n8n - 💡(How to fix) Fix PDF Loader in Pinecone Vector Store fails due to pdf-parse version conflict (v2 not supported)

Describe the problem/error/question

When using the Default Data Loader node inside a Pinecone Vector Store node with a PDF binary input, the workflow fails immediately. The loader attempts to use pdf-parse but finds an incompatible version (v2) installed in the n8n cloud environment. Since users on n8n cloud cannot run npm install to downgrade the package, there is no workaround available within the platform itself.

What is the error message (if any)?

Failed to load pdf-parse. This loader currently supports pdf-parse v1 only. Please install v1, e.g. npm install pdf-parse@^1 (v2 is not yet supported). Failed to load pdf-parse. This loader currently supports pdf-parse v1 only. Please install v1, e.g. npm install pdf-parse@^1 (v2 is not yet supported).

Please share your workflow/screenshots/recording

Minimal reproduction:

1. Create a workflow with any node that outputs a PDF binary file (e.g. HTTP Request downloading a PDF, or Google Drive).
2. Connect it to a Pinecone Vector Store node.
3. Inside the Pinecone node, use the Default Data Loader with type set to PDF.
4. Execute the workflow.

The error appears immediately on execution, before any document is processed.

## Share the output returned by the last node

No output is returned. The node throws the error above and execution stops.


## Debug info


### core

- n8nVersion: 2.22.5
- platform: docker (cloud)
- nodeJsVersion: 24.15.0
- nodeEnv: production
- database: sqlite
- executionMode: regular
- concurrency: 5
- license: enterprise (sandbox)

### storage

- success: all
- error: all
- progress: false
- manual: true
- binaryMode: filesystem

### pruning

- enabled: true
- maxAge: 168 hours
- maxCount: 2500 executions

### client

- userAgent: mozilla/5.0 (windows nt 10.0; win64; x64) applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko) chrome/148.0.0.0 safari/537.36
- isTouchDevice: false

Generated at: 2026-05-28T14:43:59.648Z