fix(core): Filter stale credentials from setup wizard requests

[aalises]

Summary

The setup wizard was asking users to configure credentials for nodes that don't need them (e.g., an HTTP Request node calling a public API with authentication: 'none').

Root cause: Stale node.credentials entries, left over from earlier builder revisions, were being surfaced unconditionally in two places:

1. getNodeCredentialTypes() in the adapter had a "Step 4" that added all existing credentials without checking if they're still needed
2. The fallback in buildSetupRequests() checked node.credentials first, bypassing the displayOptions-filtered path

Fix:

• Removed the unconditional existing-credentials step from the adapter: Steps 1-3 (displayOptions filtering, credential issues, dynamic resolution) already cover all legitimate detection paths
• Removed the unfiltered node.credentials fallback in buildSetupRequests(): now only the displayOptions-filtered path from the node description is used

Related Linear ticket

https://linear.app/n8n/issue/AI-2366

• I have seen this code, I have run this code, and I take responsibility for this code.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 0% with 1 line in your changes missing coverage. Please review.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
...modules/instance-ai/instance-ai.adapter.service.ts	0.00%	1 Missing ⚠️

📢 Thoughts on this report? Let us know!

[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 3 files

Architecture diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant UI as Setup Wizard
    participant Svc as SetupWorkflowService
    participant Adapter as InstanceAiAdapterService
    participant Desc as Node Description
    participant Creds as CredentialService

    Note over UI,Creds: Identifying required credentials for a node

    UI->>Svc: buildSetupRequests(node)
    
    Svc->>Adapter: getNodeCredentialTypes(node)
    Adapter->>Desc: Get node description
    
    Note over Adapter: Step 1-3: Resolve via displayOptions,<br/>issues, and dynamic resolution
    
    rect rgb(240, 240, 240)
        Note over Adapter: CHANGED: Step 4 (unconditional addition<br/>of existingCredentials) REMOVED
        Adapter-->>Svc: Array of validated credential types
    end

    alt if credentialTypes is empty
        Note over Svc: NEW: Fallback logic no longer<br/>checks node.credentials (stale data)
        Svc->>Desc: Get static credentials from description
        loop for each static credential
            Svc->>Svc: NEW: Filter using matchesDisplayOptions(parameters)
        end
        Svc-->>Svc: Filtered list of required types
    end

    loop for each identified credentialType
        Svc->>Creds: list({ type: credentialType })
        Creds-->>Svc: Found credentials
    end

    Svc-->>UI: Setup requests (filtered for current context)

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[github-actions]

Performance Comparison

Comparing current → latest master → 14-day baseline

Idle baseline with Instance AI module loaded

Metric	Current	Latest Master	Baseline (avg)	vs Master	vs Baseline	Status
instance-ai-heap-used-baseline	187.62 MB	186.52 MB	186.34 MB (σ 0.24)	+0.6%	+0.7%	🔴
instance-ai-rss-baseline	342.11 MB	388.20 MB	372.63 MB (σ 22.95)	-11.9%	-8.2%	⚠️

docker-stats

Metric	Current	Latest Master	Baseline (avg)	vs Master	vs Baseline	Status
docker-image-size-runners	393.00 MB	393.00 MB	391.63 MB (σ 11.06)	+0.0%	+0.3%	✅
docker-image-size-n8n	1269.76 MB	1269.76 MB	1269.76 MB (σ 0.00)	+0.0%	+0.0%	—

Memory consumption baseline with starter plan resources

Metric	Current	Latest Master	Baseline (avg)	vs Master	vs Baseline	Status
memory-rss-baseline	221.42 MB	287.98 MB	284.98 MB (σ 42.51)	-23.1%	-22.3%	⚠️
memory-heap-used-baseline	114.77 MB	114.05 MB	113.86 MB (σ 0.84)	+0.6%	+0.8%	⚠️

How to read this table

• Current: This PR's value (or latest master if PR perf tests haven't run)
• Latest Master: Most recent nightly master measurement
• Baseline: Rolling 14-day average from master
• vs Master: PR impact (current vs latest master)
• vs Baseline: Drift from baseline (current vs rolling avg)
• Status: ✅ within 1σ | ⚠️ 1-2σ | 🔴 >2σ regression