apache/dolphinscheduler · error · ServiceException

50037

50037

Error message

create task definition error

What it means

Thrown by createDagDefine when the task-definition save step (saveTaskDefine via TaskDefinitionServiceImpl/Dao) returns Constants.DEFINITION_FAILURE instead of success, meaning task definition logs could not be persisted while creating the workflow's DAG.

Source

Thrown at dolphinscheduler-api/src/main/java/org/apache/dolphinscheduler/api/service/impl/WorkflowDefinitionServiceImpl.java:288

        workflowDefinition.setExecutionType(executionType);

        return createDagDefine(loginUser, taskRelationList, workflowDefinition, taskDefinitionLogs);
    }

    protected WorkflowDefinition createDagDefine(User loginUser,
                                                 List<WorkflowTaskRelationLog> taskRelationList,
                                                 WorkflowDefinition workflowDefinition,
                                                 List<TaskDefinitionLog> taskDefinitionLogs) {
        taskDatasourcePermissionChecker.checkPermission(loginUser, taskDefinitionLogs);
        taskSubWorkflowPermissionChecker.checkPermission(loginUser, taskDefinitionLogs);
        int saveTaskResult = processService.saveTaskDefine(loginUser, workflowDefinition.getProjectCode(),
                taskDefinitionLogs, Boolean.TRUE);
        if (saveTaskResult == Constants.EXIT_CODE_SUCCESS) {
            log.info("The task has not changed, so skip");
        }
        if (saveTaskResult == Constants.DEFINITION_FAILURE) {
            log.error("Save task definition error.");
            throw new ServiceException(Status.CREATE_TASK_DEFINITION_ERROR);
        }
        int insertVersion =
                processService.saveWorkflowDefine(loginUser, workflowDefinition, Boolean.TRUE, Boolean.TRUE);
        if (insertVersion == 0) {
            log.error("Save workflow definition error, workflowDefinitionCode:{}.", workflowDefinition.getCode());
            throw new ServiceException(Status.CREATE_WORKFLOW_DEFINITION_ERROR);
        }
        log.info("Save workflow definition complete, workflowDefinitionCode:{}, workflowDefinitionVersion:{}.",
                workflowDefinition.getCode(), insertVersion);
        workflowDefinition.setVersion(insertVersion);
        int insertResult = processService.saveTaskRelation(loginUser, workflowDefinition.getProjectCode(),
                workflowDefinition.getCode(),
                insertVersion, taskRelationList, taskDefinitionLogs, Boolean.TRUE);
        if (insertResult != Constants.EXIT_CODE_SUCCESS) {
            log.error(
                    "Save workflow task relations error, projectCode:{}, workflowDefinitionCode:{}, workflowDefinitionVersion:{}.",
                    workflowDefinition.getProjectCode(), workflowDefinition.getCode(), insertVersion);
            throw new ServiceException(Status.CREATE_WORKFLOW_TASK_RELATION_ERROR);

View on GitHub (pinned to 02eac45a1b)

Solutions

  1. Validate taskDefinitionJson parses and each taskDefinition has valid name/type/taskParams before calling the API.
  2. Check API server logs for the underlying exception inside saveTaskDefine to find the real cause (DB error vs bad params).
  3. Ensure the task plugin types used are installed on this DolphinScheduler version; upgrade plugins or change task types.
  4. Retry after fixing DB problems (space, duplicate keys, connectivity).

Example fix

// before: bad task params JSON
"taskDefinitionJson": "[{\"name\":\"a\",\"type\":\"SHELL\",\"taskParams\":{\"rawScript\":}] }"
// after: valid taskParams
"taskDefinitionJson": "[{\"name\":\"a\",\"type\":\"SHELL\",\"taskParams\":{\"rawScript\":\"echo hi\",\"resourceList\":[]}}]"
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// client-side: verify each taskDefinition JSON parses and has required fields
for (TaskDefinition t : taskDefinitions) {
    if (t.getName() == null || t.getType() == null || t.getTaskParams() == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException(t.getName());
}

Try / catch

try {
    workflowDefinitionService.createWorkflowDefinition(...);
} catch (ServiceException e) {
    if (e.getCode() == 50037) { /* inspect logs for saveTaskDefine root cause */ }
    else throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: createWorkflowDefinition or doBatchOperateWorkflowDefinition generates taskDefinitionLogs whose persistence fails (invalid task JSON, DB insert error, constraint violation) leading saveTaskDefine to return DEFINITION_FAILURE.

Common situations: Malformed taskDefinitionJson in the API payload; task type plugin missing on the server; database issues (duplicate task definition code/version keys); importing workflows across incompatible versions.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/dolphinscheduler@02eac45a1b (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f594c1e7531ed9ac. Report an issue: GitHub.