user=root npm install -g date-fns date-fns-tz nanoid

docker compose

  n8n-dev:
    build: ...
    environment:
    - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=...
    - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=...
    - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=...
    - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=...
    - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
    - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Europe/Vienna
    - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
    - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=...
    - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=...
    - N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false
    - N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=...
    - N8N_HOST=...
    - N8N_METRICS=true
    - N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED=false
    - NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_EXTERNAL=date-fns,date-fns-tz,nanoid
    - NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_BUILTIN=crypto
    - TZ=Europe/Vienna
    - WEBHOOK_URL=...
    - NODE_ENV=production

    - N8N_LOG_LEVEL=debug

[Joffcom]

Hey @rafalkrupinski,

I am not sure what else to check on this one, I can't reproduce it and I have just given it a bash with the same timezone you have set.

If you try with just the normal docker image does that have the same issue?

Could you try with maybe a workflow that just calls the sub workflow and in the workflow it calls just use a set node and see if that has the same issue. Could the database maybe have a different locale set on it?

[rafalkrupinski]

Postgres is set to UTC, why should it matter? ;)

[Joffcom]

Hey @rafalkrupinski,

I wouldn't have thought it would matter unless it was trying to convert something but as I can't reproduce it from 3 different instances the only thing I can think of is it is outside of the application or it is a bug that has a very specific requirement to trigger which will make it tricky to track down.

I would start by using the image we provide with a SQLite database and see if you get the same issue then try your image with the SQLite database and see what happens then a new postgres database and we can work out at what point it breaks. If they all have the same issue we will need to have another think about what could be different.

[rafalkrupinski]

I was able to reproduce the problem with a simple manually executed workflow.
Postgres is in UTC and n8n is in CEST

https://github.com/oeklo/n8n-tz

[Joffcom]

Hey @rafalkrupinski,

That has done it so using that compose file I get...

I have just done some playing with it and it looks like the Starting At time is initially correct but then when it finishes the time changes. Seems to be ok with SQLite and only an issue with Postgres so far, I am not sure why this isn't an issue on my main install though.

I will pass this one over to the core team.

[rafalkrupinski]

Glad we could find the problem. I wouldn't have thought of postgres time zone if you hadn't mentioned the database locale. This compose file is literally the first thing I tried :D

[Joffcom]

Hey @rafalkrupinski,

Is everything still looking good on this one with the change to the database locale?

[rafalkrupinski]

@Joffcom

All my databases' time zone is UTC. I've changed N8N TZ & GENERIC_TIMEZONE to UTC, and while it fixed the docker sample I've linked earlier, it didn't fix my development environment. No idea why.

[Joffcom]

Hey @rafalkrupinski,

Did you ever get to the bottom of this madness?

[Joffcom]

Good news, This should now be fixed in 1.9.0. For now I am going to mark this as closed if you are still seeing this let me know and we can open it again.