IF / Switch: conditional branching

Why you need conditional branches

Up to Chapter 14 you can use {{ $json.amount }} to push data from one node into the next — useful, but that is only passing it along untouched. Almost every real automation has a fork in it:

• An order arrives: if the amount is over 1,000, notify the manager; everything else just goes on the daily list.
• A customer list comes in: VIPs go down the "thank-you email + a new Slack channel" path, ordinary customers only get the auto-reply.
• A form is submitted: store it in the database only if the terms box was ticked; if it was not, send a "please fill it in again" email.
• A system alert: critical makes a phone call, warning posts to Slack, info only writes a log line.

This "read the data, then pick a path" logic is called conditional branching. Programmers write it as if / else or switch / case; in n8n you write no code at all — you drop in an IF node or a Switch node and draw the connections downstream visually: data comes in, the node decides, and the item leaves through the top or the bottom (IF) or through a numbered output (Switch).

IF vs Switch: which one to use when

Both nodes do the same job — decide, then route. Picking the wrong one breaks nothing, but the right one keeps the canvas much cleaner. One line each:

Hands-on: add your first IF node

Take a concrete case: an order over 1,000 goes down the "notify the manager" path, everything else goes to the "daily log" path. Note: the English edition uses a location-neutral sample customer. Assume your upstream node (a Webhook, Google Sheets, Airtable) already hands the order down as JSON like { "amount": 1500, "customer": "Example Stationery Store" }.

1. Add an IF node to the canvas

   Click the + icon to the right of the upstream node (or press Tab on an empty spot) to open the nodes panel → type if in the search box → click If (under the Flow category). The node drops onto the canvas, already connected upstream.

2. Set the first condition

   Double-click the IF node to open the panel on the right. You will see a Conditions block with one empty comparison row. Fill in its three fields, left to right:

   • Value 1 (the left side): click the field to switch to Expression mode and write {{ $json.amount }} — that pulls the amount field from upstream.
   • Operator (the middle): pick the type Number in the left dropdown first, then is greater than on the right (the official name in the v2 IF node, not larger).
   • Value 2 (the right side): enter 1000 (a plain number, no quotes).

3. Watch two output lines appear on the right of the node

   Once the condition is set, the IF node splits into two outputs on its right: true on top (green) and false below (red). Those are the two paths you can draw connections from.

4. Wire each output to a different downstream node

   Drag a connection out of the true dot into your "notify the manager" node (Slack posting to the #manager channel, say). Drag another out of false into the "daily log" node (Google Sheets Append Row, say). The canvas now forks into two paths.

5. Save, then test with Execute Workflow

   Ctrl+S to save. Click Execute Workflow at the top right of the canvas. When the IF node finishes it marks the output it took with a green border — the order amount is 1500 > 1000, so it should take true, and seeing the Slack node light up too means it worked.

6. Test once more with data that should go false

   Change the upstream mock data to amount: 800 and run it again. This time only the Google Sheets Append path should light up and the Slack path should stay quiet. The IF is only really verified once you have tested both paths.

The IF node's four data-type conditions

The IF node's Operator dropdown has two levels: pick the data type on the left, and the matching comparison operators appear on the right. Picking the right type matters — get it wrong and the condition looks right but always comes out false, the number-one thing beginners trip over.

There are also Array (with contains, length equal to, length greater than) and Object (only exists / does not exist / is empty / is not empty), which come up less often, so skip them for now. Note that Date & Time has no is between operator — to test "between two times" you write two conditions (is after A and is before B) and combine them with AND.

Combining conditions: AND / OR

One IF node can hold several conditions, and you decide how they combine. Once you add a second condition row, an AND / OR dropdown appears between the two rows (the UI calls it exactly that; there is no Combinator label), with two options:

Example: amount over 1,000 AND payment status is paid

The requirement is "a big amount is not enough — the money has to have arrived before the manager is notified". Open the IF node and add two conditions:

• Condition 1: Value 1 {{ $json.amount }}, Operator Number is greater than, Value 2 1000
• Condition 2: Value 1 {{ $json.status }}, Operator String equals, Value 2 paid
• Combine: AND

Both have to hold before the item goes true. If status is pending, even an amount of 5,000 goes false.

Example: VIP customer OR large order

The requirement is special attention — either one on its own sends the item down true:

• Condition 1: Value 1 {{ $json.tier }}, Operator String equals, Value 2 vip
• Condition 2: Value 1 {{ $json.amount }}, Operator Number is greater than, Value 2 5000
• Combine: OR

The Switch node in detail: two modes

Open the Switch node and the first thing it asks is Mode: Rules or Expression. This is the biggest difference between Switch and IF, and the two modes ask you to think in completely different ways.

Mode 1: Rules (the one you will use most)

It works like a stack of IF nodes — every Rule has its own condition (the same operator system as the IF node), and an item leaves through the output of whichever rule it matches. To add one: click Add Routing Rule in the panel, and you get one more output (another dot on the right of the node).

Example: three customer tiers, each handled differently downstream. The item coming from upstream is { "tier": "gold", ... }. Set the Switch node up like this:

• Rule 0: Value 1 {{ $json.tier }}, Operator String equals, Value 2 gold → output 0 goes to "send a thank-you email + notify sales"
• Rule 1: Value 1 {{ $json.tier }}, Operator String equals, Value 2 silver → output 1 goes to "send a discount voucher"
• Rule 2: Value 1 {{ $json.tier }}, Operator String equals, Value 2 bronze → output 2 goes to "send the standard welcome email"

Below the rules sits a Fallback Output dropdown with three official options: None (the default: an unmatched item is dropped), Extra Output (an extra output that catches unmatched items — the common choice), Output 0 (an unmatched item leaves through the same output as the first rule). When you want an "unclassified" path downstream, pick Extra Output.

{{ { "gold": 0, "silver": 1, "bronze": 2 }[$json.tier] }}